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Fur flies over Anna Wintour party invitation

David Usborne,New York
Thursday 10 April 1997 23:02 BST
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Anna Wintour, the British-born editor of US Vogue has once againfound herself the target of the campaign by Peta (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), to "out" famous names who cannot give up their furs, The crew have pulled a stunt in the midst of New York's Fashion Week that has sent her rushing to her lawyers.

Known to her detractors as "Nuclear Wintour", she has long been a favourite target of anti-fur activists. She is said to be ready to go to court over an invitation now in circulation amongst New York's fashion elite for a Peta fundraising bash on Saturday night.

Her anger is hardly surprising. No one in the fashion world likes to have fun poked at them, least of all in the one week of the New York calendar that really matters. What good is it to Ms Wintour if we know that it was her caterer who supplied the eats at the massively-attended Absolut-Versace-on-Ice Party in Harlem? (And delicious they were, but harder to find than a good chinchilla stole.)

The invite is a glossy affair featuring a cruelly unflattering Wintour look-alike holding a magazine named Morgue. "Anna Wintour requests the pleasure of your company for Peta's Fashion Week bash," it says. Splashed across the fake mag is a teaser: " 'What I did with my unwanted beaver,' by Anna Wintour".

According to the New York Post, Peta received a blunt warning from Ms Wintour's lawyers that unless the invitation was withdrawn they would advise her "to resort to her more formal remedies" (read invasion of privacy lawsuit).

However, Peta is thriving on the publicity. "When the lawyers tried to get me I had my secretary say I was out having my legs waxed," said the group's campaign director, Dan Mathews. "By Saturday, everyone who's anyone in the fashion business will have one of these Anna invitations. They'll be collector's items".

The Peta party, by the way, will be at Club Expo, just steps from the Fashion Week tents. But don't expect Ms Wintour to be there.

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