Fashion Info
Posted 2/12/2003 11:10 PM
Updated 2/13/2003 11:27 AM
Warm wraps beat bad rap as fur flies again
By Maria Puente, USA TODAY
Fur is back — again. Maybe it's because rich people are getting tax cuts. Maybe it's because everyone is tired of being lectured about the evils of fur. Or maybe because it's too darn cold.
The shivering classes in New York, Boston, Chicago and other cold parts are bristling with fur coats, wraps, scarves, hats, gloves and boots. Celebrity queens — Jennifer Lopez, Madonna — are flaunting furs. Designers in New York for Fashion Week are spotlighting them. Wickedly cold city streets are clogged with them, restaurant coat-checks are packed with them, taxi back seats are stuffed with them. (Related items: Supermodeling reality; Fashion week photos.)
Even the anti-fur forces have changed tactics: Instead of disruptive protests at fashion shows, People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals staged its own show, featuring clothing made of recycled rubber and latex by the design team Gaelyn and Cianfarani.
"It's part of a different strategy to influence the industry from using fur," PETA spokesman Michael McGraw says.
It might not be working. The Fur Information Council of America, which represents fur retailers and makers, says close to 400 designers use fur in their collections. A decade ago, when fur was at its most un-PC, fewer than 50 designers worked with fur.
"The weather has certainly been in our favor this year," says Keith Kaplan, the council's executive director. He expects that fur sales figures, which will be released in May, could be up 10% over last year's $1.53 billion. "2001 was down slightly because of the slow economy, post-9/11, and because it was one of the warmest winters in history."
Still, has anything really changed? Lots of those "fur" coats parading down icy streets these days are fake.
"The fact is we're nowhere near where we were in the Reagan '80s, which was the last mass-market time for fur," PETA's Dan Mathews says.
But Reagan-style tax cuts are coming for the fur-draped types who frequent restaurants like Aujourd'hui at the Four Seasons Hotel in Boston and Le Cirque 2000 in New York. There, manager Andy Hauser says they're seeing a lot more furs in the checkroom because of the cold. But "we've always seen a lot of furs" because it's that kind of restaurant, he says.
Some designers never stopped showing furs. Malaysian-born ZangToi says he has included fur in every collection for 13 years. When models hit the runway at his show today, most of the looks will feature fur. His favorite: a $60,000 chinchilla opera wrap dyed deep iris.
"I'm so glad it's back in a big way because I've always loved fur," Toi says. Although the rich and famous buy his furs — he mentions Sharon Stone and Ivana Trump — he'll make something with faux fur for squeamish clients, such as Kelly Preston. "I respect people's opinions," he says.
Toi model Deborah Fenker says the fur renaissance is all about the fashion crowd's obsession with newness.
"A greater acceptance of furs opens the door to a new 'fabric' opportunity," she says. "Since fur was so taboo before, and now it's really not. Why not just go crazy with it?"
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