FUR!

LorrelMae

LorrelMae

Registered Guest
I have an opportunity to buy some fur hats, I am completely inexperienced, except knowing what furs are illegal. (I think?)

Personally, I mostly stay away from fur, anything. Unless I like the cut/drape. (40's ish) And fur hats, to me, seem, unseemly!

Are there desirable furs? Or desirable fur hats? Am I missing something? I don't mind if fur is vintage, or fake. I draw the line at anything "new", or within the last 40 years.

:help: !!

Sincerely, Sandi

P.s, Maybe my question could be summed up as: Does anyone even buy fur, anymore?!!
 
Hope you don't mind my two cents. But in my experience with people in my age group (30s) fur is just not "in" anymore. I don't know anyone who buys it and I rarely see anyone around my age wearing it. Actually, a group of us were just having this discussion--we went to a musical last winter and the only ones we saw in fur were the older ladies--like in their 70s--and it just looked so old and dated. It is so bulky it tends to make you look larger and it just makes you look old--like you're stuck in a fashion time warp.

I will be honest, I am trying to give you an unbiased answer even though I am personally anti-fur, but these are the opinions I have gathered from just being around people in my age group--whether they were anti-fur or not. Obviously the reasons for not wearing fur are obvious for the anti-fur people, but for the others the consensus seems to be it is out of style and it makes you look old and dowdy or that you're trying "too" hard.

Just my opinion.
 
In my b&m shop, furs were very hot for the last two years, and mostly with the under-40 crowd, and the early 20s buyers were just as savvy about vintage furs. Jackets and coats sold the best, not so much with stoles, and hats were a tough sell, mostly because the styles I had were not as easy to really wear (early 60s pillbox, bubble, etc.) If I'd had trendier style hats in fur ( fedora, bucket) I'd have sold them, too.
 
I live in London, and sometimes hang-out in Soho or Shoreditch which are both full of beautiful trendy young things, and I graduated last year from achingly cool and fashionable Central Saint Martin's College with even more beautiful young things, (heaven knows why they let me in) and I quite often see the young fashionable crowd in bits of fur.

It's often more unusual items, I saw someone pulling off a forties fur shrug/capelet over a modern outfit recently, and someone else in a huge fluffy 60s white fur hat, a ski hat I guess - the round sort with ties with pom-poms on the end. One of my CSM friends wears a 50s persian lamb jacket - she's a total fifties burlesque babe. So in London, unless they have reasons of conscience for not wearing fur, I would say the edgy fashionable types certainly do seem to be wearing it. And it is bloody cold here in winter.
 
We see a lot of people wearing furs in Chicago in the winter - at least downtown. That wind is BITTER! I've seen a lot of full length fur coats and the short coats/jackets. I think it's a matter of choosing warmth over worrying about the bulk. I see fur hats, too - but as Eileen said - no pillboxes, etc.

I suspect that fur coats are very warm. I'm always surprised at how warm my leather jacket can be and if there was a nice, thick layer of fur added it would probably be quite warm. I would wear a vintage persian wool jacket if I found one I like. I did once - it had a mink-ish collar, but sold it - :duh2: Those animals died long ago and there's not much to be gained by tossing them at this point.

Small fur stoles seem to sell well enough for me, too. I think it might be more for costumes, though.

What I can't seem to sell are the collars with the feet, tails, and clippy faces. Of course, I have several. :BAGUSE:

I don't buy furs very often, though. Most people who come to the shop and want to sell still remember the days when every woman wanted a fur coat and it was soooo expensive. Most of the time, they ask more than what I could sell them for.

Diana
 
I love fur and would definitely wear it if I didn't live in Hawaii. I left a Persian Lamb jacket and a 3/4 length mink coat behind when I moved here. Both had been my mothers (who moved to Kauai two years before I moved to Oahu). I had the Persian Lamb restyled when I lived in Boston and wore the mink with a wide suede belt when I lived in New York. My former MIL kept the jacket and I eventually sold the coat to the furrier who was storing it.

Owning fur in a sub-tropical climate means keeping it in cold storage 95% of the time so it's not practical. I did buy a mink stole at an Symphony Ball auction several years. I wore it once to a VFCJ event in R.I. and it literally fell apart from dryness. It is occasionally cool enough here in the winter to "think" about wearing a fur stole to the opera, but very few people do.

I do not think fur is "aging" - I think it's glamorous and warm.

Linn
 
Thank you everyone!! I'll look again at the hats. I usually pick up persian lamb coats, but I've never picked up mink.

Linn, I cannot imagine having a refrigerator just for fur coats!! Although it might be great to have a vintage refrigerator for your vintage furs! A big rounded Cadillac looking one!

Oh! And another fur question, is there fur etiquette? It always looks funny to me, to see people wearing fur in the morning. Although I guess if you own one, why not wear it!

Thanks again!

Sandi
 
Originally posted by littleextra
Hope you don't mind my two cents. But in my experience with people in my age group (30s) fur is just not "in" anymore. I don't know anyone who buys it and I rarely see anyone around my age wearing it. Actually, a group of us were just having this discussion--we went to a musical last winter and the only ones we saw in fur were the older ladies--like in their 70s--and it just looked so old and dated. It is so bulky it tends to make you look larger and it just makes you look old--like you're stuck in a fashion time warp.


Just my opinion.
Click to expand...

I completely disagree. In fact the last two years of "Fashion Rocks" has been packed with furs worn in a very trendy and fashion forward way.
Of course, here in LA, anything goes, I've even seen big fur boots worn with short shorts and it looked so cute.
While I wouldn't go out and buy a new fur, I have and wear tons of vintage furs. The key is to make it look effortless

here's some pics from Fashion Rocks 2008 that show furs and fur hats even
http://rockthetrend.com/2008/08/04/fashion-rocks-2008/
 
Originally posted by boncly
What I can't seem to sell are the collars with the feet, tails, and clippy faces. Of course, I have several. :BAGUSE:

I don't buy furs very often, though. Most people who come to the shop and want to sell still remember the days when every woman wanted a fur coat and it was soooo expensive. Most of the time, they ask more than what I could sell them for.

Diana
Click to expand...

I agree, prices for resale furs are waaaaay down. I think it has to do with how much they cost new, and the fact that every woman saved her furs so there's plenty out there (except for the more exotic furs)

also I am looking to buy any of those stoles with feet and such for a project. But I have to buy em cheap, so if anyone wants to just get rid of em U2U me or e-mail me at [email protected]
mostly looking for the foxes but will also buy the smaller minks and stone martins, etc.
 
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