Severed animal heads: fashion or not
The most disturbing part of the fashion industry lies within the misuse of animals. Whether stylists use the skin or the fur, nothing about it deserves praise. The fact that fashion designers use an entire body part as a centerpiece creates an even greater problem. In the case of the Schiaparelli ‘show’, it should have not happened at all. This form of ‘art’ does nothing but glorify the killing of animals, further normalizing animal abuse.
May 14, 2023
Director Daniel Roseberry sent three models from his company Schiaparelli down the runway wearing life-sized, realistic animal heads on their dresses during the January 20 Schiaparelli show in Paris. Spoken by Schiaparelli on social media, these heads received embroidery in hand-sculpted foam, wool and silk faux fur and hand-painted to look as life-like as possible, celebrating the glory of the natural world.
But the glory of the natural world does not involve humans, humans do the opposite of bringing glory to this Earth. People wearing dead animals do not represent anything natural, just in the same way, people wearing the heads and skin of dead humans would cause discomfort.
Down the runway, Daniel Roseberry’s models wore a white leopard, a male lion, and a black wolf. Supposedly, Roseberry made these choices of animal with the intention of facilitating “an anti-trophy hunting dialogue,” though one could argue that the opposite earns representation. Nothing about women wearing the heads of animals, fake or not, conveys the idea of anti-hunting. The fake human-made animal heads collide with real animal rights in the worst ways possible.
“These fabulously innovative three-dimensional animal heads show that where there’s a will, there’s a way–and Kylie’s look celebrates lions’ beauty and may be a statement against trophy hunting, in which lion families are torn apart to satisfy human egotism,” People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) said.
These designs represent the rich wearing their most recent hunts. Nothing about that represents freeland for animals. If anything, it horrifies viewers.
“The animal-head dresses were disturbing. They had this kind of deep message in them that obviously was not intended. The message being humans do disgusting things for disgusting reasons. Even though this piece was fake, people really do wear real animal pieces as or on clothes and it’s gross,” sophomore Sereniti Ashley said.
Kendall Jenner received a lion dress from Daniel Roseberry as a gift before this piece appeared on the runway. She wore it on the first day of the Couture shows. It provoked an uproar, seeing a rich woman wear an animal. Fake or not, it represents nothing but violence and animal cruelty by wearing the same things hunters receive the most recognition for.
