No, Kylie Jenner’s lion head at the Schiaparelli show is not a real lion

The lion, white tiger and she-wolf heads at the Schiaparelli fashion show in Paris on Monday 23 January beg the question: are they real or fake? The answer is given, but the animal rights group Peta is still denouncing the brand's creations. 

Kylie Jenner, Naomi Campbell and Irina Shayk walked the runway with lion and wolf heads at Schiaparelli's couture presentation in Paris on Monday 23 January. Although some rumours broke out that these were real stuffed animals, the French fashion house's Instagram account proved otherwise. Daniel Roseberry, the brand's American artistic director since 2019, called on specialised artisans to create these highly realistic resin felines. The opportunity for him to pay homage to the animal kingdom, which would respond to female power.

Peta denounces the creations 

However, the debate remains open. Kylie Jenner seems to be compared to a feline like a hunting trophy, the ascendancy of man over the animal is very clear, and one could almost see references to poaching. The animal rights organisation Peta has already denounced the use of these fake heads. "Schiaparelli's claim that no animals were harmed in the making of this collection is objectively false," it said in a press release. 

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According to the association, these dresses "glorify trophy hunting". Peta also denounced the use of silk and wool, materials for which "silkworms were boiled alive and sheep were exploited for their fleeces". Daniel Roseberry said in his show notes that these faux-taxidermy creations embody the "circles of Dante's hell", which the Italian poet Dante Alighieri describes in the first part of the Divine Comedy. The fashion designer said: "The leopard, the lion and the she-wolf represent lust, pride and greed respectively.