TROPHIES

Although trophy hunting dates to our earliest ancestors, fashion's display of trophies, while morbidly fascinating, highlights the dominant Judeo-Christian and Cartesian metaphysics that have shaped a hierarchal relationship between humans and animals. René Descartes, considered the father of modern philosophy, believed animals to be inferior to humans because of their inability to speak and reason. To a large degree, fashion's acceptance and promotion of trophies are driven by this anthropocentricism. Worn most often as accessories and trimmings, trophies have come to serve as potent symbols of man's power over animals and as signifiers of wealth and status, man's power over man.

Copied From Wall Plackard
WILD: Fashion Untamed
Special Exhibit, The Metropolitan Museum of Art
December 7, 2004 through March 13, 2005

› WILD: Fashion Untamed, Exhibit Web Page
› PETA: Fur Is Dead

Last modified: February 13, 2005