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7 Jul

PETA’s founder wants her skin to be made right

To work in fashion journalism is to be ambushed with sensationalist subject lines like “REVEALED: Taylor Swift’s favourite perfume is NOT what you’d expect,” and “Boohoo fashion EXPERTS reveal essentially the most Instagrammable FESTIVALCORE trends.” But perhaps essentially the most disconcerting of those emails arrived this afternoon when animal rights organisation PETA sent out a press blast detailing its founder’s last will and testament. “PETA President Bequeaths Skin to Hermès,” the topic line read, alongside a blood-curdling infographic outlining different body parts that Ingrid Newkirk would donate to numerous brands, individuals, and the house office once she dies. 

Here’s a non-exhaustive list of the beneficiaries: Hermès will receive a bag (or a belt) crafted out of Newkirk’s cured skin; Salt Bae will receive her intestines; The North Face will receive her foot; barbers Truefitt & Hill will receive a hairbrush made from her own hair; King Felipe VI of Spain will receive an ear; and Crufts will receive fragments of her trachea. The entire thing has been billed as the ultimate effort in a lifelong fight against something called “speciesism”. Why be zoophobic when you’ll be able to just request that your severed leg be displayed on the Grand National? Why support a human-supremacist system when you’ll be able to make plans on your flesh to be fried “with onions” as a part of a celebratory barbecue? ​​

In line with Newkirk, the desire ensures that her body “shall be used to attract attention to unnecessary animal suffering and exploitation”. It means the horrors of animal abuse – just like the UK’s decision to resume animal testing for cosmetics shall be writ onto her own flesh, savaged and grilled and sent off in vacuum-packed sandwich bags. It also signifies that PETA will proceed to be as disturbing as possible in its efforts to court public attention long after her demise. But this final decree isn’t just an try and gorebait people into eating Quorn, it’s also a poignant document of a loyal Formula 1 fan. Towards the top of the desire, Newkirk reveals that she would really like pieces of her heart to be buried beneath the Hockenheim and Silverstone racetracks – those petrol-spluttering stadiums of CO2 emissions and burnt rubber – as a love letter to Michael Schumacher and Lewis Hamilton.

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