If you want to be friends with two-time Grammy winner Pink, then you have give up the fur.
Since joining Stella McCartney as the voice on the latest animal rights ad launched worldwide by PETA (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), Pink declared in Paris for Fashion Week that she would never befriend a fashion designer who used fur. She stated that she found the killing of animals for their skin disgusting, hence her inability to truly befriend designers who use them.
To solidify her ill feelings towards fur-users, she participated in a controversial 20-second PETA ad that features a skinned bloodied alligator and a similarly horrendous blood-covered furless rabbit. Pink is an alligator that claims a purse a woman is holding is made from her skin and actor-comedian Ricky Gervais plays a rabbit that snatches his fur coat back from a man. "That fur is mine," says the rabbit. "What kind of person steals a guy’s coat?"
Yet not all designers share the same ideals as McCartney, who joined Pink for the PETA launch and never uses fur for her models.
And the backfire was all too apparent at fur-loving French designer Jean-Paul Gaultier‘s catwalk show this weekend when over 50 PETA activists shouted "Gaultier assassin." He was noticeably angered and disagrees with the tactics used by PETA. Yet he also stated that he “didn’t give a damn” and will continue to do fur.
Pop icon Pink, fashion designer McCartney and the powerhouse that is PETA all in full support of bringing down designers who use fur must be a PR nightmare for many designers like Gaultier, and they have to feel even a smudge of apprehension that this will have an effect beyond catwalk shows and into actual revenue. Gaultier’s apparent anger towards PETA’s actions makes me wonder if fur-utilizing designers will eventually ban together to create a campaign of their own defending the use of fur and creative expression through fur pieces. Do I smell a war brewing?
So how do you feel about designers who use fur and what are your opinions on PETA’s new ad campaign?
Photo Credit: Orange
Tags: Fashion Public Relations
Comments (1)
I think designers should be free to use whatever fabrics they choose. I wear fur myself and I think there is nothing wrong with it as long as it has been produced responsibly. However I only wear fur that has the Origin Assured label (www.originassured.com) that assures consumers that the fur they buy comes from a country with strict national or local regulations governing fur production. I love fur and I think it brings an added exclusiveness to luxury fashion. Nika Pika
Posted by Nika Pika | March 29, 2009 11:25 PM
Posted on March 29, 2009 23:25