NO FASHION ON A DEAD PLANET

TriBeCa, New York City – On Wednesday, September 13 at 6:30 PM, four naked activists from Extinction Rebellion took their “No Fashion on a Dead Planet” message to the NYFW The Blonds runway show to amplify the urgent need for action on the climate crisis. Protesters were draped in banners reading "Tell the naked truth about the climate crisis" and demanded an end to the use of fossil fuels. The four activists remained silent with their mouths covered, standing in solidarity with those impacted by the flood in Libya, the wildfire in Maui, and all other communities already suffering as a result of the climate crisis.

This action is part of a longstanding tradition of using outfits as a means of protest and a tool for societal change.  In the 1960s and 1970s,  the "hippie" style of clothing became a central element of anti-Vietnam War protests, visibly representing the protesters’ anti-establishment views. Earlier, in the 20th century, suffragettes embraced a specific color palette that served as a powerful visual statement during parades and protests, symbolizing solidarity and unity. Following a series of environmental civil disobedience protests at Fashion Weeks by PETA, Vivienne Westwood, and Extinction Rebellion UK, the New York chapter of the Extinction Rebellion movement opted for a naked protest to highlight human vulnerability in the face of climate collapse. 

Today’s action highlights the neglect of the climate and ecological breakdown by governments and corporations. The group emphasizes that the present socio-economic system can't protect people from the crises to come, because its very structure creates these crises and then ignores them. The extremely short-term incentives of our key institutions — corporations and governments — which respectively function on quarterly profits and periodic elections, disregard the long-term dangers to our survival. This system is committed to stealing from future generations to sustain a lifestyle that primarily benefits the few, the so-called “one percent”.

WHY “NO FASHION ON A DEAD PLANET”?

The climate and ecological crisis threatens everything on our planet, including fashion. This action and similar actions are the response of a movement that has no other recourse than to engage in unconventional means of protest to bring mass attention to the greatest emergency of our time. All normal means of effecting change appropriate to the scale of the catastrophe – including voting, petitioning, lobbying, etc. – have failed and continue to fail. Yet the science makes clear that we have only a very small window of time in which to end the use of fossil fuels and stop carbon emissions.

The group is also highlighting the fact that the fashion industry's reliance on fossil fuels is a major contributor to climate change. There are major issues regarding sustainability in apparel. Fashion conglomerates are responsible for more than 8 percent of global greenhouse-gas emissions; 17 to 20 percent of industrial water pollution comes from textile dyeing and finishing treatment given to fabric; let alone that nearly three-fifths of all clothing ends up in incinerators or landfills within a year of being produced. 

Fashion-as-usual won't be possible on a planet in which humanity fails to keep global warming below 1.5 degrees Celsius. 

DEMANDS

Recently, Professor Sir Bob Watson, a prominent British climate scientist and former head of the United Nations climate body, voiced his belief that the target to limit global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius will be missed. Despite such alarming predictions, President Joe Biden has failed to live up to the climate pledges made during the 2020 election campaign. Even those failed promises, if kept, would be considered by many ineffective and weak: policies such as electrifying transportation, carbon capture, or expanded renewables do not adequately resolve the looming catastrophe. Yet the Biden administration’s actions are worse than failure: expanded fossil fuel oil and gas drilling, production and export. Projects such as the Willow Project and Alaska LNG, commonly referred to as “carbon bombs,” will trigger catastrophic climate breakdown to an extent no known climate technology can recover from.

Extinction Rebellion demands the government tell the truth by declaring a climate and ecological emergency, and halt biodiversity loss and reduce greenhouse gas emissions to net zero by 2025. These demands reflect the urgency of the existential crisis that we’re facing. Extinction Rebellion recently disrupted the U.S. Open, making it clear to all in attendance that tennis is at risk should immediate action on climate not be taken.

For photos and videos click here.

QUOTES

  • "The naked truth is: Nature is the main fashion victim in 2023. If we do not want  to abandon humanity and the natural world, we must end fossil fuels now. After all, there is no fashion on a dead planet," said Mun Chong, a spokesperson for Extinction Rebellion.

  • Shayok Mukhopadhyay, Extinction Rebellion activist, stated, "India, Bangladesh, China, Pakistan and many other countries where child labor in the clothing and textile production is reported are already among the most affected by the climate emergency. While flexing in unnecessary clothes, we are accelerating the process that will result in 1 billion climate refugees by 2050."

  • "We're doing this because we are desperate. We are on course for a 2.7°C increase in global temperatures. Non-disruptive protests have been attempted for the past 50 years since climate change became scientific fact, and they have proven ineffective. So we are left with no choice but to resort to more provocative methods. Our goal is to get people talking again and again until action is taken," explained Jack Baldwin, an Extinction Rebellion spokesperson.

  • "NYFW has long grappled with matching the prominence of its European counterparts, falling short each year. Why not pivot to spotlighting the intersection of climate and fashion? By doing so, it could rise as the most forward-thinking event globally. It's high time designers and executives reflect deeply on their roles within the environmental and human supply chain, striving to minimize harm," said Laura Cole, Extinction Rebellion activist.

actions, pressLaura Cole