Julie Bishop has ruffled feathers with PETA.
The former foreign minister, 67, attended day one of Australian Fashion Week on Monday in a $2000 black cocktail dress by Rachel Gilbert with ostrich feather trim on the sleeves.
The animal rights organisation slammed the 67-year-old over her outfit in a scathing letter.
In the note, they told Bishop that ‘feathers are every bit as cruel as fur, a fact that led Melbourne Fashion Week to ban the feathers of wild birds from its catwalks.’
‘It’s great that you champion Australian fashion, but feathers are a faux pas,’ PETA added.
Julie Bishop has ruffled feathers with PETA after she wore $2000 black cocktail dress by Rachel Gilbert at Australian Fashion Week on Monday
In a letter directed at Bishop, the organisation stated that ‘feathers are every bit as cruel as fur, a fact that led Melbourne Fashion Week to ban the feathers of wild birds from its catwalks’
They went on to detail PETA’s recent investigations into ostrich farms.
‘Ostriches don’t moult, so their feathers are either ripped out while they’re still alive or removed after slaughter,’ they stated.
PETA then suggested an alternative for Bishop.
They went on to detail PETA’s recent investigations into ostrich farms. ‘Ostriches don’t moult, so their feathers are either ripped out while they’re still alive or removed after slaughter,’ they stated
‘As the ever-lovely Pamela Anderson proved on the Met Gala red carpet, natural pampas grass is a glamorous upgrade to the feathers of cruelly slaughtered birds,’ the letter read, referring to the headpiece Anderson wore to the New York fashion event this year.
‘We urge you, as a leader and a role model, to showcase only sustainable, cruelty-free brands and look forward to seeing you step out in vegan looks in the future,’ the letter concluded.
There have been recent moves away from decorative feathers in the fashion industry.
Online fashion platforms such as The Iconic and ASOS have committed to bans.
Australian label Zhivago, favoured by celebrities such as Gwen Stefani and Cardi B, is completely animal-free and carries the ‘PETA-Approved Vegan’ logo.
PETA – whose motto reads, in part, that ‘animals are not ours to wear’ – opposes ‘speciesism’, a ‘human-supremacist’ worldview.
The animal rights organisation then suggested an alternative for Bishop – ‘As the ever-lovely Pamela Anderson proved on the Met Gala red carpet, natural pampas grass is a glamorous upgrade to the feathers of cruelly slaughtered birds’
‘We urge you, as a leader and a role model, to showcase only sustainable, cruelty-free brands and look forward to seeing you step out in vegan looks in the future,’ the letter concluded. Pictured: the letter PETA sent to Julie Bishop
