John Galliano is the latest designer to ditch the use of real fur in his designs. The Maison Margiela designer told Elle France France that a chance meeting with PETA's senior vice president while he was in Saint Tropez with Penelope Cruz (now that's a fashion sentence) caused him to rethink fur's place in modern life.
Today we don't want a product, we want ethics, a firm that defends the values that we admire," Galliano explained.
Fur has been a hot button topic in fashion lately, with announcements from Tom Ford, Michael Kors, Gucci, Versace and others declaring the dawn of a fur-free era for their brands and inspiring others to do the same. It's particularly notable that Galliano is the latest domino to fall in line with the anti-cruelty ethos, as fur was a near-constant in his designs for Christian Dior. (A PETA protestor even charged the runway at his Fall 2003 Dior show, and was pushed out of the way by one model only to reveal another in a giant fur coat).
Galliano is also applying his new mindset to his personal life, adopting a vegetarian diet to coincide with his decision (Ford made a similar move). Like so many creatives in high-octane fields, he's also taking a more mindful approach to wellness and health. "My life is more balanced," he said. "The pressure in the fashion industry is the same, but now I know how to step away and meditate, and my life has gone from black to white."
Related | Versace Is Going Fur-Free
So who will be next to join the movement? With entire cities banning the material, it seems the needle is pointing in the direction of a fur-free future.
Image via Getty