After PETA Australia members took to the runway during a Melbourne Spring Fashion Week show, the show's organizers decided to pull all fur from the remaining shows.

No doubt worried that more protests would soon follow, Fashion Week organizers directed furry Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology student designer Molly Herben to remove the rabbit fur pieces from her show before they hit the runway. Another designer, Jack Loder, who had planned to show dresses made of impala fur and leather and trimmed with exotic feathers, also pulled his designs.

''As they stormed the catwalk, I thought, 'What does this mean for my work?''' said Loder. ''I spoke to [Fashion Week officials] the next morning and we agreed straight away: it's best if we just take it down.''

While members of PETA and our affiliates continue to educate the fashion industry via their own runways, you can help crush the cruel fur industry's profits by refusing to buy or wear any fur. 

Written by Michelle Sherrow

Today, PETA’s Director of Media Relations, Michael McGraw, and Senior VP Dan Mathews gave a presentation to the entire student body of one of the world’s most prestigious design schools. They were in New York City at Parsons, The New School for Design . . . that’s right, the home of Project Runway.

For years, the fur industry has been so desperate that it has bankrolled a program at Parsons offering young designers free fur to design with and underwriting fashion shows for students who put fur on the runway. But three years ago under the tutelage of Project Runway's very own Tim Gunn, the school began giving PETA equal time. I thought it was pretty great how he described his decision to fashion rag Women’s Wear Daily,

Tim Gunn: Make it work, people!
Credit: Renee Starbright/Creative Commons

Also exciting is the fact that cruelty-free designer Marc Bouwer is mentoring juniors at Parsons this semester as they work with cruelty-free fabrics, and their designs will be shown during the class’s year-end fashion show in April. I’ll keep you posted on that.

With Tommy Hilfiger, Ralph Lauren, J.Crew and a slew of others all permanently going fur-free this year, and with the future leaders of fashion now getting educated on both sides of the fur issue in school, the future looks bleak for the fur pimps out there. And the future looks very bright for these little guys:

Credit: Roger Cullman/Creative Commons