By Bailei Burgess-Simmons
Staff Writer
New York Fashion Week got an interesting start on Sept. 7 when protestors crashed Coach’s Fall 2024 Ready-to-Wear show at the New York Public Library Main Branch.
The Coach show, one of many shows meant to kick off NYFW, featured dresses, jackets, boots and bags made of leather.
The brand, known for its handbags and womenswear, has long used animal skins in its work. Past designers have used everything from crocodile skin to cowhide to pigskin. So, it was no surprise that this line featured real leather as well.
However, animal rights activists must have been fed up because they interrupted the show in protest of the coach's use of leather.
Supporters of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals walked the show between models. One wore a body painting of what appeared to be a skinned human with realistically painted muscles and tendons on display. The other trailed behind holding a double-sided sign that read, “Coach: Leather Kills.”
“Today’s conscientious consumers know that the future of fashion lies in innovative vegan materials, not in cows’ sliced-off skin,” said PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman in response to the act of civic disobedience. “PETA is shaking up Coach’s catwalk to drive home the message that leather belongs in the annals of history, not in designers’ current collections.”
This unapologetic address from PETA proves to be pretty on-brand for the group, as this is not the first time something like this has occurred. PETA protestors first successfully crashed a runway more than 30 years ago when activists stormed the stage of an Oscar de la Renta show to protest the use of fur.
Since then, the likes of Versace, Dior, and Jean Paul Gautier, just to name a few, have been the successful targets of PETA’s activists.
Protestors have even gone as far as personally attacking models representing the brands. The most well known example is when protestors accosted supermodel Gisele Bündchen on stage. Activists carried signs saying, “Gisele Fur Scum,” and stalked the stage behind her.
Supermodel Gigi Hadid has also been the target of protestors in the past. She has had both her runway walk and personal meet-and-greet disturbed by anti-fur protestors.
Each runway crash was due to what protestors say are poor ethical fashion choices. The use of real animal fur has long been a problem for animal rights activists. In more recent years, protestors have also challenged fashion brands on their culture of overconsumption, textile waste and their overall effect on the environment.
Protestors act with the intention of encouraging luxury brands to choose vegan materials for their designs and develop more sustainable practices.
That begs the question, is storming fashion shows the way to do it? These public acts of protest draw attention to the problem at hand and to those trying to solve it. If this is anything to go by, they get people talking.
However, what do they fix? What solutions arise? Who is held accountable?
These problems surrounding high fashion have existed for as long as fashion has existed. Fashion exists as a result of demand. Designers create pieces and people buy them. Should the pressure be on brands to create better, more sustainable clothing? Should it be on models and influencers to endorse better brands? Or, should it be on the consumers, to only buy the vegan and ethically created products?
For now the responsibility may lie with all stakeholders involved in the process. Consumers who are concerned about these issues can only purchase materials they believe in, while also encouraging brands and influences to produce and promote sustainable products.
