Models to Walk in ‘Human Skin’ Fashion Show Outside Urban Outfitters
On Wednesday, December 14th at noon, PETA “models” will unfurl a carpeted “runway” outside Urban Outfitters on Broadway across from Herald Square and form their own catwalk to showcase designs made of hyperrealistic “human leather” from Urban Outraged, a guerrilla marketing effort by PETA made to resemble a real online store that sells jackets, boots, skirts, and bags made from what looks like humans’ skin.
The group hopes the gruesome fashion show will make people question the acceptability of using any living, feeling being’s skin for fashion—something Urban Outfitters brands, including Anthropologie and Free People, do by selling wool, cashmere, mohair, leather, down, silk, and alpaca wool, all of which represent extreme violence, cruelty, and fear.
“A cow’s skin belongs to her, and she feels fear and pain in a slaughterhouse every bit as much as you or I would,” says PETA Executive Vice President Tracy Reiman. “PETA is challenging shoppers to see the individual behind every bit of animal skin on store racks and shelves and opt for cruelty-free clothing instead.”
Event Location: 1333 Broadway, at the intersection with W. 35th Street, New York
Note the “teeth” at the edge of the boots! PETA Models wearing “human skin” clothing and shoes.
Banner Image: Model in ‘human skin’ jacket. Image Credit – PETA
All Images: PETA protest in front of Urban Outfitters. Image Credit – PETA
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals
People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) is the largest animal rights organization in the world, and PETA entities have more than 9 million members and supporters globally. PETA opposes speciesism, a human-supremacist worldview, and focuses its attention on the four areas in which the largest numbers of animals suffer the most intensely for the longest periods of time: in laboratories, in the food industry, in the clothing trade, and in the entertainment business. We also work on a variety of other issues, including the cruel killing of rodents, birds, and other animals who are often considered “pests” as well as cruelty to domesticated animals. PETA works through public education, investigative newsgathering and reporting, research, animal rescue, legislation, special events, celebrity involvement, and protest campaigns.