St. Louis Activist Storms Coach Fashion Show In Anti-Leather Protest

Sasha Zemmel was nude except for realistic tendon and muscle body paint

Sep 8, 2023 at 1:31 pm

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Courtesy Sasha Zemmel

The skinned look took about five hours to paint.

St. Louis activist Sasha Zemmel crashed a New York Fashion Week runway in protest of Coach's use of leather on Thursday.

Zemmel interrupted the show by strutting across the runaway with the bravado of a model while nude and covered in body paint made to give her a "skinned" appearance. The act was part of a protest against the fashion industry's use of leather. Across her chest, painted lettering read: "COACH LEATHER KILLS."

Zemmel stormed the runaway along with two other activists. One held up a PETA sign with the same message displayed on Zemmel's chest. A third recorded the two activists as they walk the looped runaway. All were undisturbed until a security guard grabbed Zemmel's companion, which is when video of the protest cuts out.

Zemmel tells the RFT she continued down the runway and was able to continue her walk for several minutes through Coach's maze-line runway. A security guard later grabbed her by the arm, she says, but she was escorted out of the building without an arrest.

"I'm really surprised they let us walk for as long as we did," Zemmel says. "I expected to get pummeled and spend the night in jail in body paint."

Zemmel has organized for human and animal rights since 2016. In December 2022, she was arrested for protesting the Moolah Shrine Circus' use of elephants. A month later, the 81-year-old circus announced it would drop elephants from its performances.

PETA brought Zemmel on for the anti-leather disruption and hired a body painter to cover her in realistic depictions of muscles and tendons. The whole get-up took five hours to paint.

As for her catwalk, Zemmel says she channeled her time in Los Angeles, where she once pursued modeling and acting.

"I've always wanted to model, and I guess whatever practice or training I got when I was out there, I put it to good use," Zemmel says.

The protest caught the eyes of Jennifer Lopez, Lil Nas X and Vogue editor Anna Wintour, who sat in the front row during the show, multiple outlets reported.

PETA recently produced an expose on the world's largest leather processor, which supplies Coach, a luxury brand that specializes in leather handbags and other accessories. PETA claims the leather processor beats calves and bulls, brands them in the face and shocks them with electric prods.

Zemmel says there's "no reason" animal skin animal skin should be used in fashion, especially considering its environmental impact and the "immense suffering" it can cause.

"We want it to be talked about. We don't care how we look. We just want the issue on the table, and I'm sure Coach heard us loud and clear," Zemmel says. "They may not announce a leather-free policy tomorrow, but this is just the first of many. We're totally prepared to do more."