Nutria are really nasty creatures, like a mutant gerbil crossed with a subway rat. So it was only a matter of time before nutria fur became a fashion trend. But did you know it's the most "guilt-free" of all fur?

Guilt-free, because you're only going to feel guilty if it's like a cute little marmot or a busy beaver skinned for your fashion. Nutria are gross! (Unless their pelts are covering your body.) In fact, you can not only be guilt-free by wearing nutria fur, but "righteous," as implied by the title of the nutria-heavy "Righteous Fur" fashion show to be held this Sunday in (yes) Williamsburg. You're actually helping the planet by wearing the skin of these animals, since their overpopulation in Louisiana is destroying the environment.

Here's one woman interviewed by the New York Times:

Jessica Radcliffe, a New Orleans dollmaker and performance artist, won't use leather in her work but has made several nutria stoles. "I personally don't want to be in a position where I have to kill an animal," she said. "But if it's them or us, I don't want to be a lily-livered sissy about it."

Nutria fur! Fashioning a worthless animal's hide into clothing perfectly fits our gritty Shop Class as Soulcraft, neo-frontier moment. We're off to commission an all-nutria jumpsuit with matching turban ASAP. And then we will get a necklace made out of bedbugs, and boots of Chihuahua skin.

Although we worry about the slippery ethical slope. If it's OK to make clothing out of animals so long as they annoy us, this could have unfortunate implications for, say, the cast of Two and a Half Men.

[Images via Getty and Wikimedia]