And Now, in the Spotlight: Dead Mice?

According to news sources, a very very strange new fad is circling in some parts of the world: the dead mouse brooch. Ridiculous, you say? Not quite. At a New York Fashion Week party, Jason Preston, partner of Marc Jacobs, paraded around with a white mouse attached to his lapel via brooch. It is unknown yet whether or not the mouse was real- photographs show it looking like a cat toy- but Preston refused to remove it, saying it was a gift from his date, Courtney Love, and that she refused to let him take it off. Representatives from the group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, or PETA, were not amused by his antics and berated him for them.

This could be dismissed as an odd, one-time incident, liable to happen in those wacky, haute-couture parts of Manhattan. However: just the other day it was reported, much to the delight of the tabloids, that Pete Doherty, lead singer of the group Babyshambles, had sent his ex-lover, Kate Moss, a dead mouse as well- attached to a brooch. The response from Moss is unknown. Doherty, who is currently in rehab, felt it was an adequate expression of his emotions, since the dead mouse represented his life without Moss: fragile, dead and broken. He also added that Courtney Love gave him the idea.

Needless to say, it makes one wonder if this "trend" is going to be picked up around the world, with diamond-encrusted mouse shapes soon for sale at Tiffany's, but for now, suffice to say that maybe the accessories trade has stepped out a little too far.