NEW YORK January 3, 2019
The number of designers vowing to go fur-free has been increasing lately. Most recently, Diane von Furstenberg and Burberry announced plans to stop using real fur, joining luxury brands like Gucci, Versace, Armani, Michael Kors and Calvin Klein. Now, designer Jean Paul Gaultier has said that the use of fur is “absolutely deplorable.”
The statement may come as a shock since the designer has been using fur for years in his collections. Mimi Bekhechi, director of international programs at the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta),commented that Gaultier’s decision comes years after anti-fur protests of his shows, including “a Peta member being tossed out of his Fashion Week show in 2002 after causing a runway ruckus with her anti-fur message, as well as takeover of his Paris boutique in 2006 led by Peta founder Ingrid Newkirk.”
Earlier this year, The British Fashion Council (BFC) officially banned animal fur in any of its runway shows and presentations for Spring 2019 and the Los Angeles City Council voted unanimously for a ban on the sale of all fur products beginning in 2020. Though the designer did not give details as to what caused his change of heart, fur will be absent from all future Gaultier collections.
