Trendsetting U.K.-based retailer Topshop teamed up with PETA U.K. to make over the window of its Oxford Street flagship store for the weekend and send a message to shoppers that exotic skins are not in. (Take that, Beyoncé.)

In order to make handbags, shoes, and Super Bowl halftime outfits, snakes are commonly nailed to trees and skinned alive, and alligators and lizards are bludgeoned with hammers. It can take several agonizing hours for the animals to die, usually from shock or dehydration. Watch PETA's shocking exposé, narrated by Joaquin Phoenix, to learn more about the suffering that lies behind those crocodile backpacks and python pumps. Reptiles may be cold-blooded, but wearing their skins is cold-hearted.

Please follow Topshop's lead (it doesn't sell fur or exotic skins) and pledge to keep wildlife out of your wardrobe.

Take the Pledge. 

It could almost be a story out of The Onion, but it's completely true. Shoemaker PMK designed a pair of sneakers for Beyoncé, called "King Beys," made of calf hair and crocodile, anaconda, stingray, and ostrich skins. The company started marketing the shoes on its website, and, incredibly, told consumers that "[n]o animals were beaten, harmed, or killed" for the shoes. I think the five different species of animals who were most certainly beaten, harmed, and killed for the shoes would beg to differ.

In response, PETA's legal counsel has sent a cease-and-desist letter to Andre Scott, the CEO of PMK, demanding that the company immediately stop issuing false and misleading statements to customers or face legal action.

If Scott and other executives are in doubt, PETA invited them to watch our video exposé "Cold-Blooded Horrors," narrated by Joaquin Phoenix, which shows how many of the exotic animals they used are beaten, stabbed, and flayed alive.

PMK isn't exactly known for being a by-the-book company. On January 23, Ohio's attorney general filed a lawsuit against it and Scott for violating customer protection laws. The suit alleges that consumers paid for but did not receive products nor did they receive refunds from the company. PMK also received an "F" rating from the Better Business Bureau.

We're giving PMK an "F," too—for "false," "fraudulent," and "facing a lawsuit."

Happy New Year! Yes, already—at least in places where the Lunar New Year is observed, including China. To join our Chinese friends in celebrating the start of the Year of the Snake, we're featuring one of PETA's most memorable snake-themed ads, in which lovely actor, dancer, and producer Jenna Dewan-Tatum exposes the distinctly not-so-lovely side of the exotic-skins trade. 

Jenna—who is preparing to deliver her very first bundle of joy with husband Channing Tatum—recently appeared in American Horror Story: Asylum. But what happens to animals killed for their skins is every bit as gruesome as anything perpetrated by that show's mad scientist or serial killers. Snakes have their bodies cut open from one end to the other and their skin ripped off before being tossed aside to struggle and thrash in pain for hours or even days until they die. Most alligators used for accessories are raised in filthy tanks until they are stabbed or beaten to death.

What You Can Do

Millions of snakes, lizards, alligators, crocodiles, and other reptiles are violently killed every year so that their skins can be torn from their bodies to make wallets, belts, boots, and handbags. Don't buy into this cruel rip-off—instead, choose accessories made from chic, cruelty-free materials such as fake snake, mock croc, and pleather. You'll look (and feel) better knowing that you got the glam—without stealing someone else's skin. 

If holiday shoppers needed divine intervention to persuade them to keep animal skins off their lists, that's exactly what they got. A saintly duo of PETA "angels" has been crisscrossing Canada in cherubic attire to help people in the frozen north be angelic to animals this winter by eschewing fur, leather, wool, down, and exotic skins. 

And while crowds of pedestrians were stopping to take pictures of the holy encounter and offering to buy the angels some hot tea, the dreamy pair was busy explaining that torturing and killing animals for their skin is an unholy nightmare.

The angels are hopeful that people will show good will toward animals this holiday season so that this year, every time a bell rings, an angel will get her wings and animals will keep their skin. 

The day after Thanksgiving is Black Friday, when the holiday gift-shopping season really gets underway. But for animal rights advocates nationwide, it's Fur-Free Friday, also an occasion to hit the stores—to urge consumers not to buy into the cruelty of the skins trade.

Yes, "skins." Even on Fur-Free Friday, it's important to remember that fur isn't the only material used for clothing that results from the suffering of animals. Like fur, leather, for instance, comes from animals who are raised on crowded farms and killed using cruel methods—some are even skinned while they're still alive. Whether it comes from a snake or a sable, a cow or a chinchilla, it's all skin—and we, not they, can live without it.

PETA hopes that everyone heading out to (or returning from) a Fur-Free Friday demonstration will be able to answer the question, "Whose skin am I in?" with the reply, "Only my own!"

 Ann Taylor and LOFT wearers, rejoice! The parent company of those iconic clothing and accessory brands, ANN INC., has banned the use of exotic-animal skins in its product lines after meeting with PETA and learning about the extreme animal suffering caused by the exotic-skins industry. The company's newly revised animal welfare policy reads, "Our private label brands do not use real animal fur and do not knowingly sell products with skins considered to be exotic, including but not limited to alligator, crocodile and ostrich."

ANN INC. joins Mango, H&M, Victoria's Secret, PUMA, and others in adopting animal welfare policies that ban exotic-animal skins. In Africa, Asia, and the U.S., exotic animals—including snakes and lizards—are hunted or raised and killed specifically for their skins. Alligators and crocodiles are stabbed in the neck with a metal chisel or bludgeoned with metal bats. PETA Asia's undercover investigations found live snakes nailed to trees by their heads before their skin was torn off their writhing bodies.

What You Can Do

If you see people wearing or selling exotic skins, please ask them to watch PETA's hard-hitting video exposé "Cold-Blooded Horrors: Inside the Exotic-Skins Trade" narrated by The Master star and longtime PETA pal Joaquin Phoenix to learn about the cruelty behind their fashion choices.

This sultry snake charmer looked bootiful enough to charm the snakeskin shoes and accessories right off folks outside a Washington, D.C., metro station and convince them to scale up their fashion sense with faux skins.

Since the Massachusetts Bay Transit Authority rejected our offer to wrap rubber snakes around subway car poles to convince people who don't like snakes to shed exotic skins, we charmed our way into metro stations across the country for the sake of snakes.

At least one patron got all rattled by the display.

Following discussions with PETA, PUMA—one of the world's largest designers and developers of sports footwear, apparel, and accessories—has pledged never to use animal fur, wool that comes from mulesed (i.e., mutilated) Australian sheep, or exotic-animal skins. How appropriate that a company named after one of nature's most beautiful animals would help protect so many others!

Photo: Nick Saglimbeni for SlickForceStudio|Hair and makeup: Glenn Nutley for Celestine Agency|Body art: Nelly Rechhia for Aim Artists

For help in making animal-friendly choices, check out PETA's cruelty-free shopping guide.

Are you ready for (cue ominous music) … Snakes on a Train?

No, it's not the sequel to that (in)famous Samuel L. Jackson film—although it is the title of a straight-to-video rip-off. In this case, it's a new PETA campaign that is sure to get some attention for reptiles killed for their skins.

What Are Your Hands Holding?

PETA is asking the Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority (MBTA) for permission to launch its new "Snakes on a Train" campaign on the T, featuring realistic-looking rubber snakes wrapped around subway poles and handles, as well as a slogan on the windows that reads, "Snakes Make Your Skin Crawl? Shed All Scaly Belts and Bags! Watch Video at PETA.org":

Snakes: (c) iStockphoto.com/Eric Isslee - Train:(c) DDholer

PETA hopes to scare commuters out of their snakeskin boots, shoes, purses, and belts. In order to make snakeskin accessories, these reptiles are nailed to trees or posts and skinned alive. Their mutilated bodies are discarded, and it sometimes takes hours for them to die.

How You Can Help Snakes

If you wouldn't want to hold on to a snake during your commute, why would you want to have their dead flesh wrapped around your waist, feet, or personal belongings? Let's shed exotic skins for good.

Photo Of the Day

Bollywood beauty Dia Mirza put herself in a skinned snake's shoes to ask her fans to walk away from exotic-animal skins.

Photo: Jatin Kampani | Stylist: Theia Tekchananey | Make-up: Nahush Pise | Hair: Shobha Kewal

"[J]ust putting myself in the place of that snake or that crocodile made me feel sick," she said. "How can you wear anything that kills an animal so cruelly to make yourself look good?"

The style that looks good from Bollywood to Boston is kindness. Check out PETA's Polyvore page for oodles of hip, cruelty-free fashions.