A woman in leopard makeup and little else pranced on a Summit Street corner yesterday at noon.
She stripped for attention, she said, to raise Toledo's consciousness about the evils of buying and wearing furs.
Clad only in bikini bottoms, kitty-costume ears, orange paint, and black spots, Brandi Valladolid smiled and waved at wide-eyed passersby. A sign she held across her bosom said: “I'd rather bare skin than wear skin.”
The temperature was 21 degrees. The wind gusted from the west at 21 mph. Large portions of her bare hide prickled with goose bumps.
Ms. Valladolid, 27, a volunteer with People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, was warmed only by her convictions.
“This is nothing compared to what animals go through on fur farms. This gets some attention for our cause,” she said. “We have to do interesting, outrageous things to grab attention. We don't have the budget fur producers have.”
The Fur Information Council of America says fur sales sagged during the 1990s, but they're springing back into style. In 1992, fewer than 50 designers used fur. Today, almost 400 do. Fur sales topped $1.53 billion last year.
But even sable can't compare to skin. Ms. Valladolid got attention, all right. Passing drivers honked, wolf-whistled, and circled the block for another ogle. Some rolled their windows down to offer her coffee, blankets, or phone numbers.
Television crews arrived, traffic stopped, then reversed for a better view. A police van stopped at the curb. The officer inside snapped photos, then rolled along his way.
Ms. Valladolid is from Arizona. She's been vegetarian from age 13, she said, and now works in the Virginia-based offices of PETA. She and LeAnne Short, her leaflet-toting (and fully clothed) assistant, are on a city-to-city sweep, she said, appealing to base instincts for the sake of a lofty goal.
“After we do one of these, we get a lot more hits on our Web pages,” she said, moving from one shivering foot to the other. “People want more information about what we stand for.”
Along the street, a mostly male commentary passed among strangers.
“It doesn't make any sense to me,” said John Lovelace, a downtown employee taking a lunch break. “Naked ladies don't have any bearing on my opinions about furs.”
“She's crazy,” another man said. “I kinda like crazy women.”
“Poor thing. She's going to need a fur coat to get her circulation back.”
“It's something you don't see every day around here.”
“Refreshing.”
“Wow, she's hot.”
“No, you moron. She's cold!”
First Published February 14, 2003, 12:54 p.m.
