When I first moved to New York City, I got the same few questions over and over, like: “Your apartment is seriously only 500 square feet?” and “Do you ever see celebrities?”
But most frequently, I got this: “Do you worry about PETA spray painting you when you wear fur?”
The last question always seems the strangest to me. I can only assume that people ask because a fur-wearing Samantha Jones was famously splashed with red paint in the first Sex and the City movie.
This is one urban legend I can lay to rest: NYC is not home to an army of guerrilla fur fighters. That’s good news for fashionistas who are following fall’s trends — after a couple PETA-friendly years, fur is back in a huge, huge way. Fur is cropping up everywhere, from collars to cuffs, in hues ranging from neon pink to cerulean blue. Even I think it’s a little much — and I’m not much of a bleeding heart.
I’ve made no secret of the fact that I wear fur (which I see as being no different from leather). But I tend to stick with vintage coats and pelts. If an animal’s been a goner for a few decades, it’s basically guilt-free. (Did I mention I am not a bleeding heart?)
Here’s how I recently wore one such vintage find.
The jacket is a Roberto Cavalli piece that I first spotted at C. Madeleine’s, a vintage shop in Miami. Unfortunately, the price was way out of my budget, so I started my online stalking game.
Every few weeks, I’d systematically surf through recent eBay and TheRealReal listings, hoping to find a match. Finally in late summer, my moment arrived — the exact same jacket appeared on TheRealReal, for 12.5% of C. Madeleine’s price. (Not 12.5% OFF — just 12.5% of the original price.)
That’s what I call fate.
Whether you love it or hate it, I’ll vouch for fur’s effectiveness as an insulator. There’s a reason why early civilizations relied on animal pelts — the warmth kept people alive.
How do you feel about vintage fur, and do you view it any differently than the new coats that are currently cropping up across the newsstands? I’d love to hear your thoughts.
