WOOLY BULLY

Fashion Exec Says Sorry After Shocking Runway Rumble Goes Viral

A video from New York Fashion Week shows the top executive in a physical confrontation.

A top fashion executive is apologizing after videos of his reaction to protestors at a fashion show on Sunday went viral.

During the COS presentation in the WSA building on Day 4 of New York Fashion Week, a group of activists from the People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) interrupted the show, crashing the runway as they held signs and chanted slogans such as “get wool off the runway now.”

In a video posted by Fashionista and credited to its beauty and style director Steph Saltzman, Steven Kolb, CEO and president of the Council of Fashion Designers of America, confronts the PETA demonstrators.

The widely shared video shows Kolb placing his hand over the faces and mouths of two protesters. At one point, he physically restrains an activist by wrapping his leg around her, pinning the woman while models continue walking the runway of the Swedish fashion brand’s show.

The CFDA, a not-for-profit trade association for fashion designers, did not immediately respond to The Looker’s request for comment.

However, in a statement shared by People, the CFDA said, “Mr. Kolb acknowledged fully that he responded inappropriately in the moment and that the matter should have been handled by security.”

It added that the “CFDA agrees that these disruptions should be handled by the security professionals in place.”

Several A-listers were present at the Sept. 13 show, including Sharon Stone, Michelle Williams, and Oscar winner Lupita Nyong’o.

Following the altercation, Kolb reportedly acknowledged the incident on his Instagram story.

According to the screenshot shared by Diet Prada, Kolb wrote, “I reacted inappropriately to an incident at a show earlier today. It wasn’t my place to do so. I should have let the security team handle the situation.”

He has since made his Instagram private, and his profile indicates that he has deleted all of his posts.

In a statement shared with the Daily Beast, PETA wrote: “CFDA boss Kolb reacted aggressively to peaceful protesters, thereby endorsing PETA’s complaint that the fashion industry is unthinkingly violent. Perhaps due to internal criticism, he has apologized for his behavior and now PETA will explore a meeting with him and ask him to watch footage from our 17 exposés of the wool industry showing sheep being punched, kicked, and cut to ribbons for wool in the hope that he’ll realize something must be done.”

Mason Melito, the male PETA protester shown in the video, told InStyle, “Anything that could have resulted from this show is nothing compared to what the sheep go through in the wool industry. ...We are going to continue putting pressure on all of H&M Group, including COS, until it bans wool from its runways.”

PETA has accused COS’s parent company, H&M Group, of using wool from a South African farm that PETA claims is abusive to its sheep. No explicit evidence has linked H&M Group to the farm.

H&M Group did not immediately respond to The Looker’s request for comment.

Its website reads, “At COS, we work closely with suppliers to handpick materials with intention—every cloth is meticulously selected for its character, yarn count, fibre length and finish to ensure quality and longevity.”

In December, the CFDA announced that it would no longer permit animal fur at New York Fashion Week—a decision PETA lauded.

“Farmed or trapped fur from animals killed specifically for their pelts—including but not limited to mink, fox, rabbit, karakul lamb, chinchilla, coyote, and raccoon dog—is not allowed,” the CFDA wrote.

The organization noted an exemption “only to animal fur obtained by Indigenous communities through traditional subsistence hunting practices.”

The new rule does not include wool or other products derived from shorn animal hairs.

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Lauren HartleyBreaking News Intern

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