New York hosts Design Against Fur USA
Celebrity Judging Event

by our special correspondent, Ainslie Willock

On a very hot spring day at the end of April 2004, in fashionable New York, Design Against Fur U.S. competition judges, sponsors and organizers gathered at Felessimo’s Design House on trendy 56th Street to pick winners from amongst 300 design entries. Practically every wall was full of posters, reflecting the students’ creativity and passion for animals. Clipboards were handed out and the judges started their walk around the room to view each poster and consider which they might vote as winners [DAF USA 2004 Winning Designs].

Fur free designer Todd Oldham (centre) with the HSUS’ Dr. John Grandy (r) and Pat Ragan (l).		Celebrity DJs Andrew Andrew with HSUS’ Pat Ragan (centre).		Mutt’s cartoonist Patrick McDonnell with Design Against Fur co-director, Maryanne Grisz.

Judges included the popular designer Todd Oldham, respected journalist and National Geographic’s Ultimate Explorer host Lisa Ling, NBC’s “American Dreams” star Vanessa Lengies, “Mutt’s” cartoonist Patrick McDonnell, E! Entertainment’s pre-award show programs co-host Melissa Rivers, Emmy Award-winning author and TV talk show host Montel Williams and popular twin DJs Andrew Andrew.

	Winning design

Oldham, who is a long-standing opponent of the use of fur in fashion, stated: “An important part of living life is demonstrating compassion for others, animals and the environment.”

And, that’s exactly what every poster conveyed. We could tell that the students had researched and carefully thought out the impact on animals when fur is promoted as trim on coats, gloves, handbags and even shoes. Every poster caught our attention and we realized that, in a sense, every student is a winner because they care about making the world a better place for animals. A world where we celebrate wild animals not wear them.

The top winners of the US round of Design Against Fur 2004 are:

• First Prize: Oleg Yagolnikov, of the state of Virginia’s James Madison University
• Second Prize: Sheetal Vig, of New York’s Pratt Institute
• Third Prize Tie: Cristine Esguerra, Pratt Institute, New York.
• Third Prize Tie & Todd Oldham Prize: Jessica Cino, James Madison University, Virginia

The winners, the competition and the animals will be celebrated on the night of Monday, May 10th at the trendy Utowa space on New York’s 18th Street [DAF USA 2004 Celebration Press Party].

Congratulations and a big thank you to all the students who helped make 2004 a great competition to help animals used by the fur trade!

– Updated: 9 May 2004