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Anti-Fur Protesters Storm Versace
Fashion Show
PARIS (Reuters) - Animal rights protesters
stormed the catwalk at Italian designer
Donatella Versace's haute couture show in
Paris on Saturday, stunning an audience which
included Madonna (news - web sites), Gwyneth
Paltrow and Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood.
Two demonstrators claiming allegiance to
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
(PETA) jumped onto the catwalk as top models
including Brazilian (news - web sites) Fernanda
Tavares strutted past in day-glo mini skirts and glittering stiletto heels.
Security guards rapidly tackled a brown-haired woman and removed her
from the glass catwalk underlaid with flickering television screens, at a
venue close to the Eiffel Tower.
A well-dressed blonde woman managed to partly unroll a banner reading
``Fur Kills. Peta'' in front of photographers before being forced off and
wrestled to the ground, a few yards from where Madonna and her
celebrity friends sat.
The woman was rapidly escorted away as models, apparently oblivious to
the incident, continued to parade to a thumping disco soundtrack.
Moments later, the mood was back to normal and Madonna and Paltrow
whispered jokes to each other.
Former Culture Club singer and DJ Boy George sympathized with the
protesters. ``I think it's a legitimate expression of emotion. I'm a
vegetarian,'' he told Reuters after the show.
PETA frequently stages high-profile protests against fur. Its 1990s poster
campaign ``I'd Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur'' featured nude
supermodels including Naomi Campbell and Cindy Crawford.
It once dumped a dead raccoon on the plate of U.S. Vogue editor Anna
Wintour as she sat in a New York restaurant.
Fur, long a fashion no-no, has made a major comeback on the pages of
fashion magazines in the last two years. French Vogue editor Carine
Roitfeld was among several guests who arrived at the Versace show
wrapped in a heavy fur coat.
None of the outfits in Saturday's spring-summer collection featured fur,
although Versace favors full-on mink in winter.
[Edited by CS] |
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