FT.com / Style - Fur fervour
01/10/2010 22:58
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Fur fervour By Lucie Greene Published: October 1 2010 21:55 | Last updated: October 1 2010 21:55
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Skins: From left, Fendi, Thakoon, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Oscar de la Renta and Lanvin
It is the most contentious item of clothing on the catwalk, found on everything from shoes to coats to chain necklaces. Fur is back. According to the Fur Information Council of America, fur appears in 20 per cent more of the autumn/winter catwalk collections this year than last. At Oscar de la Renta, coats were trimmed with fox; at Lanvin, black cropped jackets were adorned with shaggy fox collars; Carlos Miele showed cropped fox jackets and swing astrakhan (Persian lamb) coats; at Helmut Lang there were grey rabbit gilets; Jean Paul Gaultier introduced black coats with mink; while Fendi had coats, shawls and gilets in fox, mink and shearling. Torben Nielson, chief executive of Kopenhagen Fur, a Danish fur auction house, says prices of fur have doubled on last year, with mink and Persian lamb in particular selling fast. “China and Russia are exploding: China accounts for more than half our business,” he says. “Half of [the fur] is consumed in China, and half is used by Chinese furriers to produce pieces for luxury brands.”
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Celebrities are wearing fur more often, too, irrespective of milder winters or protesters from People for the Equal Treatment of Animals (Peta). Last week, Kate Moss emerged from dinner at The Ivy restaurant in London wearing a shaggy fur gilet; days later Love magazine editor Katie Grand was photographed in a bold white fur piece from Louis Vuitton.
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Robert Burke, a New York-based luxury consultant, says the reason for fur’s popularity is its newfound modernity. “It’s no longer about the old fur coat department. Fashion designers are putting their stamp on pieces now.”
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And it is not only the established guard who are using fur but also younger designers such as Thakoon and Zac Posen. Thakoon has worked fox, mink and raccoon patches into jackets, Posen striped fox fur into multicoloured coats. Brix Smith Start, owner of Start London boutiques, believes the ascendance of fur is partly a result of the economy, with consumers wanting investment pieces and “tangible luxury”. It has even emerged on accessories: Manolo Blahnik’s high-heel booties are trimmed in chinchilla; Céline’s satin open-toe mules with rabbit-fur lining; and Louis Vuitton’s chain-link necklaces are interspersed with fur.
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FT.com / Style - Fur fervour
01/10/2010 22:58
Fur’s increased prevalence, however, is still a divisive issue for retailers and consumers alike. That’s why fur associations have been striving to transform its image. Saga furs, a body representing 3,000 breeders in Finland and Norway, has worked with young fashion designers for 10 years, sponsoring shows and providing free samples in order to give fur a fashion edge and reach younger audiences. “Young people are buying fur now, and they’re more educated about where it comes from,” says Diane Benedetti, vice-president of advertising and promotion at North American Fur Auctions. “We’ve worked with environmental conservationists; the industry is heavily regulated. We’ve also tried to communicate our ethical practices much more. People are embracing fur again because of that. They’re seeing it more for it’s environmental benefits. Buying fur is better than buying a polyester jacket you’ll throw away the next minute, and will take 30 years to biodegrade. It’s the opposite of disposable.” But many designers, including Miu Miu, Chanel and Nina Ricci, have rejected real fur and tried to create a similar luxurious effect with high-quality faux fur. Sarah Curran, founder and chief executive of retail website My-wardrobe.com, says, “We’ve seen an increase in extremely high-quality faux fur, which has featured heavily in the collections of designers such as Jaeger London, Sportmax, See by Chloé and Love Moschino. Around 35 per cent of our coat buy this season includes faux fur.” Ed Burstell, buying director at Liberty, in London, concurs. “The quality of faux fur has improved so much,” he says, adding that the store had tripled its buy of faux fur pieces from last autumn. “Before it had the reputation for looking cheap, but now you can hardly tell the difference.” Burstell notes, however, that there is still resistance among consumers to paying the same price as for the real thing. “People don’t realise that it actually works in reverse with faux fur. The process of making really great faux fur is actually more expensive than buying real fur.” .................................................. Details www.fendi.com www.helmutlang.com www.jeanpaulgaultier.com www.kopenhagenfur.com www.lanvin.com www.liberty.co.uk www.my-wardrobe.com www.oscardelarenta.com www.thakoon.com www.zacposen.com .................................................. Fur for men: A flamboyant gesture If you thought fur was the dominion of women only, you thought wrong. Something savage is stalking men’s wear, too, writes David Hayes. Silver fox, mink, chinchilla, raccoon, rabbit – you name it, it made an appearance at the autumn/winter 2010 men’s collections. According to Arnaud Corbin, UK managing director of luxury men’s wear company Zilli (www.zilli.fr), which sells large quantities of high-grade fur: “The popularity of fur is growing – even among more traditional dressers, such as businessmen.” His pieces include the Layon coat, a traditional cashmere overcoat with a removable mink collar (£4,300). “The supplies of this coat in the London store have already sold out twice,” says Corbin. For many catwalk designers, however, fur is predominantly a flamboyant gesture rather than safe seller. Men’s wear designer Thom Browne (www.thombrowne.com), who attached fistfulls of racoon tails to almost everything in his autumn/winter 2010 catwalk show, including scarves, T-shirts and trousers, admits: “I actually don’t use fur very much. It is very much based on the concept I had for this season.” As for designer Rick Owens (www.rickowens.eu), former creative director of fur house Revillon, “I don’t think fur for men is ever going to make anyone a lot of money. I use it in my men’s collections because I have a fur atelier, and I like the slight element of transgression in putting a man in fur. I definitely see it as a flamboyant gesture.”
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FT.com / Style - Fur fervour
01/10/2010 22:58
“It’s not easy for men to wear full fur pieces,” says London designer Todd Lynn (www.toddlynn.com), famed for his leather and fur clothing. “I love the look of fur on the catwalk, but you have to be Zilli’s Layon coat the right type of person to carry it off in real life. The wearer can look like a pimp – or Liberace. Neither is something that men really aspire to.” Fur also remains an emotive issue, alienating both designers and retailers. Department stores Harvey Nichols and Selfridges, for instance, don’t stock it, and US fashion brands Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger all refuse to work with it. Stores and brands that do can become the target of protests. Jan Erik Carlson, chief executive of Saga Furs, says, “Fur for men has always been a ‘hard sell’. It has been a great frustration that we have a product that is sold mainly to women. But many men’s wear designers have been in contact with us, and, in some cases, we have facilitated the pelts for their collections as sponsorship.” .................................................. The fur debate: The ethical question Sarah Minivair, a former adviser to the Saga fur company, ponders the issues surrounding the use of fur in fashion When I worked for the marketing department of Saga some years ago, designers would contact me to ask if they could use fur. We would send them to a fur farm in Denmark to ensure that they saw both the conditions and how the animals were treated. Then they could make an informed decision about whether they still wanted to use fur or not. Some did, some didn’t. Some of London’s newer designers, for instance, are not so concerned about fur issues. They do not want the moralities of other people foisted on them, to be told what product they can or can’t use in their work. What Saga did in the 1980s and 1990s, when most of the fashion industry was against the use of fur, was to work with designers. They were invited to workshops, encouraged to experiment and explore research, product and development. They might also be sponsored in product by the firm, but not in money: we pay for you to use the material, it is seen on a runway, we get a credit. What is problematic to most people is that fur has connotations of vanity and cruelty, justified or not. But this does not occur to people when they buy leather. Fur is simply leather with hair. People still ask me: “Is it possible to have a ‘happy’ fur?” Looking at a fox in a cage, I would say no. But there has been a huge effort in Scandinavia, other parts of Europe and North America to improve standards of animal welfare. What is required is a body of absolutely objective parties who can give quality assurance. That would mean bringing on board both welfare organisations and the fur trade, and I think that there is too much anger on both sides for that to happen. The anti-fur stance is part of fashion history and, no doubt, it will return, but at the moment people are feeling nostalgic; fur is erotic and sensual and embodies a notion of retro glamour. I think people should be responsible and aware about what they are wearing. Very occasionally I wear fur as long as I know where it comes from – that it has been humanely farmed. Most that I see – lynx, coyote, beaver, lipi cat, vintage ocelot or leopard – I would never wear. But people Saga fur at the Roksanda Ilincic autumn collection should be able to make informed, educated decisions and take responsibility for that. The author’s name has been changed Copyright The Financial Times Limited 2010. You may share using our article tools. Please don't cut articles from FT.com and redistribute by email or post to the web. Print article
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FT.com / Style - Fur fervour
01/10/2010 22:58
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