Even if PETA defends Kylie Jenner’s lion head dress

PETA stands in defense of Kylie Jenner. The reality star attended the Schiaparelli Spring-Summer 2023 Haute Couture show at the Petit Palais in Paris on Monday wearing a gown with a life-size lion’s head attached to it, and afterward, many on social media said: criticized the hyper-realistic dress.

The same black velvet bustier dress was worn by the model Irina Shayk and the show also saw the heads of a snow leopard and a wolf attached to the clothes worn respectively by Shalom Harlow And Naomi Campbell. Many online have been concerned that these dresses feature real animal heads, but in reality they were all hand sculpted in foam, hand embroidered with wool and silk faux fur and then hand painted to look as realistic as possible.

While some have accused Jenner and the label of promoting the big game and the taxidermy of these wild animals with these patterns, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals she thought those who had issues with these dresses were taking things a little too far.

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PETA defended the Schiaparelli collection in a statement, calling the animal heads “fabulously innovative”. PETA president, Ingrid Newkirk, she wrote: “Kylie, Naomi and Irina’s looks celebrate the beauty of wild animals and can be a statement against trophy hunting, where lions and wolves are torn apart to satisfy human selfishness.” Adding: “These fabulously innovative three-dimensional animal heads prove that where there’s a will, there’s a way. We encourage everyone to stick to 100% cruelty-free designs that showcase human ingenuity and prevent animal suffering.” Newkirk then encouraged Jenner and the other stars to “extend this creativity to exclude sheep shorn for wool and silkworms boiled alive in their cocoons.”

Shayk, who wore the lion dress on the runway, also came out in defense of these extraordinary design feats, sharing about her Instagram a carousel of behind the scenes photos of the event: «I support these incredible artists who worked tirelessly, with their hands, using wool, silk and foam, to sculpt this embroidered Lion and the image of the Pride, an image that Schiaparelli invokes by exploring the themes of strength», wrote the model in the caption. «I am honored to have been called to lend my art as a woman to this project», she concluded, tagging the designer of the brand Daniel Roseberry and adding a black heart emoji.

Roseberry explained in the notes to her latest runway collection that she was inspired by the Hell of Dante and that the three dresses are based on the three beasts that appear in the 14th century poem “representing lust, pride and avarice”. In the notes of the show, then, it is added: «This collection is my tribute to doubt. I wanted to get away from the techniques I felt comfortable with and that I knew, to instead choose that dark wood where everything is scary but new».