H&M’s London Fashion Week show already had models, fashion and an ambitious AI installation.
Then three people who definitely weren’t on the casting sheet walked onto the runway.
Activists representing PETA » People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals « separately disrupted H&M’s show as part of the organization’s campaign against the fashion industry’s use of wool.
The protesters entered carrying signs calling on H&M to stop selling the material, with PETA arguing that wool production involves animal cruelty and pointing to investigations it says support its campaign.
One of the protesters reportedly managed to reach the backstage area before emerging onto the runway alongside the actual models, making the demonstration briefly look like part of the show before security intervened.
For PETA, the target isn’t random.
The animal-rights organization has spent decades using Fashion Week disruptions, celebrity campaigns and highly visible protests to draw attention to materials including fur, leather and wool.
And H&M wasn’t even its first Fashion Month target this time around.
PETA activists had disrupted COS at New York Fashion Week only days earlier, meaning the London action looks less like an isolated interruption and more like part of a broader campaign aimed directly at Fashion Month.
Whether people agree with the tactics or not, runway interruptions are designed around one thing fashion understands very well:
getting photographed.
And once again, it worked.
