John Galliano ditches fur and becomes vegetarian

Dazed -- Fur is a hot topic in fashion right now. Earlier this month, we asked Dazed’s readers if it still has a place in fashion (more on that here) prompted by the announcement from brands like Gucci, Tom Ford, and Versace who have all recently decided to stop using the controversial material.

Now, Maison Margiela’s John Galliano is the latest to also step away from the use of fur in his designs. Speaking with Elle France, the designer explained how a chance meeting with PETA’s senior vice president while taking a dip in the Saint Tropez sea with Penélope Cruz (obsessed!) caused him to change his mind. “Today we don’t want a product, we want ethics, a firm that defends the values that we admire,” the designer said on his new stance to fur.

The decision to stop using fur is a big one for the designer, who championed it during his time at Christian Dior (though we’re not sure how much real fur has featured in his recent Margiela collections, and reached out to the house for clarification). A PETA protester stormed the runway at his AW03 Dior show, only to be pushed out of the way by one model to reveal another behind her in a giant lilac fur coat.

Like Ford, Galliano’s enlightenment around the use of fur also resulted in him becoming a vegetarian. “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.”

With some of fashion’s biggest names – Galliano and Versace among them – moving away from the fabric, it will likely not be long before others follow suit. Will it last? Time will tell.