Celebrating Compassion for Animals During Fashion Week

This is the first post of a series running throughout New York's Fashion Week (Sept. 9-16, 2010) to highlight the best and the worst of cruelty and compassion toward animals in the fashion industry.

Today is the first day of Mercedes-Benz Fashion Week. The week runs from Sept 9-16, and it's going to be the biggest Fashion Week yet. More than 325 designers will be flaunting their Spring/Summer 2011 collections in New York City's Damrosch Park at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts.

Speculation about the event has been mounting in recent weeks: who's attending, who's walking, who's presenting. That's all well and good if you're part of the fashion industry, but what does this mean for animals?

Here at Change.org, we'll be spending Fashion Week celebrating designers who order their fashion with a side of compassion.

I'll be posting on designers who don't use fur or leather, and lambasting those who do. The designers will be presenting their Spring/Summer 2011 collections, however, so hopefully we won't see as much fur as we did during last winter. Remember the Chanel fur suits? Even though Karl Langerfeld swapped out real fur for fake, Joe Zee of Elle magazine looked hilarious when he wore the suit in July.

I'll be looking off the runway, into the front row, where Hollywood A-listers sit perched in their best duds. From Nicole Richie to Lady Gaga, it is time to decide who's the best and worst dressed of Hollywood's current fashion elite.

I've got Sept. 10 circled on my calendar, the night more than 1,000 stores will remain open until 11 p.m. as part of the second annual Fashion's Night Out. The stores will host celebrities and DJs, and serve cocktails, but I won't let all that distract me. I will keep my eyes on the animal-related events: Bergdorf Goodman will host a dog-fashion show that night, and there's also apparently fashions designed by an elephant at the Partner & Spade store.

Fashion Week's price tags leave many shaking their heads and clutching their wallets. I'll be looking for affordable cruelty-free fashions, and deliberating the use of secondhand and recycled leather and wool.

I'm excited about this year's Fashion Week, but there's no reason that style and beauty should come at a cost to animals. I'll spend the next week looking for fashionable products that are animal-friendly and cruelty-free. I hope you'll join me in the hunt.

Photo Credit: artcomments