Faking It : Dressing Vegan-Style--No Animal Products, Please--Is Getting Easier, Thanks to Synthetics
The Nordstrom shoe salesman approaches.
“May I help you?” he asks.
“You really don’t want to,” Sabri na LeBeauf assures him.
The actress, best known for her work on “The Cosby Show,” is a vegan (VEE-gan) who wants nothing to do with animal products. She believes in “compassionate shopping,” a practice that applies to clothing, cosmetics, accessories--even sporting goods and automobile interiors.
Although many of the nation’s 12.5 million vegetarians may eschew fur and leather because of concerns about cruelty, an estimated 500,000 vegans might add to the list silk (worms “boiled alive,” according to People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), wool (sheep “brutally” mistreated), feathers (birds plucked for profit) and pearls (oysters robbed of “a part of their being”). Some are such purists they won’t even wear faux fur or faux leather.
The perks for such dedication include a clear conscience and considerable cost savings. This is the cotton, rubber, vinyl and polyester cheering squad. Through word of mouth and trial and error, these consumers learn how to dress, where to shop and when to bow to the inevitable.
Finding fashionable footwear is labor-intensive in a store like Nordstrom. “I really don’t like to ask them to run around for the synthetics,” explains LeBeauf, who finds the going easier at Payless Shoesource, home of high-fashion knockoffs. Many of her leather-free accessories, including a cellular phone case, come from Just In Case, a Santa Monica store specializing in upscale synthetic accessories.
On LeBeauf’s wish list are a short, warm swing coat in an artificial fabric and chic brown “pleather” footwear. Echoing other vegans, she says black synthetics look great but brown ones have a long way to go.
Still, shopping gets a little easier every year. This fall, a smiling cow signals “genuine non-leather” among the leather items in Unlisted--Kenneth Cole’s collection of $60-or-less shoes and bags.
Cole’s print and TV campaign “was wonderful,” says LeBeauf, “because most people who aren’t familiar with vegetarians or vegans think of it as this impossible lifestyle. They think you don’t eat anything but salad. You don’t have any decent clothes and you certainly can’t be fashionable.”
Lauren Laster, a vegetarian who owns a lingerie showroom in the California Mart, considers herself very fashionable. Starting with her feet. “I am wearing my fake suede platform shoes--$16 from Patrini--with my $18 Donna Karan hose,” she says. And, yes, faux leather shoes do last. She has worn her favorites, black half-boots from Patrini, for three years.
Laster was once “a leather-toting kind of a gal,” with the works--jackets, skirts, shirts, pants and vests. A few years ago, she consigned the lot to a resale shop (“I couldn’t feel comfortable giving them to anybody”) and donated the money to charity. Her replacements include “spandex and lots of velvet” and a $130 synthetic coat from a recent Chadwick’s of Boston catalogue. Without all the leather, Laster estimates she spends 60% to 75% less on clothing and accessories these days.
Concerned consumers say they would be adrift without such favorite stores and companies as Sears, Montgomery Ward, Standard Shoe Stores, Fayva, K mart, Liz Claiborne, Kenneth Cole and Sam & Libby.
They also rely on catalogues, both mainstream and vegan-only, such as Just In Case, Creatureless Comforts (women’s accessories with a “Coach” look), Aesop (accessories and footwear, including Doc Marten look-alikes, athletic shoes, men’s and women’s wingtips) and Heartland Products Ltd. (cowboy and hiking boots, dress and running shoes for men and women).
And they research products using such publications and organizations as Animals’ Voice, EarthSave and People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals. Three times a year, for example, New York-based Beauty Without Cruelty sends members “The Compassionate Shopper,” a booklet listing some of the best places to buy products such as fake furs and wool-free coats.
The National Green Pages, a directory listing more than 1,000 “socially and environmentally responsible businesses,” is a favorite reference guide for Chantal Cloutier, owner of a Los Angeles agency for hair, makeup and wardrobe stylists.
Cloutier is anti-leather, anti-fur--and outspoken. In a chic Beverly Center store recently, she overheard a salesclerk bragging about an alligator belt. “It made me sick,” Cloutier says. “I’d seen a program on how they’re treated. I told her I thought it was disgusting they would carry it.”
The same convictions guide Ilene Adelman, a Los Angeles landscape designer. “This is all about principles being more important than having a particular thing that momentarily looks and feels good.” She recently passed on a cotton jacket at Banana Republic, explaining to the salesperson: “I would love to have it, but not with the leather collar.”
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These consumers also dole out the praise to favorite sources via letters and telephone calls. And those who don’t worry that they should.
“I think about it all the time,” says Martha Quinn, an actress, former MTV deejay and vegetarian who lives in Los Angeles. “I get worried these companies will stop. I’ve been noticing lately there are genuine leather shoes at Payless, and my heart sinks.”
She wasn’t always like this: “I would eat my veggie burger and throw on my leather motorcycle jacket and cool leather boots. Eventually, it caught up with me. The fact that the cow wasn’t being killed for me didn’t help. I just couldn’t put the two together anymore.”
Michael Ian Elias, a Northridge songwriter and musician, is usually content with rayon-polyester or cotton suits. “Most vegans aren’t trendy,” he says. “They’re more down-to-earth people who don’t like to flaunt clothing and attitude.”
But there are times when he wishes “there were more designers in the upper echelons who would consider making vegetarian-lifestyle clothing. I’m getting married soon, and it’s very difficult finding a nice suit that’s not made out of wool.”
An Orthodox Jew, Elias wears a tefillin with leather straps for the morning prayer ritual. But he religiously replaces the leather bindings on his racquetball racquets with vinyl tape.
Ordering a luxury car with a vinyl interior isn’t so easy.
Gil Michaels, a Los Angeles businessman and founder of the Compassion for Animals Foundation, negotiated with Rolls-Royce for three months to get faux leather upholstery. “It came out wonderfully,” he says.
Michaels hasn’t bought a silk tie since 1985, but he does wear his old ones. And he uses leather riding boots and a bridle for lack of attractive alternatives. There would be, he says, “if people didn’t eat meat, (because) leather would be absurdly expensive.”
Los Angeles wardrobe stylist Beth Goodman says the production company made sure it had a motorcycle with vinyl seats for k.d. lang’s latest video, “Just Keep Me Moving.” And although it takes Goodman “a lot of extra time” to locate clothing and accessories for the vegan singer, she says: “I have a lot of respect for her. She’s almost converted me. I eat almost no meat, and I know it has a lot to do with her.”
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Such acceptance is a far cry from the ‘60s, says Broadway singer and dancer Gretchen Wyler. “The animal rights movement was in the closet. I would never tell anyone I didn’t wear fur. I would just tell them I wasn’t cold.”
These days, Wyler, who lives in Sherman Oaks, is definitely out of the closet. She is founder of the Ark Trust Inc., which each year bestows Genesis Awards on media and arts professionals “who have spotlighted animal issues in their work.”
And if a role traditionally calls for fur, Wyler requests “a drop dead” substitute, such as the lavender cape she wore in a recent “42nd Street” revival. “It had a marvelous swing to it. It think it was much more glamorous than dead animals sort of dropping off my back.”
She won’t buy leather, wool or silk--with one exception: her irreplaceable English silk rehearsal shoes. “I can’t be a purist,” she laments. “Dance shoes for dancers are a special thing.”
LeBeauf has also made professional compromises. When she signed on to play Cosby’s oldest daughter in the long-running sitcom, she specified a “no fur” wardrobe. “And whenever I could, I would not wear leather or suede. But I had a problem with wool. Most of the show was in the winter, so there were a lot of heavy wool things.” When the series ended, cast members were allowed “to take whatever they wanted. I ended up with almost nothing,” says LeBeauf, who won’t even use a shampoo containing silk or lanolin.
“The question for a vegan is: ‘How far do you go and still stay sane?’ ” says Janeen Rae Heller, an L.A.-based musician and actress.
Heller goes pretty far. She turned down a pantyhose commercial after she did her homework and found that the sponsor’s parent company owned “a major sausage company.” And she irked the costumer of the hit sitcom “Home Improvement” by asking for vegan-friendly clothing for a guest appearance.
The vegan life is definitely different.
“People will try to catch you,” Heller says. “They will say: ‘Oh, that looks like leather.’ I’ve even had someone call me up and joke: ‘Oh, excuse me, Janeen. I have to get this baby seal out of my mouth.’ They all have this attitude. They think you’re nuts. You just have to have fun with it. If you do, people usually ask more questions.”
A Vegan-Friendly Directory Store and Catalogue
* Just In Case, 2718 Main St., Santa Monica, Calif. 90405; (310) 399-3096
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Catalogues
* Aesop Inc., P.O. Box 315, North Cambridge, Mass. 02140; (617) 628-8030
* Creatureless Comforts, 702 Page St., Stoughton, Mass. 02072; (617) 344-7496
* Heartland Products Ltd., P.O. Box 218, Dakota City, Iowa 50529; (800) 441-4692
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Publications
* Animals’ Voice magazine, 6433 Topanga Canyon Blvd., 405, Canoga Park, Calif. 91303; (800) 82-VOICE
* Beauty Without Cruelty USA, 175 W. 12th St., 16G, New York, N.Y. 10011-8275
* The National Green Pages, published by Co-Op America; (202) 872-5307
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Organizations
* EarthSave, 706 Frederick St., Santa Cruz, Calif. 95062; (408) 423-4069
* The Ark Trust Inc., P.O. Box 8191, Universal City, Calif. 91608-0191; (818) 786-9990
* People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), P.O. Box 42516 Washington, D.C. 20015; (301) 770-PETA
* Last Chance for Animals (LCA), 18653 Ventura Blvd., Suite 356, Tarzana, Calif. 91356; (310) 271-6096
* In Defense of Animals, 816 W. Francisco Blvd., San Rafael, Calif. 94901; (415) 453-9984
