‘People are more violently opposed to fur than leather because it’s safer to harass rich women than motorcycle gangs’ Alexei Sayle
It isn’t ‘me’. I never considered wearing fur until, on a bleak Saturday, a rack of cosy vintage furs at the North Sydney market stopped me in my tracks. I tried on a mink jacket. It’s bespoke fit prompted me to have a long hard think. In addition to issues of cruelty, I’m a touch phobic about furry animals. Could I make a seismic shift to wearing fur?
One of the magnificently tailored jackets bore the Cornelius label. I remember meeting the legendary late Stella Cornelius. She and her husband opened the Cornelius Furs shop in Sydney 1943. They sold in 1977, and it finally shut down in 2000 such was the force of anti-fur campaigns. Ironically, after her link with controversy, Stella established the Conflict Resolution Network and received national and international accolades. The Cornelius Furs archive at the Powerhouse Museum is testament to the era of fur retailing and politics.
Kate Moss
If you’re a fur fan – or even if you’re not – you’ll adore the gloriously glam pics at Fashion’sMostWanted Fabulous in Fur. ArmstrongsVintage suggest many ways to wear vintage fur: how about teamed with a slinky dress and a pearls for a Deco Hollywood starlet look or decadent 40’s femme fatale style with tweed suit and leather brogues? You can add a vintage fur to a 50’s Rockabilly outfit, a bohemian 70’s maxi gown or contemporary skinny jeans.
Fur fashion history is fascinating. Long used for practical everyday warmth in the coldest countries, in more recent decades it became a coveted wardrobe item before becoming decidedly politically incorrect. It was originally fashionable to wear fur as a lining until the invention of cars led to it being worn on the outside of coats: riding in open cars was a cold activity so upper class folks took Sunday drives wrapped in heavy luxurious fur coats.
Divine Diana in mink
But the lurking fur issue remains. Diana Ross put it so well ‘I don’t know what I feel about wearing my furs anymore. I worked so hard to have a fur coat, and I don’t want to wear it anymore because I’m so wrapped up in the animals. I have real deep thoughts about it because I care about the world and I care about nature’.
VERDICT
Yep, I couldn’t resist buying this soft, feather light, ridiculously cheap and oh, so warm mink jacket. That same night, after 5 minutes of self consciousness, I forgot I was wearing my fur in public – without a flurry of dirty looks.
Butt, but, but....
Super model, Christy Turlington famously declared ‘I’d rather go naked than wear fur’.
I could even wear my fur to the beach on a cold day but I remain unsure
- are vintage furs better worn than to going into landfill?
If you enjoyed this post, please subscribe, comment, pass it on.
Thanks for reading!
My mother had a fox fur made from several pelts sewn together. I loved it as a child, but when she asked if i’d like to have it – I declined never thinking I’d have an occasion to wear it..
Rabbit skins were used for decades. Remember the Nursery Rhyme:
Bye Baby Bunting
Daddy’s gone a-hunting.
Gone to get a rabit skin to wrap my Baby Bunting in.
I now think that any cold day, is a good enough occasion. There can’t be anything warmer than a fur. Forget land fill – what a waste.
I’m less sentimantal now too.
If a fox is shot for eating your chickens – sure I’d use the fur.
Cows are killed for their meat, and leather.
Possums are destroyed to protect the NZ vegetation and native birds nesting grounds. No fur wasted there – it is plucked from the pelt, spun with wool for the garment trade.Very cosy and warm it it too.
Good for you, wear it well and be warm. Love and blessings, Paula.
Thank you, Paula, for that lovely story about your Mum’s fur and the poem! I know my Mum had one too – and it was a prized possession. Those were the days…..but, I agree – a waste to discard those furs now. And so interesting re possum fur in NZ. It’s made into some gorgeous garments and I don’t think there’s much concern about animal ethics? x
To fur or not to fur…we all have our guilty pleasures. Mike and I both laugh at having owned “Carpenter” albums, but keeping them hidden behind the Peter Frampton’s, Jefferson Airplanes and Carly Simons so no one would know we were such hopeless lovers of schlock!
And, we all have our fur-connection.My grandmother came to America from Russia and worked in a furrier shop. Those were different times – and who knows who’s grandmother made a living sewing the vintage fur you bought.
Haha, Craig – so true re guilty pleasures….. I need to check my collection out for some equally ‘interesting’ choices
Fascinating to think of all the people employed in the fur trade in years gone by – and how much of a luxury those jackets and coats were. Seems a shame not to wear them now – though I can’t quite bring myself to go so far as supporting a continuing industry x
[...] Week 31 Wearing fur (is vintage ok?) « Change Challenges [...]
[...] Week 31 Wearing fur (is vintage ok?) – I’m more comfortable wearing it encouraged by the warmth [...]