Donatella Versace Says Versace Will Stop Using Fur in Designs

Twenty-one years after her brother Gianni’s death, Donatella Versace is still evolving his iconic fashion line. The designer announced in an interview on Wednesday that she will no longer include fur in any of her designs for Versace. “Fur? I am out of that,” she says in an interview with The Economist‘s 1843 magazine. “I don’t want to kill animals to make fashion. It doesn’t feel right.” Versace has long been a symbol of excess, luxury, and glamour, and even currently sells a $1,450 rabbit fur pillow on the brand’s website. The news comes as a surprise and the company has yet to put out an official statement or pull any fur products.

Versace follows in the footsteps of Gucci and Michael Kors who have both recently pledged to go fur-free. Furla, the Italian accessories company, also vowed on Wednesday to go fur-free starting with its cruise 2019 collection. In the past few decades, many other brands, including Tommy Hilfiger, the Net-A-Porter Group, Calvin Klein, Donna Karan, and, of course, Stella McCartney, have all also pledged to stop using fur.

When asked about rumors that Versace is searching for a new creative director to help ease the burden on Donatella’s shoulders, she neither confirmed nor denied it, but suggested that Versace is embracing the changing times in every way. “Somebody came up to me recently and said, ‘there will be a huge crisis if you leave – it will be a fashion disaster!’ Can you believe that?,” she says. “Yes I am Versace. But also Versace needs to mean change. And it needs to be an opportunity for others to express themselves.” Soon, it seems, those who do include fur in their designs will be in the minority rather than the majority.

Related: Donatella Versace’s Instagram Is Uniquely, Deliciously Ostentatious