PETA endorser Cloris Leachman’s lettuce gown gets a fashionable review
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PETA is no stranger to celebrity endorsements, but their famous followers tend to skew younger than the most recent star to don a couture lettuce gown. Cloris Leachman -- yes, the Cloris Leachman of ‘Young Frankenstein’ fame -- touts the benefits of a vegetarian diet in the animal-rights group’s latest ad.
Even more surprisingly, our colleague, Times fashion critic Adam Tschorn, says the octogenarian actress’ gown is ‘surprisingly stylish-looking for a dress made primarily of red cabbage.’ Tschorn writes on The Times’ style blog, All the Rage:
According to PETA, the gown was the creation of L.A.-based costume designer Mia Gyzander ... and required several dozen heads of red cabbage and green leaf lettuce. The bodice was assembled over the course of a week. ‘But to make sure Cloris was dressed in the freshest produce available, the full dress was assembled the day of the shoot,’ PETA spokesman Michael McGraw told us. And just in case you haven’t yet had your Cloris-fill, the lovely, leafy Leachman will be signing copies of her new autobiography ‘Cloris’ Tuesday night at the Barnes & Noble at the Grove at Farmers Market.
For her part, Leachman says vegetarianism ‘doesn’t have to be all of a sudden or a great huge education, but it’s sort of a little journey that you make all your life.’ (She’s been meat-free for more than 40 years.)
Compare Leachman’s style to PETA posers past in this photo gallery at the Times’ Image section.
-- Lindsay Barnett