DESIGN AGAINST FUR
DAF North America / Winning Designs
DAF Continental Europe / Winning Designs
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DESIGN AGAINST FUR DAF North America / Winning Designs DAF Continental Europe / Winning Designs |
Paris2003 INTERNATIONAL GRAND PRIZE
Hosted by Bellerive Foundation President and Fur Free Alliance patron, Princess Catherine Aga Khan, the Grand Prize ceremony of Design Against Fur took place on 14th October at the chic Hotel Plaza-Athénee in the heart of Paris’ fashion district.
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Grand Prize winner Nicholas Poitou, accepting the 2003 Grand Prize Award from Princess Catherine Aga Khan. (Photo: William Johnson) |
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In a forthright address, Princess Catherine singled out the famous names of the fashion industry for their pro-fur “free-for-all” and their callous indifference towards animal suffering. Implicit in the criticism was that in the shock-culture that now drives the fashion world, casualties can be found not only in the fur farm cage or in the leghold trap, but in the designer’s own originality.
“Quite apart from the cruelty,” said the Princess, “the violent world in which we live every day does not look kindly upon fur coats, an exterior sign of ostentatious richness that is provocative and anachronistic. Couldn’t the designers take into account animal suffering and abolish the fur license? Financially, they could all permit themselves to do this. Everybody knows today that you can keep warm without wearing fur. And what fur? Dyed in all the colours of the rainbow, we can no longer distinguish real from false, or whether it is mink, rabbit, dog or cat…” Princess Catherine, praising the young design artists for their talent and keen understanding of the fur problem in society, then went on to announce the winner of the $5000 Design Against Fur Grand Prize: 25-year-old French student Nicolas Poitou, for his eloquent and moving poster: ‘Size 38’. Nicolas attends the Institut Saint-Luc de Tournai in Belgium.
Eighteen-year-old Daniel Howton, attending Bedford College in the UK, won the special Marchig Award for his poster design ‘Barcode.’ According to the award’s sponsor, Jeanne Marchig, the design is a “graphic reminder of the true suffering behind the consumer barcode." Also attending the Paris awards ceremony were the regional winners of this international competition, Marc Choi of James Madison University in Virginia, with his exceptional entry ‘Fur – Hang it up for Good’ and Christopher Ribét of Bedford College for his insightful ‘Cutting Edge Fashion Kills’. Princess Catherine dedicated the evening to her late husband, international statesman Prince Sadruddin Aga Khan, and pledged to continue the campaign against fur that they had first launched in the Plaza-Athénée 15 years earlier. “It’s to continue his work that we are here tonight,” said the Princess, “because it’s thanks to my husband that I opened my eyes to animal suffering, since once I also wore fur.”
Dr. John Grandy, Senior Vice-President of FFA affiliate the Humane Society of the United States, predicted that the competition and its influence would grow by leaps and bounds: “Design Against Fur has been an outstanding success, not least of all because it has given student designers a forum for expressing their views about fur. It is gratifying that these young people – some of whom may be future stars of the fashion and design worlds – find the use of fur so outmoded and morally repugnant.”
The Fur Free Alliance, an international coalition of some 35 leading humane and conservation organisations representing tens of millions of supporters worldwide, launched its international poster design competition in January 2003, challenging art schools and art students from around the world to find innovative and inspired ways to convey the message that ‘Fur does not belong in the 21st Century and the use of fur and fur trim should be obsolete. The killing of animals for their fur is cruel, unnecessary and wrong in the modern age.’ The response proved overwhelming, with students from across North America, continental Europe, the United Kingdom and Ireland participating in the FFA’s inaugural contest. Worldwide, more than 500 poster designs were entered into competition. Judging took place in New York, Milan and London, with leading professionals of the fashion and advertising community evaluating designs during the regional heats. Nine international finalists were selected as a result, one of which – ‘Size 38’ – went on to claim the 2003 Design Against Fur International Grand Prize.
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For North America, Europe and International: Maryanne Grisz Designagainstfur@aol.com |
For the United Kingdom & Ireland: Mark Glover info@respectforanimals.org |
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