Anti-fur protesters crashed designer Donna Karan’s 20th anniversary show at New York Fashion Week on Sunday.
What a shame, I'm sure.
Two protesters were arrested after they ran onto the catwalk at the end of the show carrying signs that read “Donna: Dump Fur.” The pair were quickly grabbed by security and rushed off the runway.
Outside protesters dressed as bloodied rabbits held a noise demonstration, waving placards that read “Rabbits are friends,” “No blood for vanity” and “Real designers don’t hurt animals.”
Demonstrators had gathered over an hour before the DKNY show started on Sunday morning.
As the world's fashion press and buyers entered for the show they were bombarded with anti-fur chants.
The designer's show boasted an A-list line-up on the front row. Actresses Winona Ryder, Christina Ricci and Nicole Ritchie were sitting next to each another, while Kate Bosworth was also positioned just seats away.
After the show,CONDÉ NAST PORTFOLIO writes, the grim-faced protesters contrasted sharply with the Vuitton toting fashion flock exiting onto 6th Avenue. One protester, dressed all in black, wore an animal mask, high heels splotched with red, and a fake-blood-spattered white apron.
The protest highlighted the enduring tension between the fantasy of fashion, where fur epitomizes luxury, and real-world issues of how designers obtain the materials they use.
A comment from the designer's husband and contributing editor at Vanity Fair, Reinaldo Herrera demonstrates the idiocy of the fashion elite. His reaction to the protest: "Who cares? It's so stupid. This is a summer collection. It's ridiculous to do this now. At least do it when it has a point."
The following press release is from PETA.
Frustration Mounts Over Designer's Broken Promise on Fur
For Immediate Release:
September 7, 2008
Contact:
Ashley Byrne 757-622-7382
New York -- The fur was flying at Donna Karan's fashion show in Bryant Park this morning, as PETA members leaped onto the catwalk waving signs that read, "Donna: Dump Fur," in protest of the designer's use of rabbit fur in her collection--despite having given her word that she would never use fur again. Chanting, "Shame," the protesters were dragged off the stage, ejected from the show and arrested.
PETA, which has held protests outside Karan's fashion shows, office, and apartment, has stepped up its campaign after Karan refused to watch a videotape showing rabbits being cruelly killed for their pelts. PETA has also written to Karan to explain that animals on fur factory farms spend their entire lives confined to tiny, filthy metal cages with no shelter from weather extremes. PETA also told Karan that to kill rabbits, fur farmers break the animals' necks or smash their skulls before stringing them up by their legs, cutting off their heads, and skinning them.
Many top fashion designers--including Calvin Klein, Stella McCartney, Ralph Lauren, and Tommy Hilfiger--are 100 percent fur-free after discussions with PETA.
"Donna Karan is a cold and soulless woman who turns her back on animals to turn a buck," says PETA President Ingrid Newkirk. "Animals killed for Donna Karan's designs either had their necks broken or were electrocuted, beaten to death, or skinned alive."
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