Victoria Bartlett, VPL SS10

It’s Fashion week in NYC! Here is my interview with Victoria Bartlett about her show at the Chelsea Piers for Spring/Summer 2010.

In regard to her sponsorship by the Humane Society of the United States, she had this to say:

“I’ve always been anti-fur – I love my pets…and I could never see them being worn. It’s a very human time right now, and what’s the sense in more carnage? There are other things in life to celebrate and design doesn’t have to be draped with dead animals.” - Voctoria Bartlett

Shirts, Books, Kicks, Bites

• Buy A Cool Organic Shirt from PARTYBOTS, Help Mercy For Animals!

$2 from every online apparel sale and 5% from all wholesale order get donated to Mercy For Animals to help assist in their efforts for animal compassion, education, investigations, grassroots activism and more.

• Check out these new books from some of our favorite animal advocates:

• Just for Kicks. Check these new, striking cruelty-free shoes.

• Check out some of the amazing recipes at G LIVING. The recipes are delectable, and photographed beautifully. We re drooling over here!

• Banfield, the nation’s largest veterinary practice with 730 hospitals and 2,000 veterinarians, including many in PetSmart stores, announced it will stop performing cosmetic tail docking, ear cropping, or devocalization (de-barking) of dogs.  Read The Article.
“After thoughtful consideration and reviewing medical research, we have determined it is in the best interest of the pets we treat, as well as the overall practice, to discontinue performing these unnecessary cosmetic procedures,” says Karen Faunt, vice president for medical quality advancement. “It is our hope that this new medical protocol will help reduce, and eventually eliminate, these cosmetic procedures altogether.”

Crayola Terrorism, Vick Fights Eagles, and SolarRolls

"Guilty" illustration by Ian Kim

• Michael Vick will now fight with Eagles instead of dogs.  After doing jail-time and anti-dogfighting campaigns with the HSUS and PETA, Vick has returned to the NFL and joins the Philadelphia Eagles. Will the Eagles be able to dodge the press about this, and furthermore, was it a wise decision when they already have an amazing QB Donovan McNabb, and considering Vick won’t be allowed to play for another seven months? What do you think?

• Speaking of Fighting Eagles, get this organic Loomstate tee at 25% off! For Kaight’s third anniversary, enjoy 25% off all purchases through Aug. 31. Online customers use coupon code “three” to redeem at www.kaightshop.com.

• Raise your hand if you think Crayola supports “terrorism”. Today, the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR), Civil Liberties Defense Center (CLDC) and civil rights attorneys will make oral arguments before the U.S. District Court of the Northern District of California that the Animal Enterprise Terrorism Act (AETA) is unconstitutional. The AETA is being used for the first time since its passage by Congress in 2006 to do exactly what civil rights advocates  feared it would do – criminalize activities protected by the First Amendment of the U.S. Constitution – activities like writing slogans in chalk on the sidewalk.

How can you help? Join CCR in protecting our basic constitutional rights by writing a letter to the editor of your local paper about the AETA.

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• SolarRolls are not eco-friendly sushi. Meet the first flexible solar panel. Waterproof and durable, this gadget gives you portable electricity anywhere there’s sun. You can charge your car battery, run a video camera, or use it to power cell phones. The possibilities are endless.  Starting at $295

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• An elephant known as Jewel, who IDA has been working to rescue for over two years, was attempted to be confiscated from her abuser by the USDA. Her abusive handler, Will Davenport – who has a history of abusing animals and violating the endangered species act in the illegal purchase of elephants Tina and Jewel from the Cole Brothers Circus. Read the whole article.

Wiener Roast, Rag & Bone and Dog Fighters

Wiener Roast: If you’ve ever wondered why men identify with charring meat, check out the article I wrote about dude-culture and barbecuing!

Rag & Bone’s organic knits. You know we think wool is ‘effed up. Rag & Bone, whose aesthetic we love, has some really great knits in organic cotton for Spring ’09. Did you know that 25% of ALL PESTICIDES used globally is for cotton?

Knock Out Dog Fighting: Tito Ortiz, Cung Lee, and other bad-asses take a stand against dog fighting. Check it out!

Gardein …tastes…. like… chicken. I picked up some It’s All Good brand veggie-chick’n in tomato tuscan marinade because it’s made with this really great faux meat called Gardein, and I hadn’t tried it yet. It was really convincing (scarily so, for this more-than-a-decade-vegan), and has 26 grams if protein per serving! Wow.  I prepared it over quinoa with some steamed greens:

DB Interviews: NIGEL BARKER

Nigel Barker cares about stuff – and he’s not a sissy. I recently chatted on the phone with this amazingly talented, compassionate, and influential photographer. We talked about everything from his fashion industry work, to his time spent in Haiti exposing some of the worst poverty, to his documentation of the controversial seal hunt. He doesn’t think that you can be a fur-wearing environmentalist, and he likes to shop thrift. Listen to our conversation:

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Things We Talked About:

• Nigel Barker
• Studio NB
• Edeyo
• Cool Vs. Cruel
• “A Sealed Fate”
• Desiderata by Max Ehrmann
• Skinny Bastard

Pink & Ricky Gervais Star in Incredible PETA ad

PETA’s brilliant, new video features the voices of Pink and Ricky Gervais as a rabbit and alligator duo who have a very interesting confrontation with some people at the coat check. Read More

• Enter to Win Cruelty-Free Fashions!

Gala Gallery

March 24, 2009, Vegan Food and Wine Tasting at The Max Studio

Come meet Yours Truly: Joshua Katcher, and Chloé Jo, as well as Golden Girl: Rue McClanahan, Moby, Morgan Spurlock, and Dan Pirraro as “Celebrity Guest Wine Pourers” at a special evening to benefit PCRM. Hosted by Mary and Peter Max and PCRM president Neal Barnard, M.D., Featuring food and wine from Bonobo’s, Candle 79, Dessert Diva – Fran Costigan, 4 Course Vegan, and Organic Vintages. Register NOW as tickets are going fast!

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March 14, 2009, ARFF 20th Anniversary Gala

Bob Barker, of The Price is Right fame, will host the Animal Rights Foundation of Florida (ARFF) 20th Anniversary Gala on Saturday, March 14, 2009, at 7 p.m., at the Broward County Convention Center. Pamela Anderson is the guest of honor. The black-tie-optional affair will provide members and supporters the opportunity to meet, mingle and relax while enjoying an exciting, eventful evening. Highlights of the gala will include a gourmet vegan dinner, an open bar, silent and live auctions featuring items from actress Kim Basinger and basketball player Yao Ming, and book signings by PETA’s Ingrid Newkirk and PCRM’s Dr. Neal Barnard. All proceeds from the gala will be used to fund ARFF’s Humane Education program, which has educated thousands of schoolchildren in Florida on veganism, companion animals and wildlife. Tickets for the gala are $250 and can be purchased by calling (954) 727-ARFF or visiting http://www.arff.org <http://www.arff.org&gt;

DBTV: Project Runway’s TIM GUNN

Fashion Week is upon us in New York City! I had a few moments to catch up with Tim Gunn at the Bryant Park Hotel for his conference with PETA on the fur industry.  Tim is an outspoken advocate for animals used in the fashion industry, and calls for responsibility and accountability from every single person using or wearing the skin of an animal – whether it is fur, leather, or wool. In the sea of indifference to animals that is Fashion Week, it is amazing to have someone with such clout eloquently speaking the simple truth that fur no longer represents luxury – instead it is an outdated and egregious symbol of ignorance.

Watch Tim’s Video for PETA:

Green Fur? Green Wash!

Fur is Green? More like Fur is Greed. The fur industry is jealous of the environmental movement. Green with envy, in fact. This has resulted in the Greenwashing award of the decade going to the Canada Fur Council’s “Fur is Green” campaign, which includes a spiffy website, a Facebook group, and amazing rationalizations that make historical comparisons impossible to ignore!

There are so many ways to expose the ridiculousness behind their hairy agenda that I don’t know which one to start with! Ok, ok, I’ll start with the one where they call people wearing fur “Environmental Activists“. So Let me get this straight – according to the Fur Is Green Facebook group,  if you are a compassionate person who wants animals to be able to live out their lives in protected habitats and doesn’t want them to be bludgeoned, trapped, or drowned in the wild, or vaginally electrocuted, gassed, or to spend their entire lives in small cages, you are a “fanatic”. But if you rationalize those things under the guise of “supporting thousands of jobs”, while avoiding looking at or openly addressing the actual acts and images associated with fur production, and indulging in toxically peserved luxury products, you are an “environmentalist”? Therefore, according to the CFC, compassion and empathy is fanatical.

Fur Is Toxic.
Producing a fur coat from ranch-raised animals takes more than 15 times as much energy as it does to produce a faux-fur coat! In addition, runoff waste from fur farms destroys waterways, and the toxic chemicals used (ammonia, chromates, bleaching agents, coal tar derivatives, hydrogen peroxide, formaldehyde, sulphides) to preserve the skins are also harming the environment. The fur industry has even lobbied governments in the Great Lakes area to maintain low water-quality standards—so that fur farms won’t be identified as major polluters. Wild trapping is no better,  indiscriminately catching whatever wanders into the trap – cats, dogs, endangered species – who are all thrown away after a miserable death.

I will be breaking a sacred rule of abuser-denial by making a historical comparison here (and they will be outraged at the audacity of my comparison): It was only 60 years ago that Ford Motor Company rationalized using Holocaust slave labor (my relatives) for car production. Yes, I know beavers are not Jews, and yes, I know that the Holocaust is not the fur industry – but the rationalizations used are the same. How could something so clearly terrible happen under our grandparents watch? Social atrocities don’t happen magically. They happen when people making money justify horrifying circumstances thoroughly enough to make them seem like “business as usual”.  The rationalizers avoid being compared to their predecessors at any cost. And they will continue to avoid these comparisons.

It seems there are always people who find ways to rationalize cruelty if there is money to be made – but to claim that your cruel and toxic industry is a workers’ advocacy, environmental, and “humane” industry is total doublethink!

The “FUR It’s MY CHOICE” poster from furisgreen.com showcases the crux of the disconnect. Anyone who has a dog or a cat knows that animals are more than fiber-production-units. What about the individual animal’s choice to avoid sources of pain and torment? To roam free and raise their young? Clearly, that point can never be  addressed.

It’s pretty obvious that the purpose of this campaign is a desperate attempt from a dying industry to quell the doubts of inquisitive potential customers. The problem? The truth is hard to cover up.

Thankfully there are brilliant designers like Calvin Klein, Charlotte Ronson, Stella McCartney, Vivienne Westwood, Benjamin Cho, Duckie Brown, Eddie Bauer, Guess?, H&M, Tommy Hillfiger, John Varvatos, Levi’s, Paul Frank, and people like Tim Gunn , Todd Oldham, Martha Stewart, Ellen Degeners and scores of other indistry professionals who are outspokenly anti-fur.

DBTV Episode 1: “Concrete Catwalk”

I went into Soho posing as a television host to give people wearing fur a hard time. If you want to know why I’m giving these people a hard time, click HERE. Some of my favorite quotes from the fur-wearers:

“…beavers are not extinct, which is one of the reasons that the designers make those furs.” – dude wearing a beaver coat & huge fur hat.

“I’d like to think that they were just run over in the street…” – woman wearing a new full-length mink.

“I just assume it grows its hair back and it’s all OK at the end of the situation…” – woman with fur hat.

“We’re from Michigan, so we need our furs.” -  mom & daughter fur duo

“I’m an animal lover, so this is quite at odds with being an animal lover.” – woman wearing head-to-toe fur