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PETA's Runway Row Nets Supermodel Spokesperson

International cover model Fernanda Tavares joins the ranks of Pamela Anderson, Christy Turlington, and Pink as the newest star to appear in the high-profile series of sexy anti-fur advertisements for PETA. Fernanda joined PETA after the group’s infamous disruption of the Victoria’s Secret fashion show in which Tavares appeared with friend Gisele Bündchen, who was targeted for advertising fur.

Promising to forgo runway disruptions this season, PETA has been invited by New York Fashion Week organizers to unveil its ad on September 16 inside the Bryant Park fashion show tents, the site of many past PETA protests.

Fur- and leather-free designer Stella McCartney, daughter of former Beatle Paul McCartney, provided the clothes that Fernanda wears in the ad, demonstrating that you can have a look that kills without killing animals. The ad was photographed by fashion designer Todd Oldham.

Model Fernanda Takes Back Runway

“Fashion is supposed to be fun, but there is nothing fun about breaking animals’ necks and killing them with genital electrocution—common fates for animals destined to become fur coats,” says Fernanda. “The fur industry butchers animals and pollutes our environment. I could never wear fur.”

Synthetic fur is a popular alternative because of current concerns about the abuse of animals who are trapped, drowned, and beaten to death in the wild and gassed, strangled, and electrocuted on fur farms for their pelts. On fur farms worldwide, animals are confined year-round to crowded, filthy cages—often with little to no protection from the elements. Many exhibit symptoms of psychological distress, such as self-mutilation, pacing, and endless circling.

On the set of the photo shoot, PETA sat down with Fernanda and chatted with her about why fur hurts.

PETA: Why is it wrong to wear fur?

Fernanda Tavares: You can be a model, you can do whatever, you can look beautiful. You can look gorgeous on the runway, whatever it is, and you don’t need to wear fur. Because you’re beautiful!

PETA: Do you still get asked to model fur?

FT: I told them, I don't care, you can pay me a million dollars, and I'm not going to do fur, 'cause that goes against my principles and I'm not doing fur for however much money it is. And after that, they look at me and they're like, well, that girl has an opinion, she has a personality. And they [were] like, "OK, if that's your opinion, you don't do fur? You don't do fur. We're not going to go against that anymore."

PETA: What do you say to designers who still work with fur?

FT: Just keep doing, you know, the fake stuff: the fake fur, the fake leather, whatever it is. They’re going to sell it. And I love animals. If I love dogs and I love cats and I love birds, why am I going to have to wear them? Why would I want to wear them? I don’t want to. I just want them alive next to me!