New York Fashion Week Sept. 2006 Starts in Style

	This season's hottest style is compassion.

By Annie Judah

Twice a year the Olympus Fashion Week tents go up in New York City. This exclusive event draws movie stars, media and fashion talent from around the world to see and show what we will be wearing next season.

New York City is known for fashion, but unfortunately this city also is infamous for fur. Despite that bad rep, several designers will show their compassion on the runway this September. Fur-free creations will grace the runways of designers such as Betsey Johnson, Marc Bouwer, Erin Fetherston, Richard Chai and designers Steven Cox and Daniel Silver of Duckie Brown.

Jay McCarroll has flair, fun and fine fabrics—without fur.

And The HSUS is not just watching the shows this year. Teaming up with fashion designer and reality TV personality Jay McCarroll, The HSUS is sponsoring Jay's debut line of cruelty-free clothing. The event proves that you can have all that New York glamour and style and still be kind.

Each show at fashion week reflects the designer's unique talent, and each time I sit down in those white folding chairs, I'm impressed by the number of fur-free designer looks. Even the designers who toss on fur trim here and there and those designers notorious for full-length fur monstrosities have some animal-friendly alternatives. Maybe they realize that the compassionate consumer market is growing. Or maybe there is only so much you can do with skin and hair before you realize this trend has been done to death—quite literally to the death of more than 50 million animals each year.

Whether or not you choose to wear outfits only from fur-free designers, one thing is certain: there is no shortage of compassionate designer looks.

HSUS's Fashion Industry Liaison Annie Judah spearheads the Fur-Free Campaign's outreach to the fashion industry, encouraging the attitude that fur-free is fashion-forward. She reports on the fashion world in her column, Compassion in Fashion.

Related Links

Beauties and Beasts: Fashion Week in L.A.

Fashion Meets Compassion: An Animal-Friendly Look at Fashion Week

Fashion Week 2005