CNN
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Following criticism from animal rights group PETA for using live butterflies in his dresses, the founder of Japanese brand Undercover has apologized and promised to never feature live animals in his designs.
“I regret trapping butterflies that could fly freely in the sky,” Jun Takahashi said in a letter to PETA, which he shared with CNN on Tuesday.
Undercover’s “terrarium” dresses, which featured live flowers and butterflies, were a moment of ethereal beauty at the brand’s Spring ’24 show in Paris Fashion Week in September, but the dresses sparked concern among animal rights activists about the insects’ welfare.
PETA wrote to Takahashi in October to inform him that butterflies used for public displays are “usually either plucked from the wild or raised in captivity on farms”, and that many are crushed or die while being shipped “like cargo” in envelopes and small boxes.
The group cited the North American Butterfly Association, saying that “many wedding planners now avoid butterflies at weddings because they (often) arrive dead or half-dead.”
In his response dated October 17, Takahashi said he wants the butterflies on his show to be safe and healthy. He wrote that his team ordered them from an “ethical” breeder and gave them adequate nutrition and enough room to breathe and fly, while keeping them at the right temperature.
Victor VIRGILE/Gamma-Rapho/Getty Images
The otherworldly “terrarium” dresses, filled with flowers and butterflies, were part of the Undercover show finale in September.
But the designer added that while his brand strived to create “the most comfortable environment possible” for the creatures, he knew it was a mistake. “I felt guilty, but decided to put butterflies in the dress for my own design,” he wrote.
Takahashi said he released the insects in a park immediately after the parade, although PETA’s letter notes that captive-bred butterflies “have difficulty finding food sources and rarely survive” in the wild, and can also ” spread disease to local insect populations.” »
A PETA spokesperson told CNN on Tuesday that a representative from the organization met with Takahashi in person to thank him for his letter, and that they had a “constructive discussion.”
In his letter, the designer states that he first developed an affinity for butterflies at his grandmother’s funeral twenty years ago. “I went to a nearby river and a white butterfly flew by and didn’t leave my side,” he said. “This experience made me very happy, thinking that my grandmother was getting closer to me. » Since then, Takahashi added, he has had other equally evocative experiences with insects.
“I hope you appreciate our goodwill and please inform us further on this topic as we want to learn to behave better,” he told PETA, adding: “I pray that the butterflies come back to my side.”
New York department store Barneys stopped displaying insects in its windows after facing similar complaints from PETA over its use of live monarch butterflies in 2018.
The animal rights organization also runs campaigns targeting what it calls “systemic cruelty” in leather, mohair, woolcashmere, down and furs.
