Following up on the escalating conflict between Giorgio Armani and the anti-fur crusaders at PETA, it looks like we could see some fireworks this month around Oscar time. As you may recall, after years of prodding Armani, it appeared that he was finally going to capitulate. Instead, he released a fall lineup filled with furry fashions. We don't know why he did it -- maybe just to tick PETA off. Now that PETA's going on an Oscar offensive, Armani may be wondering why he got into this slug fest.

Don't get us wrong here, every once in a while, we love to watch a celebrity stand blatantly defiant against a quasi-obnoxious organization like PETA. It can be pretty hilarious. It's been said that the best defense is a strong offense. Still, we're not quite sure that's what Armani really intended to do here.

Making good on their promise to put Armani no the "hot seat," PETA took out a full-page ad in Variety, featuring the fashion with a photoshopped Pinocchio-esque nose. They also took it upon themselves to write a letter to each nominee, asking them not to wear any Armani styles during the Academy Awards.

In defense of their action, the label released a statement defending their use of fur, saying that it only uses rabbit fur "where the rabbits have been raised specifically for the food sector." Then, attacking PETA's anti-Armani campaign they went on to say that it's "unacceptable that PETA should continue to target [Armani] with offensive and inaccurate advertisements used to exploit the Armani name in their interests."

What's the moral of this story? We're not sure, maybe: don't start nothing, won't be nothing?