In the turn of the 20th century, fur was highly desired by women as it symbolised status, wealth and glamour. Men would buy women their own furs as gifts, often spending copious amounts of money for mink and silver fox.
Noways, fur is seen as grey area in fashion. After years of protests against hunters and trappers, with campaigns such as 'I'd rather go naked then wear fur' featuring Naomi Campbell, there are a lot of very mixed opinions about the material. Is it any worse than eating meat or wearing leather? Is it inhumane and shallow? Or in this day and age, with the rise of organic fur farms, is wearing fur becoming more acceptable?
Fur was featured on many AW12 catwalks such as Kopenhagen, Mulberry, Fendi and Jason Wu. Today, over 4000 designers use real fur, compared to 45 in 1985. Although 'fur' coats are now mainly faux, real fur is more commonly being used for trimmings. In my opinion, fur still represents glamour, wealth and luxury but also edge. As long as it comes from an organic fur farm where the fur is from animals that have already been killed for meat or have had quality, free-range lives.
However, fur farming is still an big problem, particularly in Canada, where animals are kept in dirty, cramped cages, barely fed and killed slowly and painfully. Gassing is a popular method to kill mink. Minks are water-diving animals and can hold their breath for a long time, making it take longer to die. Foxes are sometimes skinned while conscious. These terrible aspects of the trade need to be stopped, and by supporting organic farms, faux fur and animal rights charities, you can help the quality of these poor animals lives without eliminating fur from the fashion world completely.
