Stella McCartney or Vivienne Westwood Could Design Cruelty-Free Hats for Buckingham Palace Guards

There’s a lot to be said for tradition, especially somewhere like Buckingham Palace. However, the royal family has been open to certain changes, implementing new, more eco-friendly practices left and right. And now, it appears they might trade in the guards’ old bear fur hats for a cruelty-free, animal-friendly alternative, perhaps to be designed by vegan designer Stella McCartney or fellow Brit Vivienne Westwood.

Traditionally, the hats worn by the Buckingham Palace guardsmen are made strictly of black bear fur, and each hat requires one entire bear. That’s a lot of bears to kill and skin, and PETA, along with other organizations, has been trying for years to convince the powers that be that, in this day and age, there’s just no need to use real bear fur because there are so many faux fur options.

PETA has gotten a meeting with Baroness Taylor, who is in charge of acquiring all military equipment, and they will discuss possible replacements for the bear fur. PETA thinks Vivienne Westwood is the right designer for the job, but Stella McCartney, along with her U.S. designer Marc Bouwer, is more than willing to take on the challenge.

Seeing as how 50 to 100 new hats are needed each year, I certainly hope this meeting goes well, and that the Queen’s guards go faux!

Photo courtesy of smh.com.au