Has Fur Finally Gone Mainstream?

There was no missing the proliferation of fur on the fall runways — from cocooning “polar bear” coats at Louis Vuitton to shaggy Mongolian chubbies at Matthew Williamson. Sophisticated fox and sleek mink made multiple appearances, too, sometimes in allover looks but most often as eye-catching embellishment: dramatic jacket sleeves at Balmain, oversize pockets at Rochas, lionlike collars at Altuzarra, crossbody stoles at Jason Wu, vividly dyed cuffs at Gucci and outdoorsy gauntlets at Ralph Lauren. And yet, rather than invoking the ire of animal-rights groups such as People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals, top designers’ rampant use of real fur passed without incident. Mark Oaten, chief executive officer of the International Fur Federation, the global trade body for the fur industry based in the U.K., noted that instead of using fur to make the kind of coats likely to turn up in vintage stores, brands have begun to treat fur more like a textile. “A lot of designers are using it really not because it’s fur, but because it’s another fabric [available to them],” he said. “They’re not making a statement about producing a fur coat, they’re just using fur as part of their normal collection.” Figures released by the IFF confirm

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