A WOMAN from Ulverston was 'skinned alive' as part of a protest against leather at London Fashion Week.
Lydia Smyth, 25, crashed London Fashion Week's opening event by staging an anti-leather stunt to call attention to suffering animals.
The PETA supporter gave fashion week attendees an eyeful yesterday when her prosthetic 'skin' was torn off by fellow campaigners, whilst sporting the message 'leather is someone's skin, wear vegan'.
Special-effects make-up helped create the appearance of real skin to call attention to the suffering of millions animals in the leather industry.
Miss Smyth said animals are 'sentenced to nightmarish suffering' for the latest fashion trends and is calling for a stop to it.
She said: "For leather jackets and shoes, sensitive cows are sentenced to nightmarish suffering and a miserable death.
"PETA is calling on designers and shoppers to do their part to save animals and the planet by choosing high-quality vegan leather, not animals' torn-off skin."
PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that 'animals are not ours to wear'– notes that more than a billion animals are killed for leather every year.
A PETA spokeswoman said: "They endure extreme crowding and deprivation as well as castration, branding, tail-docking, and dehorning, all without any painkillers.
"At abattoirs, their throats are cut and some are even skinned and dismembered while they are still conscious."
Last year, Helsinki Fashion Week banned leather from the catwalk, and designers focused instead on superior vegan leather fabrics such as microfibre, Ultrasuede, and recycled polyurethane as well as materials made from pineapple leaves (Piñatex), mushrooms, and wine grapes (Vegea).
In 2018, London Fashion Week became the first big fashion week to ditch animal fur.
Animal protestors are campaigning for one step further, urging for all leather goods to be kicked off the catwalk as well.
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel