Montreal Hails Golden Age of Fur
FUR COMMISSION USA COMMENTARY, MAY 8, 2000
Montreal Hails Golden Age of Fur
By Teresa Platt, Executive Director, FCUSA (April 1998 – May 2011)
Photos by Fur Works
MONTREAL, May 3-6: At the Montreal NAFFEM, the North American Fur & Fashion Exposition 2000, cold-weather clothing designers, manufacturers, buyers and retailers quickly learn why 2000 is being hailed as the beginning of a Golden Age of Fur. Over 200 designers have applied their creative skills to fur pelts, changing them in ways the world has never seen. The selection of colors is staggering, the finishes amazing, and the combinations of textures and techniques makes one’s head spin.
In the convention hall, hundreds of booths display the beautiful and soft wares to buyers from upscale department stores, trendy boutiques and thousands of specialty shops from around the world. A steady stream of models, male and female, strut down short catwalks, showing off tight leathers, butter-soft suedes, shearling, wools and soft furs. The fashion shows are a parade of sensuality set to exciting music.
Strong Sales
Frankfurt, Hong Kong, Milan, Moscow – the series of fur expos for the 2000 season have shown a rising interest in real fur and sales have been strong. Fur producers such as farmers, trappers and indigenous people, are excited about the demand for real fur. Is the public finally taking the concept of sustainable use into their closets and proving they support the environment with their wallets? It appears so.
The Montreal NAFFEM follows the other shows with improved attendance over last year, plenty of established designers and exciting newcomers.
Beaver Yarn?
Paula Lishman‘s “knitted fur” booth is packed with eager buyers. At over six feet tall, Paula creates her own clothing to keep warm in the frigid Canadian winters, knitting up a storm in a variety of wools. But things really got shook up when Paula turned to fur, cutting beaver pelts into “yarn”, then knitting and crocheting fabulous coats, scarves and jackets. Paula is brave in her experimentation with dyes and variegated colors. The look, and feel, are amazing. The garments are soft as chinchilla, lighter than traditional wool and fur garments, and warmer than wool by far. For 2000, Paula added asymmetrical fur collars, sheared and natural, for a fun touch. Paula is earthy and warm, open and creative, a true artist in every sense of the word, and her designs show her flair for living.
Around the corner, Inuit ladies from Nunavut show off their handsome sealskin designs, incorporating traditional patterns and techniques.
Their booth is dotted with folk art, needlepoints of people and animals. Cozy boots are displayed next to snowshoes, reminding us that this is all about the cold at the top of the globe. In the Arctic, keeping warm and dry is a matter of survival, and the Inuit women are respected for their remarkable tailoring skills developed over 5,000 years of living in the harshest of climates.
Asia is a big market for these products, and parts of Europe are showing more interest. However, wearing a sealskin coat in the US could result in arrest, since our Marine Mammal Protection Act (MMPA) outlaws these products.(1)Surrounded by an abundance of seals – over 8 million off the shores of their country – the Inuit ladies are perplexed. If they made products out of plastic, they could sell them in the US, but since their coats, jackets and purses are all made from the container dinner came in, sealskin, they are banned in the US.
A market in the US would mean an enormous amount to these people. Consider the volume of fake fur plush toys sold at marine parks and zoos, places that preach sustainable use while selling non-biodegradable toys by the millions. If the MMPA were modified to allow sealskin products from indigenous peoples such as the Inuit of Nunavut, would the zoos switch to ordering real sealskin plush toys?
Mink Rainbows
Mink is everywhere. Mink in over 30 natural shades from pearl to sapphire to classic black, brown and mahogany. And mink in rainbow colors, the color of M&Ms and Skittles.
Cary Granston Bullard(2) of Nouveau Riche, Chicago and Montreal, has taken color to a new and exciting level. He offers mink dyed bright lemon yellow or double-dyed, lemon tip-dyed a deep navy. As the wearer moves and when the wind blows, the navy moves aside to reveal the shock of bright yellow underneath. Cary pairs up sheared bright red mink ski jackets with warm wool pants sporting pom-poms, putting the fun back into the ski bunny. And he has hats to match every outfit!
Designer Marisa Minicucci(3) of Montreal shears the fur side and micro-shaves the leather side of her mink pelts, taking lightweight to new extremes. No heavy silk linings for this designer! The pelts are sewn together, showing off the soft and supple leather sides – the skills of a good dresser are essential here. The garments, in a stunning selection of colors from jade to sage to chocolate to amethyst, are light and ladylike. No wonder buyers are falling in love with these fashions.
A visit to the booth and display area of Fur Works(4) is a trip to the fantastic and fun. Fur Works is an innovative collaboration between the Fur Council of Canada, world renowned designer Richard H and ten companies. Fur Works has launched a new sportswear concept for fur, resulting in casual garments that are light and easy to wear.
Another booth demonstrating new ways of working with fur generates a wealth of ideas for creative minds. Pelts are tossed about illustrating new techniques, with amazing results from cutting through the leather and pulling the hairs through to the leather side of the pelt. This results in a fabric that is wrapped back on itself and fully reversible. Different colors are woven onto each other. Magenta and tangerine – together? Why not? A lilac mink pelt is cut and twisted into spirals then woven into a fabric that makes the brain ask, “What is that? Lilac fur dreadlocks?” Pelts are carved with intricate designs and dyed to show off the handiwork. The hands cannot resist and must touch; the senses are overwhelmed with the feel of fur.
One of the Nunavut ladies joins me at the booth demonstrating new techniques, and we compare notes. Fur has been part of the human clothing choices since the Stone Age, but we had to wait a whole millennium for new designers, fertile young minds, to come up with such exciting new ideas for working with fur.
“We were all sleeping!” comments my friend from Nunavut as she beholds the new fabrics in awe.
NOTES:
(1) For articles and other resources on the MMPA, visit FCUSA’s Press Kit.
(2) Cary Granston Bullard, Nouveau Riche, Montreal, Quebec, Canada (514) 274-7000; Chicago, Illinois, USA (773) 274-7564.
(3) Marisa Minicucci. 6300 avenue du Parc, bureau 506, Montréal a/s Deborah, Montreal, Quebec, Canada (514) 272-6300; www.minicucci.com
(4) For more information on Fur Works, see this Feb. 29, 2000 press release.
PHOTO GALLERY:
Click here to view full-sized versions and captions for the following images from Montreal.
