Blame it on the mob wives. Once banished to style prison, fur has gone from being a fashion crime to dominating the international runways.
Fears of red-paint wielding animal activists have been overcome by the maximalist mob wife trend’s popularity and a shift away from “woke” fashion.
“When we started, people were reluctant to even look at faux fur,” says Gilat Shani, co-founder of Melbourne label Unreal Fur, which launched 12 years ago. “Somehow it’s back on the runway. Perhaps it reflects the general mood of the world in going backwards.”
Jack Tuftie and Bridget McFarlane modeling pieces from Melbourne label UnReal Fur.Credit: Simon Schluter
At the international ready-to-wear shows which finished in Paris last month, there was a 33 per cent increase in fur looks from the previous year, according to fashion search engine TagWalk.
At Milan Fashion Week, the Fendi show featured a mink coat alongside fur-look shearling jackets.
“We can do anything with faux fur that you can do with real fur, without harming animals,” says Shani.
“Our biggest market is in the US, which is much greater than Australia. We also sell to Saudi Arabia, China, Japan and the UK. Our Australian audience is growing.”
At Melbourne Fashion Festival in March, actor Sharon Johal wore a yellow faux fur coat from Zhivago as the temperature nudged 30 degrees outside, while some male guests in the front row wore shorter, fluffy coats.
“We recently launched a men’s line after the popularity of our unisex collection,” Shani says. “Everyone is interested.”
Animal rights organisation PETA has no issue with the rise in popularity of faux fur, as long as luxury labels such as Gucci, Prada and Chanel continue banning the use of real fur in their collections. Gucci banned fur in 2017, Prada in 2019 and Chanel in 2018.
“Many international brands have banned fur from the runways and are also banning wild animal skins,” says Sascha Camilli, PETA UK public relations manager and author of Vegan Style. “The look is on the runways but as long as it’s not real fur, hundreds of millions of animals’ lives are being saved.”
While the majority of faux fur is made from environmentally challenging synthetic fibres, labels such as Tod’s, Prada, Ferragamo and Dolce & Gabbana achieved the look this season with shearling. Despite being a byproduct of lamb meat production, PETA is less supportive of this trend.
“Shearling is a workaround that brands use for the fur look, but the reality is that it’s the skin and hair of an animal that has been killed. PETA’s stance is that shearling is just like any other fur.”
Also in the danger zone is vintage fur, with pieces worn by Rihanna and Hailey Bieber having been identified as real fur.
“Whether the animal died 20 years ago or today,” it still suffered, Camilli says. “Donate it to an animal shelter. You can get the look without the suffering.”
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