Animal activist strips in protest

Yvonne Taylor, from Edinburgh, will join several models and fellow activists in a nude march through Milan on Monday ahead of a major international leather fashion show.

The protest, which has been organised by Peta (People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals), coincides with the launch of the MIPEL, one of the most important international showcases for leather goods.

Twice a year in Milan, one of the fashion capitals of the world, the best creations in leather, fabric and alternative materials are presented.

Miss Taylor will be joined on the trip to Milan by fellow Peta member Julianne McCheyne of Glasgow, who reeled in passers-by in Edinburgh last year when she dressed as a topless mermaid to protest against the fishing industry at the Festival of the Sea.

The pair will meet up with local models to strip naked and march through the city’s main shopping district behind a banner reading "We’d rather bare skin than wear skin".

It will be the second time Miss Taylor, 33, will have shed her clothes for the cause and unlike the first time, in Beijing in 2002, she knows exactly what she is getting into.

"When I went out to Beijing for the protest, I thought we were going to run on to the stage at the show itself with our banner and disrupt the event," she said.

"It was only when I got there that I was told we would all be going naked through the streets, but by that time I’d gone all the way out there so I just went ahead with it.

"It was in a street just along from Tiananmen Square and the event caused a huge stir. We were surrounded by police, who were shouting at us in Chinese.

"We were all bundled into a van and then a couple of days later we were deported, but it was worth it because the organisers of the show had got a lot of big name designers involved, but all the publicity focused on our protest."

While she is not expecting to be deported again, given the more liberal nature of laws in Italy, Miss Taylor expects the protest to cause quite a stir.

"We are not protesting near the show itself, but in the main fashion district of Milan," she explained.

"We want to show people that it is not acceptable to wear animal fur or leather, because in many cases the animals these materials came from would have been farmed and kept in appalling conditions.

"There are so many synthetic products on the market now that people should realise there is no need to wear animal skin."

Miss Taylor is a long-time campaigner for animal rights and before joining Peta worked for Edinburgh-based Advocates for Animals.

In 2002, she travelled to South Korea to support Peta’s protest against the Korean cat and dog meat markets. As the eyes of the world turned towards World Cup football, the activists sat crammed in a cage in front of the giant football near Seoul’s City Hall.

She has also gained notoriety for disrupting fashion shows around the world.

In Paris she was able to make her way on to the catwalk three times at one of the world’s most prestigious fashion events, highlighting the use of fur by designers such as Jean Paul Gaultier and Christian Dior.

Peta claims that millions of cows, pigs, sheep and goats slaughtered for their skins each year are held in inhumane conditions and are often castrated, branded and de-horned without the aid of painkillers.