We gently avoided last week's Times article about the amazing strides being made in the cruelty-free fashion world because, well, we think vegans are kind of stupid. The article's claims were sweeping and decisive: Animal-free fabrics were finally striking a blow against leather, wool, and silk (wait — worms are animals?), allowing activists like Natalie Portman and Stella McCartney to finally get ecologically sound "What Was She Thinking?" spreads in Us Weekly, too. You'd think this glowing "Styles" piece would make tofu-lovers happy, right? Wrong. In today's letters section, a reader strikes back against the nonexistent enemy:

Some day it will be the ultimate in chic to be a compassionate consumer. Those who continue to abuse every animal and natural resource for their own pleasures will come to represent the ugly.

Yeah, maybe. Except that those vegan shoes will still be really ugly.

Letters: Compassionate Chic [NYT]
Uncruel Beauty [NYT]