Two forces for animals, luxury designer Stella McCartney and PETA, are reuniting with one message this New York Fashion Week: It’s about f**king time to end leather. Inspired by the British brand’s winter 2024 campaign slogan, the collaboration reimagines our legendary “I’d Rather Go Naked” demonstrations.
PETA supporters are bringing it to life by baring all in Stella McCartney’s New York City flagship store windows, street demonstrations, and a pledge to go leather-free. This milestone—or rather, stylestone—marks our commitment to showing everyone that fashion doesn’t require cruelty to animals.
We’d way rather go naked than wear leather—or any other material stolen from living, feeling animals—but the good news is that we don’t have to, thanks to compassionate fashion innovators like McCartney. This forward-thinking designer refuses to support the violent and environmentally destructive leather industry.
The “It’s About F**king Time” message is inspired by a custom tank top worn by Stella during Sir Paul McCartney’s inauguration into the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in 1999. The phrase has since been reinterpreted as a rallying cry.
We took a stand with “No Leather Ever” and “Wear Vegan,” provoking thought and conversation during New York Fashion Week. The birthday suit–clad provocateurs stepped into the bustling city streets outside Stella McCartney’s store in SoHo and Washington Square Park to lay bare an important message: Cows are not ours to exploit and kill for leather.
PETA supporters and several notable fashion icons, including Caylee Cowan, Griffin Maxwell Brooks, Sara Camposarcone, and Ameya Okamoto, wore animal-free Stella McCartney Elyse platform shoes and Stella Eyewear. Unisex period underwear was provided by The Period Company, focused on dignity and sustainability to eradicate period poverty and lessen waste.
This latest collaboration is a redux of our “I’d Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur” campaign, which ran for 30 years and featured Christy Turlington, Tyra Banks, P!nk, Christina Applegate, and others. It’s also a nod to Pamela Anderson for posing naked in Stella McCartney’s London flagship store in 2006, raising funds and awareness for PETA behind a banner proclaiming, “We’d Rather Bare Skin Than Wear Skin.” It will continue to travel and evolve, and future iterations will be announced soon. The message is clear: It’s about f**king time fashion ended its senseless killing of animals and the planet.
As an invitation to everyone to join the stellabration, Stella McCartney and PETA have launched another decade-defining collaboration: a TikTok filter that makes users appear to be naked, with slogans such as “No Leather Ever” strategically covering parts of them.
Cows are social, intelligent individuals who form lifelong relationships with other members of their herd. The meat and leather industries condemn these sensitive animals to hell on Earth. Farm workers tear calves away from their loving, protective mothers. They burn their skin with hot irons, chop off part of their sensitive tails, and often cut out baby bulls’ testicles—all without pain relief.
Animal-skin leather not only causes extreme suffering but also destroys the planet. Raising animals for their flesh and skin produces massive greenhouse gas emissions, pollutes rivers and streams, depletes the water supply, and degrades the land. Additionally, the process of turning skin into leather requires dangerous chemicals—including mineral salts, formaldehyde, and coal-tar derivatives—that can pollute waterways. Vegan leather, on the other hand, is cruelty-free and more eco-friendly.
When it comes to animal-free style, it’s about what you wear and who you spare. With endless vegan clothing and accessory options available, it’s easier than ever to dress with empathy. Stand with Stella McCartney and PETA by pledging never to wear leather.