Fall Fashion’s Animal Appeal
The fur debate heated up Tuesday when two women disrupted the Oscar de la Renta fashion show by leaping onto the runway in front of a model and holding up posters that said “Fur Shame.”
The well-heeled audience broke out in applause as the protesters, representatives of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, were tackled by photographer Richard Renda and dragged off the runway by security guards.
Ironically, de la Renta did not show any fur in his fall 2000 runway presentation. He used shearling and ostrich feathers. PETA targeted the designer in 1996, shoving a pie in his face at a Dallas charity event where he showed faux fur.
“Oscar continues ripping the skins off animals’ backs and using them, even if he didn’t put them in this show,” said PETA’s fur-campaign coordinator, RaeLeann Smith. She identified the protesters as Robyn Wesley, 32, and Karla Waples, 25, both of Norfolk, Va. They were arrested and charged with criminal trespassing.
“We wanted to show the world there is no beauty in animal cruelty,” Smith said. “It’s time to put compassion back into fashion.” She would not discuss how the women got into the show, or whether there are more PETA protests planned for this week.
De la Renta could not be reached for comment, but his creative director Adam Lippis said: “Our sentiment is that after they got rid of the fur people, there was a lot of applause from the audience. That kind of sums it up. [PETA] is taking things to extremes and it’s too bad.”
Both women have been arrested previously for fur-related protests.
Ron Chereskin is bucking the trend toward fur in the fall collections. Models at the New York-based menswear designer’s show Thursday were accessorized with furry friends, not fur stoles.
The 14 puppies that went down Chereskin’s runway were borrowed from New York City’s Humane Society, and all were adopted the day of the show.
“It’s a great cause that I care about,” he said Tuesday, “And an opportunity for me to give these dogs some exposure so they can get adopted.”
Chereskin is developing a clothing line of ties, socks, underwear and T-shirts for dogs and cats that will be in department stores in the fall. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the society.
Something tells me more people will buy his pet merchandise than will buy the $10,000 fur coats being shown on the runways this week.
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Ballyhooed as one of the biggest events of Fashion Week, the Glamour magazine-sponsored New York premiere of Leonardo DiCaprio’s film “The Beach” was a bit of a bust by L.A. standards.
Party planners’ first mistake was holding the bash at the Directors Guild Theater, which is very small. Seats were so limited that most people went to claim one before heading downstairs to the cocktail party. (They decided to hold a cocktail party before the film, instead of after, as premiere parties usually do.)
The few celebrities who did show for the party looked sorry they bothered: “Law and Order’s” Angie Harmon, Heather Donahue (“The Blair Witch Project”), Heather Matarazzo, Debi Mazar and Stephen Baldwin. Although his co-star Virginie Ledoyen came in time to hobnob with partygoers, Leo did not slip in until the last moment, just as the house went dark.
