Why PETA France Activist, A Bengaluru Native, Stormed Paris Fashion Show In 'Bloodied' Dress?

The Dior’s Paris Fashion Show this week was disrupted by a protester from the animal rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), who invaded the runway to protest the use of feathers in fashion.

The PETA France activist Natasha Garnier, who hails from Bengaluru, walked along the runway wearing a faux-feather dress that made her back look like bloodied live-plucked skin.

The action comes after Lady Gaga, an American singer-songwriter and actress, appeared at the Paris Olympics wearing a Dior dress made of ostrich feathers.

Reacting to the incident, Garnier, a special projects campaigner at PETA France, said, “Every item made from birds’ feathers represents almost unimaginable suffering. Around the globe, animals are denied the right to live free from harm for fashion – they’re beaten, skinned, and killed.”

“By disrupting this show, we exposed the cruelty behind the glamour. It’s time the world wakes up and chooses compassion over cruelty because no trend is worth an innocent life,” she added.

The animal rights group claimed that Ostriches are most commonly exploited for feathers by the fashion industry. “PETA entity video exposés of the world’s largest ostrich-slaughter companies revealed that young birds are kept on barren dirt feedlots before they’re crammed onto lorries, transported to abattoirs, and electrically shocked,” the statement reads.

It further said that Dior, a French luxury fashion house, has claimed that it uses feathers that are a result of natural moulting. “But selling moulted feathers is not a viable business model to supply designers with the volume of feathers they demand – and whenever parts of animals are used in the fashion industry, corners are cut and abuse is commonplace,” it added.

In a similar incident, an animal rights activist from PETA disrupted Victoria Beckham’s runway show at Paris Fashion Week in March this year.

The activists entered the runway as the models were walking down it, holding up placards that read “Viva Vegan Leather” and wearing t-shirts with the messages “Turn your back on animal skins,” and “Animals aren’t fabric,” before being escorted away by security.