THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Thursday, October 3, 1996 TAG: 9610030392
SECTION: FRONT PAGE: A6 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: DALLAS MORNING NEWS
DATELINE: DALLAS LENGTH: 41 lines
Oscar de la Renta ended up with pie on his face Wednesday.
A woman associated with a Norfolk-based animal rights group, shouting, ``Fur! Shame!'' shoved a raw crust full of whipped cream into the designer's face, momentarily disrupting a Neiman Marcus charity fashion show.
The runway show was intended to raise money for a children's hospital in Dallas and to introduce ``Oscar,'' the designer's new, lower-priced women's collection. It included an imitation mink coat, which initially led some patrons and a police officer to think the protest was over fake furs.
De la Renta responded to the attack by changing his soiled handmade-suit coat for a nearly matching Giorgio Armani jacket. Then he dashed down an escalator to a standing ovation at show's end.
``I didn't like the taste of the cake,'' he told the audience, before explaining his position on using the real thing:
``I do make a line of furs,'' which Neiman Marcus sells. ``I do not use any fur that is not farmed.''
De la Renta also said that he does not use fur from endangered species.
Kelly Nichols, who wore a gray skirt suit, had concealed her pie in a Neiman Marcus shopping bag, officials said. The 28-year-old woman was charged with misdemeanor assault, which carries a penalty of up to one year in jail and a $2,000 fine, Dallas police said.
She listed her home address for police as Norfolk. However, she told a reporter that she was a Dallas member of the animal-rights group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, which has its national headquarters in Norfolk.
Michael McGraw, a spokesman with PETA in Norfolk, offered a third possible hometown for Nichols: Austin, Texas. He identified her as a campaign coordinator who has been associated with PETA for about four months.
McGraw maintained that Nichols acted independently of the animal-rights group, but said the New York-based designer is a PETA target. by CNB