Gucci faces opposition for staging Cruise show in Westminster Abbey

London - London's Westminster Abbey has served as the backdrop for Royal Weddings, Coronations and numerous burials and memorials over the years for some of the nation's most prestigious individuals. However, the Gothic church is set to host a different sort of ceremony on Thursday, as Gucci prepares to stage its debut catwalk show for its 2017 Cruise Collection in the abbey's cloisters.

Although the majority of the fashion industry, together with Gucci's creative director Alessandro Michele, have celebrated the show's upcoming location, not everyone seems to be a fan of the unusual site choice for the catwalk event. PETA penned a letter to the Archbishop of Canterbury on Wednesday, urging him not to allow the Italian fashion house to showcase exotic animal skins during its upcoming show at "the sacred religious site of Westminster Abbey."

The letter highlights the ongoing cases of animal cruelty and abuse occurring at farms, which sees animals such as snakes, alligators and ostriches bred in confined, cramped and barren pits, only to be brutally slaughtered for their skins. "The miserable lives and violent deaths that these animals endure for the sake of expensive "fashion" are in direct opposition to God’s message of kindness, mercy, charity and humility," reads the letter.

"Gucci’s fashion show will without a doubt be the product of many acts of cruelty against God’s creation. We urge you to follow the Pope’s kind example of showing compassion towards animals by keeping cruelly produced exotic animal skins out of His holy church." The letter penned to the Archbishop of Canterbury follows on from PETA undercover investigations which documented acts of animal abuse and cruelty at supplier farms to numerous luxury brands. "Every exotic skin bag, shoe or jacket showcased by Gucci comes with a high price – and it’s paid by animals who were mutilated and left to die slowly and in pain", said PETA Director Mimi Bekhechi.

"Slaughtering animals for vanity is in no way compatible with the Church’s message of kindness and compassion." Reverend Peter Owen-Jones previously denounced the event as part of a "Disneyfication" process taking place within the country's "traditional sacred space," and compared Gucci's staging of its show in the abbey as "selling our soul for a pair of trousers." He raised concerns with the church allowing for such an event to take place in Westminster Abbey. "I’m not a conservative fuddy duddy, I’m on the liberal wing of the Church of England, but I’m afraid this is just an embarrassment," he said to the Telegraph.

"I can think of no other reason the church is doing it than for money and that confuses what the church should stand for. Capitalism comes and takes what it wants and leaves the rest, and we in the church are left apologising."

Photos: Gucci, Facebook