Make Mine Mink - and Sable and Fox
Fur is Flying in This Boom Boom Economy

By Barbara Nachman

In a Manhattan penthouse loft high above the Hudson River, waiters decked out in crisp white shirts weave through the crowd dispensing flutes of champagne.

Clusters of mannequins draped in cold-weather finery circle the window-walled loft. A dozen of New York's most exquisite models mill through the crowd. They pause to flaunt their fashions, posing for a gaggle of eager photographers.

It's that time of year again, when the Fur Information Council of America struts its stuff for the fall/winter season. And this year, the council is presenting a fashion show with a message: This is not your grandmother's mink coat.

No, this is Oscar de la Renta's chartreuse lamb trench coat. This is Claude Montana's red knit beaver tube cape with red fox collar.

This is Jerry Sorbara's pink, peach and lilac striped mink jacket.

This is fur in colors, treatments, shapes and styles that have never been seen before: baby blue beaver; pink fox; kiwi rabbit; bottle green sheared mink; violet Persian Afghan; a mink halter vest; a cream knit beaver sport jacket with matching jogging pants; a burnt orange silk taffeta gown embellished with tufts of dyed silver fox.

If it sounds like fur manufacturers and designers are in a celebratory mood, who can blame them? Last year, American women dished out a record $1.4 billion for furry fashions, a 15 percent increase from 1998 and a hefty $400 million more than they spent in 1991.(1) Adding to the furriers' euphoria are the figures for January 2000 - up 16 percent from the previous year. According to the council, one in five women now owns a fur coat.

Gone are the days when hip and haute designers treated fur as an endangered fashion. In February, when New York designers presented their fall/winter fashions, fur paraded down almost every catwalk. And then there are the fashionistas. During the fall shows, it was apparent that front-row socialites and celebrities had resurrected the old 1950s mantra, "Make Mine Mink!"

Thanks to an exuberant economy, fur is back on shopping lists. For the moment at least, animal rights activists seem to have lost some ground. While they won over consumers in the 1980s with their anti-fur message, the extremist factions clearly alienated many women with their paint-throwing tactics.

Not a protester was in sight during the council's fall/winter 2000 presentation this week. A couple of police cruisers did pull up to the curb shortly before the show, and the official blue police barricades rested on the sidewalk at the ready.

This is not to say that the animal-rights message has been forgotten. Many women will still choose that good cloth coat for fall. But for now, at least, the barriers are down. Fur has clearly climbed to the pinnacle of fashion. Proof positive: On Sunday, when the stylish HBO series "Sex in the City"(2) made its season debut, the chic quartet - Carrie, Samantha, Charlotte and Miranda - were all decked out in fabulous fun furs.

Fur manufacturers and designers are responding to their newfound popularity with exuberance. "Innovation" is the buzzword designer Jerry Sorbara bandies about. "We're always experimenting," says Sorbara, who presented a bright yellow Oriental brocade coat trimmed with golden sable.

Sorbara, a longtime resident of Rye Brook and now Greenwich, Connecticut, designed exclusively for Neiman Marcus. He says women today are looking for fur that's exciting and different. Of course, there is still a market for those floor-sweeping honey sable coats and mahogany mink jackets. Designers, however, are moving beyond opulence and elegance to attract the customer who's never worn fur, while tempting fur fanciers to add more pieces to their wardrobes.

The newest furs for fall are flat, featherweight, colorful and casual, in keeping with the fashion trends. Fur accessories, scarves, trimmed gloves, and especially funky fox handbags, will soon be flooding stores.

Call it the democratization of fur.

Today, fur isn't just for special occasions, insists Terry Thornton, who is vice president of furs and coats for Neiman Marcus.

"Today it's more a lifestyle than a luxury."

NOTE:
(1) See also Fur Sales Up in 1999 Fur Information Council of America press release, May 31, 2000.
(2) See also Lots of "Skin" on "Sex and the City" FCUSA commentary, June 30, 2000.

For further information contact: Teresa Platt, Executive Director, Fur Commission USA, PMB 506, 826 Orange Avenue, Coronado, CA 92118-2698 USA, (619) 575-0139, (619) 575-5578/fax, furfarmers@aol.com, www.furcommission.com.

To take a cyber-tour of a fur farm, visit Fur Commission USA's Fur on Film at http://www.furcommission.com/video/index.htm

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