Watch the fur fly!

So Anna Wintour has copped another pie because of her devotion to fur and to increasing the advertising revenues of her mag. A tofu pie no less; at least PETA are ideologically consistent.

Some people think this is great because she's not a very nice person. Apparently she's the Devil and wears a lot of Prada. And she's intolerant of fat people.

Anna Wintour works for probably the most powerful fashion magazine in the world. It's the flagship mag for an industry that hates fat people. An industry that generates bazillions of dollars by making people feel inadequate then enticing them to spend! spend! spend! on consumer perishables they don’t really need in order to feel better about themselves. Is anyone really surprised that she’s an unpleasant, underfed bitch?

This is no Wintour apologia. Besides, she's not even my favourite international fashionista. Anna Piaggi has it all over her in terms of signature style and personality. Likewise, Italian Vogue has it all over the US version. My Italian may be limited to ordering dinner and asking for the location of the toilet and the post office, but just look at the pictures and you'll be transported

Here's a picture of Anna P. so you can compare and contrast - I reckon it says it a lot about the cultural differences between the US and Italia:

I eat meat. I wear leather. I am a Leatherwoman who fetishes the stuff. I am unconvinced of the alleged health benefits of vegetarianism and especially of veganism. The human body is designed to eat meat. Please don't tell me that red meat festers undigested in your guts for up to seven years; it’s not true. While you're at it, do some research on the adverse health consequences of the overconsumption of unfermented soy products before you offer me a delicious meat-free alternative to chateaubriand.

I have also worn fur. And will likely do so in the future.

*waits for the horrified, self-righteous gasps of leather shoe-wearing 'vegetarians' who eat chicken and fish to die down*

I’ve long coveted my mum's old jackets, gilets and coats from the 60's, 70's and early 80s. She's too scared to wear fur now in case someone gets aggressive with her about it. We had a stand-up argument about my borrowing a mink jacket to wear to a wedding last year – I think she wanted to hire me an unnecessarily large posse of bodyguards, J-Lo style, to ensure no insane animal rights activist could attempt to convince me of my vainglory by slashing me up.

Maybe my mum is the type that believes you should avoid sitting in an aisle seat at the cinema, in case a white slave trader wanders by, jabs you full of heroin and shanghais you into a life of drug addiction and prostitution somewhere in the Third World? Basically, she loves a good worry about things that are incredibly unlikely to ever happen.

I hate the holier than thou pose of those who argue that fur is bad, but take their animal rights logic no further. I was once lectured about the horrors of fur by a remarkably stupid girl wearing leather shoes, chainstore 'fashions' and eating McDonalds. Clearly fur is wrong, but leather, meat obtained by intensive farming and processing techniques, sweat shop labour in the Third World, anti-competitive business practices and a poor human rights record are OK and quite the thing this season!

PETA might be mental, and I'm afraid that animal rights defer to scientific research in the name curing and treating HIV and other deadly and debilitating diseases and conditions, but I give them props for being ideologically consistent. I enjoyed gawking while the high and mighty Ms Wintour received the pastry-equivalent of pantsing as much as the next person with an overdeveloped sense of schadenfreude. My scorn and derision are reserved for those, like Little Miss Happy Meal, who would rather go naked than wear fur; their lack of furs representing the entire extent of their commitment to animal liberation.