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SHOPPINGNEW YORK
Faux and real…it’s everywhere,
with leopard the hot look
fur is high flyin’ this
season
By Ruth J. Katz
Y
Zandra
Rhodes
for
Pologeorgis
Trilogy
Collections
Diane von
Furstenberg
Michael
Kors
cover ups
Bottega
Veneta
Alexandros
Furs
J. Mendel
20
Luca
Luca
Helen
Yarmak
ou might say that what heralded last season’s fashion shows was not fanfare,
but furfare. Whether faux or the real deal, designers used fur embellishments
everywhere, even on the insoles of shoes, on watch straps, and in hair
ornaments. Among the innumerable designers who showed fur (again, real
or faux)—and we are not just talking coats here, but trims in every form—are Chanel,
Carolina Herrera, Juicy Couture, Dries Van Noten, Etro, Nina Ricci, Marc Jacobs,
Elie Tahari, Michael Kors, Roberto Cavalli, Fendi, Gucci, Ferragamo, Rebecca Taylor,
Christian Dior, and on and on.
And now that the stores are selling the end result of those fashion-forward
presentations, you’ll see fur in just about every shop window you pass. On a fast
trip through the Time Warner Center, we spied leopard-print accessories, body suits,
hose, and leggings in the über-chic Wolford hosiery shop! It almost seems like fashion
blasphemy to mention so many disparate price points, designers, and shops in one
breath when talking about fur, but it simply underscores the omnipresent influence fur
and the fur look have in fashion this season—in upmarket boutiques, in mainstream
retailers and department stores, and at mass merchandisers. Look who is espousing
fur and faux: Louis Vuitton and Talbots, Yves Saint Laurent and J. Crew, Christian
Louboutin and Sam Edelman, Reed Krakoff and Ann Taylor, Celine and Jones New
York...you get the picture.
Let’s not forget about the animal prints. “Leopard prints—in fact all animal
prints—are wildly popular this year. We are featuring all kinds of fur printed with animal
motifs—kidskins, rabbit, mink, both sheared and unsheared. And, most notably, these
fashion-forward looks are available at all price points,” comments Daniela Balzano-Hull,
the director of the Maximilian Fur Salon at Bloomingdale’s. Faux leopard print is the
hot look this season. In September, The New York Times’ photographer-about-town,
Bill Cunningham, offered one of his Sunday pix features highlighting leopard prints
alone—and there were more than 50 pictures on his half-page! Everything from tights
to sneakers, all leopard prints. Jennifer Lopez graced the September issue of Glamour
magazine in a leopard-print bustier, and inside, the publication featured her in a slew
of animal prints, including a Rochas coat, with the ubiquitous print appearing in the
background on a chair, a tote bag, throw pillows, or ballet flats. In the same issue, there
was Molly Sims, Elle Macpherson, Margherita Missoni, and Victoria Beckham, caught
in candids, all decked out in leopard prints. And in October, Glamour reprised animal
prints with another six pages. The upscale British design firm Mulberry did a stylish—
and pricey—group of leopard-inspired handbags and even created more for its Mulberry
for Target line in hot pink leopard, all of which sold out online before the bags even hit
the stores in October!
And what about the classic mink coat, which for generations was the aspirational
coat of millions of women? There are many things Gotham can boast about, and one
is that our fur industry (in and around Seventh Avenue and 28th-30th Streets) is where
the best fur coats in the world have traditionally been made. New York furriers taught
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SHOPPINGNEW YORK
fur is high flyin’ this season
This page, clockwise from
upper left:
s
g
n
i
m
m
i
r
t
e
h
all t
Dennis Basso, Fall 2010 Collection
Christian Dior, bag;
Dennis Basso, bag;
Home Shopping Network,
faux leopard-print bangles;
Helen Yarmak, leg warmers;
Chanel, boots;
Barbara Tfank, stole;
J. Mendel, muff ]
small stuff
the world how to make the most exquisitely crafted fur garments. Classic
coats, a generation ago, were the always-popular mink. American pelts
and American-made—the two de rigueur demands of smart consumers.
Updated mink silhouettes in the ’80s, echoing those of generations
before them, were slim and ladylike— a wink to Don Draper and the ’60s
Mad Men era—and paid homage to what our mothers and grandmothers
wore. But within a decade, thanks to designers like Ralph Lauren and
Perry Ellis, coats got bigger and less prim—all necessary style changes as
more women went to work and needed roomy, practical coats to allow
for a bulky suit underneath. A decade later, coats got even more stylish,
taking a cue from Italian wizards like Guiliano Teso and the Fendis and
the American designers who licensed their names and fabulous style to
fur houses. Fashion flair in fur was the byword—marked by swingy
seven-eighths lengths, interesting yokes, big sleeves, oversized cuffs, and
oodles of fashion-forward details. The let-out mink (a coat with the long
“stripes” fur) gave way to skin-on-skin, i.e. large blocks of fur.
And what do women want today in that first mink, still the
aspirational coat, but no longer the coat that father is buying for mother?
Today women are buying this coat for themselves. “They want that coat
to be special, a classic coat that is modern and young, and they consider
it an investment piece,” notes Nick Pologeorgis, a second-generation
furrier, whose 50-year-old family business (pologeorgis.com) makes coats
for the likes of Michael Kors and Zandra Rhodes. “They want great
quality, great style, and a versatile coat. The floor-sweeping length is out.
22
Catherine
Malandrino
Oscar de la
Renta
Barbara Tfank, Fall 2010 Collection
Chanel, Fall 2010 Collection
J. Mendel, Fall 2010 Collection
Christian Dior, Fall 2010 Collection
[ J. Mendel, fisher scarf;
They want knee-length, that they can wear both sporty and dressy.”
Another item very hot this year is the fur vest, according to Tommy
Alexandros, the second-generation furrier of Alexandros Furs, who sells
both retail to private clients and wholesale to major departments stores
throughout the country. “We are making vests at every price point—and
in various lengths, too. Short, cropped at the waist, down to long styles,
almost tunic-like, and some with short sleeves, too. And we’re using a
variety of interesting furs, as well—classics like mink, fun furs like Rex
rabbit, and dramatic textures, too, like perforated Persian lamb, backed
with knitted cashmere.”
“Vests this year are crazy-hot,” echoes Larry Cowit, a thirdgeneration furrier and vice president of Henry Cowit Furs (cowitfurs.
com), a company that specializes in fur-matching for other furriers in the
industry and remodeling fur garments for private clients. “We are making
more vests from older coats, in addition to all the traditional remodeling
jobs we do.” With a skillful eye and dexterous hands, Cowit can even
bring new life to grandma’s old mink (obviously, providing the skins
will still hold up), transforming it into a cute jacket, a practical fur-lined
raincoat, or fun accessories.
So, whether you opt to update your wardrobe with a leopard-print
silk scarf or a Persian lamb bolero, or you go the whole nine yards and
indulge in an opulent golden sable wrap, this is the season where fur and
fur lookalikes are taking center stage. With so much available in every
price range, it’s easy to catch the trend and flaunt it. n
Christian
Dior
Carmen Marc
Valvo Collection,
exclusively at
Maximilian
Fur Salon at
Bloomingdale’s
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