Kim Basinger Tells Designer to ‘Fur’-get Fur

Academy Award–winning actor and animal advocate extraordinaire Kim Basinger has stepped up, yet again, to speak up for animals who are skinned alive for their fur.

Kim’s classic anti-fur ad was one of the first in PETA’s “Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur” campaign, and the issue remains vitally important to her. Today she sent a letter to leading Chinese designer Luo Zheng reminding her that there’s nothing fashionable about using the skins of dead animals in her designs. Kim writes:

As you may know, this is an issue that is very dear to my heart. I have avoided wearing real fur for many years ….

PETA’s heartrending investigations have documented that animals, including dogs and cats, are bludgeoned, hanged, bled to death, strangled with wire nooses, and skinned alive. Workers have been caught beating raccoons, dogs and foxes with metal rods and leaving them to convulse on the ground. Some animals are injured but still completely conscious as they are skinned, and they kick and writhe as their skin is ripped from their bodies.

As China’s leading designer, Zheng could have a huge influence on the fashion world by joining compassionate, world-class designers such as Qi Gang, Stella McCartney, Betsey Johnson, Vivienne Westwood, and Todd Oldham who have already refused to use fur.

Take a cue from Kim, and tell another behind-the-times designer that fur is cruel and outdated.

Written by Heather Drennan