Carrie Johnson criticises Kylie Jenner's lion head dress, while Peta calls it 'fabulously innovative'
By now we’re used to celebrities and their stylists using the red carpet to showcase some of their most daring looks, but now we’re looking to the front row for some of the most bizarre outfits of the year so far, courtesy of Kylie Jenner.
Gearing up for the Schiaparelli Haute Couture fashion show in Paris on Monday, Jenner channelled all her major Leo energy as she was captured outside the Petit Palais museum wearing none other than a faux lion’s head, complete with fur mane.
A guest of Schiaparelli’s creative director Daniel Roseberry – who joined the French house in 2019 – Jenner paired the head with a strapless velvet ruched maxi dress.
The youngest Kardashian-Jenner also took to Instagram to share the look with her 379m followers.
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"BEAUTY AND THE BEAST. Thank you @danielroseberry and @schiaparelli for such a special morning," she gushed. "Wow I loved wearing this faux art creation constructed by hand using manmade materials. Beautiful beautiful."
Jenner’s striking lion's head was also showcased by model Irina Shayk in the luxury label's show, who sported the unconventional accessory alongside an asymmetric one-shoulder maxi.
It wasn’t the only lion-inspired outfit, as the Panthera theme permeated Roseberry’s whole collection, which, according to show notes, was inspired by Dante's "Inferno" and the nine circles of hell — a metaphor for the “doubt and creative torment all artists experience”.
The eye-catching lion-head was created from “hand sculpted foam, wool and silk faux fur,” and hand-painted to look as “life-like as possible, celebrating the glory of the natural world,” according to the design house’s Instagram.
The lifelike creations were constructed entirely by hand from foam resin and other man-made materials in a sort of "faux-taxidermy," according to Schiaparelli.
“3 animals sculpted and embroidered by hand, celebrating the glory of nature and guarding the woman who wears it,” Roseberry explained on Instagram, sharing the caption with several behind-the-scenes images.
“NO ANIMALS WERE HARMED IN MAKING THIS LOOK,” the brand re-emphasized in the caption.
But faux or not, the head-turning pieces drew quite a bit of negative attention, with some social media users finding the “disturbing” collection difficult to appreciate due to its visual parallel with trophy hunting.
“The message is simply wrong even if it’s foam,” wrote one user on Instagram, whilst another added: “This is highly inappropriate, prop or not this should never have been designed.”
“As much as I love couture, promoting animal slaughter (fake or not) and calling it high fashion is ultimately a grand faux-pas of the season,” someone else alleged.
“This normalisation of trophy hunting is so wrong. Using the natural beauty of wildlife to ‘shock’ and stir controversy. How sad and empty,” one person wrote on Twitter.
“Wow. This is disturbing on many levels” added another on Jenner’s Instagram photo, whilst someone else chimed in: “This is disturbing, real or not.”
“It’s giving hunting and cruelty to animals vibes,” commented another user.
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Even Carrie Johnson, the wife of former Prime Minister Boris Johnson, condemned the collection on her private Instagram, the Independent reported.
“Grim! Real or fake, this just promotes trophy hunting. Yuck!” she wrote on her Stories, alongside a picture of model Irina Shayk in the luxury label's show, who sported the unconventional accessory on the catwalk alongside an asymmetric one-shoulder maxi.
However, Peta President Ingrid Newkirk seems to be on board with the Schiaparelli collection’s “three-dimensional animal heads,” calling the creations “fabulously innovative.”
🚨 @Schiaparelli, @kyliejenner, @naomicampbell, & @theirishayk must extend this creativity to be 100% vegan & exclude sheep shorn bloody for wool & silkworms boiled alive for silk! 🚨 pic.twitter.com/axz2mg8Xpv
— PETA (@peta) January 23, 2023
“Kylie, Naomi and Irina’s looks celebrate the beauty of wild animals and may be a statement against trophy hunting, in which lions and wolves are torn apart to satisfy human egotism,” Newkirk said in a statement shared with Page Six Style.
“We encourage everyone to stick with 100% cruelty-free designs that showcase human ingenuity and prevent animal suffering,” she added.
Although the animal welfare organisation supports the man-made designs, they have since urged Jenner and her fellow stars to “extend this creativity to exclude sheep shorn bloody for wool and silkworms boiled alive in their cocoons,” referring to the fibres used to create the animals.
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