It’s barely a few degrees above zero but three models from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) have stripped down to nude-coloured panties and a strategically placed banner that reads, “bare skin, don’t wear skin,” outside the LG Fashion Week headquarters on Tuesday (March 29).
Pleasantly surprised construction workers swarm the Princes’ Gates to capture footage on cell phones. Some even voiced their support for the cause, shouting, “I’ll go vegetarian!” (OK, so they missed the point but weren’t completely off the mark.)
The busy corner of Strachan near Lakeshore Boulevard is brimming with curious onlookers, snap-happy photographers and joggers who draw close for a peek of the action just outside the Exhibition grounds. Demonstrators line the streets, holding up banners as cars roll by honking in support (though I’m pretty sure the exposed skin has something to do with it).
Long-time PETA campaigner Emily Lavender says they’re “encouraging people to make kind and compassionate choices by not wearing animal skins,” she says. “Fashion is supposed to be fun. There’s nothing fun about killing animals simply for vanity.”
Over they years, PETA members have stormed fashion shows and tossed blood-red paint on fur-wearing runway models. In 2001, they hurled tofu pies at Karl Lagerfeld, Chanel’s head designer, during a red carpet appearance-they missed, hitting Calvin Klein instead. (Incidentally, Klein is one of many designers to have gone fur-free).
Animals, they charge, are electrocuted, poisoned, gassed or have their necks broken and are even skinned alive. Cows, killed for their skin, endure painful mutilations and physical abuse on factory farms as well as cruel treatment during transport and slaughter. Exotic animals, like snakes, they say, “often have hoses rammed into their mouths and are pumped full of water so that workers can more easily cut off their skin while they are still alive.”
“If cats and dogs were treated in the same way, it would be illegal in Canada,” Lavender says, adding that there aren’t any federal laws here to protect animals killed for fur. Rather, fur farming regulations are governed under provincial and territorial legislation. Animal cruelty is a Criminal Code offence, but that doesn’t mean animals always get protection.
Many industry insiders, PETA says, refuse the fur fashion appeal. The org cites big-name designers, such as Ralph Lauren, Tommy Hilfiger and Stella McCartney, who have pledged to become completely fur-free.
When NOW later contacts the FDCC to discuss the impact of PETA’s presence during fashion week, we receive the following statement: “The FDCC does not comment on behalf of the designers and their collections.”
Makes sense sort of – while the FDCC provides a platform to showcase Canadian designers, they essentially don’t dictate what ends up on the runway.
Lavender says she wants people to think twice about their accessories-fur-trimmed coats, wool sweaters, snakeskin shoes-and is optimistic about the shift towards the use of alternative fabrics by today’s designers. “Cruelty-free is the way of the future,” she says.
Likely the youngest anti-fur activist in the crowd was Laura Raposa, 12, who arrives on her lunch break. Raposa notes that many of her school friends wear popular extreme weather jackets lined with coyote fur as well as moccasins trimmed in rabbit fur. She says she tries to educate friends on making animal-friendly sartorial choices.
PETA member Jen Beagle attended her first protest Tuesday.
A few years ago, while working at the airport, a truck carrying livestock pulled up beside her. Beagle noticed a pig peering out of a ventilation hole and says she literally “saw the fear in its eyes.” It was then
that she decided to stop eating meat and wearing leather.
As if to make her point, a truck carrying a load of squealing pigs lumbers by the protesting crowd.
