Last Friday, on the first day of London fashion week, a woman dressed as a goat screamed as passersby on a busy London shopping street looked on, aghast. “I had pieces of fake hair attached to me, which were torn off to imitate the suffering in the production of cashmere,” says Lucy Ferguson, who played the part of the goat. The 25-year-old activist for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (Peta) said: “Underneath were [simulated] bloody wounds that replicated how the strips of sensitive skin are torn away from goats.” The action was intended to raise awareness about the cruelty often involved in the process of “combing” for cashmere. Signs read: “Cashmere Is Torture for Goats” and “The Future of Fashion Is Vegan”.
People paused to look, and take pictures and videos. “We managed to draw quite a crowd,” says Ferguson. “It’s a busy street, so lots of traffic was stopping.” She wasn’t particularly nervous before the performance: “I used to do a lot of dancing and gymnastics when I was younger, so I am quite comfortable in front of a crowd.” She was more nervous, she said, in that: “We get one shot to make it as impactful and effective as possible and to really stage an eye-catching demonstration.” Ferguson, who has been working with Peta for eight months, is used to this kind of role – the week before, she had played the part of an orca whale to demonstrate against their captivity.
