As New York Fashion Week unfolds, PETA US has unveiled a gigantic billboard showing Gillian Anderson wearing nothing but a smile with the slogan “I’d Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur.”
“I found it liberating to use my body to make an important statement,” says the usually modest Emmy-winning star of The X-Files and co-author of last year’s bestseller We: A Manifesto for Women Everywhere, which will be out in paperback later this month. “People tend to look away from anti-fur ads showing mangled animals, but they’re drawn to PETA’s ‘naked’ campaign, and I’m proud to be a part of it.”
The campaign featuring Anderson launches in the wake of announcements by Michael Kors and Gucci that they’ll no longer use fur, following years of protests and negotiations by the group. Other designers who’ve dropped fur include Ralph Lauren, Vivienne Westwood, and Giorgio Armani, who made the decision after being targeted with this exposé of rabbit-fur farms narrated by Anderson.
PETA has made a major push over the years to expose cruelty to animals who are caged, beaten, electrocuted, and skinned for angora, exotic skins, fur, leather, and wool.
