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The 12th annual Accessories Council Excellence (ACE) Awards were held on Monday night—and guess what? Stella McCartney is just so awesome that they had to create a whole new category just for her: Green Designer of the Year.

Stella is the first recipient of this new ACE Award—and rightly so! As someone who abstains from fur and leather, which are toxic for the environment, she's light-years ahead of certain other designers who are around … cough, Donna, cough, Giorgio. Sorry, must've had a little phlegm in my throat!

When Stella began her leather-free accessories line in 2006, she told Women's Wear Daily, "I do want to show that accessories can be made from a more ethical viewpoint—and be sexy and cool. The myth of leather—that every bag and shoe needs to be made from it—needs to be broken down. It's a bit caveman." Amen, Stella! Stella is also featured in Ingrid's newest book, One Can Make a Difference.

So congratulations to Stella on her well-deserved ACE Award. Hopefully, it'll only be a matter of time before all designers realize that (a) skins aren't green, and (b) we aren't cavemen. Are you listening, Donna?

Whoopsie, I meant to disguise that with another fake cough. Oh well.

Written by Amanda Schinke

PETA President Ingrid Newkirk's new book One Can Make a Difference is a collection of essays by some pretty awesome people—and one of my favorites is the wonderful Stella McCartney. You can't help but love Stella; she is not only a fabulous (and award-winning!) fashion designer but also a staunch opponent of fur and leather.

Even when asked to use animal skins in her clothing, Stella's always said no. In her essay, she writes, "I'm actually quite proud that I stuck to my decision never to touch the products of such outright cruelty." Right on, Stella! We're proud of you, too!

Another fantastic part of her essay is when she talks about this PETA fur exposé, which she narrated:

She sent copies to a bunch of designers who continue to use fur, but not all of them were willing to watch it. "Karl Lagerfeld, rather predictably, felt he needed to return the video to me!" Stella writes. "Dolce & Gabbana were disgracefully rude about it, too."

Why the lack of manners? Stella has one hypothesis: "I frankly don't think most designers have the balls to watch animals writhing and being slaughtered; they don't want to admit they're responsible for such suffering."

Well, Stella's got the cojones, so to speak—and for that, we adore her. And speaking of One Can Make a Difference, Ingrid launched the book last night in New York at an extremely successful book signing. Check out the fantastic turnout and click here to order your own copy:

Written by Amanda Schinke

i152 / CC

Our beloved Stella McCartney is rightly outraged over the misuse of one of her designs. It seems a sheer black bra from Stella's lingerie collection was used—without Stella's permission, of course—in an ad for a fur boutique.

Stella—who is totally dedicated to her anti-fur and -leather stance—only found out about the ad when she saw it in the latest issue of Vogue. There it was: one of her designs—partially covered by a ghastly mink coat and accessorized with a ghastly leather belt. Stella had lent the bra to a stylist for use in an editorial photo shoot, but the stylist had a mix up and used it for the advertisement instead—without asking for Stella's permission.

The story is that when Stella saw the ad, she "hit the roof and said that she planned to sue." Good for her! Stella doesn't want to support the cruelty of the fur industry. (Heck, I wouldn't like it if my second-grade finger-paintings were used to promote those animal killers.)

As for the fur boutique, they have already issued a "grovelling apology" and will not be using the ad again—which is quite a blow for them, considering that the ad would've cost £10,000 (about $19,000) to shoot in the first place—and about $50,000 to place in Vogue! That's a lot of money for a boutique to lose, even for one that regularly peddles $10,000 animal skins.

It's nice that the boutique has apologized to Stella. I don't suppose there's any chance that they'll next apologize to the countless animals who are caged, electrocuted, and skinned alive in the name of "fashion" … ?

Written by Amanda Schinke

DannySeo/Creative Commons

As an aside, I should point out that I don’t normally get quite this excited about women’s fashion, but Stella’s win is more than just an accolade for a talented designer—it’s a message to the fashion world that truly innovative and progressive designers can do just fine without using fur or leather. Stella, who has been a great friend to PETA over the years, has always been outspoken about her desire to keep her designs animal-friendly, and even took the time to narrate an anti-fur video to help us to persuade other designers to follow suit. Congratulations, Stella—and thanks for everything that you do.

I’m pretty excited about this one, as it’s the first time PETA is dipping its toe into Second Life. On July 12, we’re teaming up with cruelty-free designer Stella McCartney to co-host an event on a specially created island in the virtual world. Visitors to the island—which is inspired by the English countryside, with stables, picnic tables, and a Linda McCartney veggie burger stand—will be able to show support for PETA in virtual terms. All visitors will receive a bunch of cool anti-fur gear for their Second Life character to wear; you can donate money in Linden dollars, the community's currency, which PETA will be able to exchange for real U.S. dollars, and you’ll be able to dress your character in a sweet T-shirt with the slogan "I'd rather be pixilated than wear fur."

And check this out; there are real-world prizes to be won as well. We’re holding a competition on the island from July 12 - July 19 for a new PETA slogan based around the iconic tag line, "I'd rather go naked than wear fur." Prizes include two tickets to McCartney's spring 2008 show in Paris, one of the designer's Appaloosa bags and her entire Care skin care line.

For those of you already on Second Life, I’d be glad to email you when the island goes live. Just send me an email so I have your address.