Fur Campaign Targets Young Designers

During Fashion Week, designers like Oscar de la Renta, Michael Kors, Proenza Schouler, Diane Von Furstenberg and Thome Browne had models strut down the runway in fox cuffs, coyote capes, colorful mink jackets, knitted furs and even capes trimmed with raccoon tails. With so many fur pieces, it almost seems like these designers are giving animal activists the finger.


But of course it isn't really like that. So did their innuendos coincidentally tell them that fur is going to be big this season? Afraid not. This time designers aren't that intuitive. The reason behind it? Fur actually became a trend because of a marketing campaign aimed at designers themselves!


The history between PETA and the fashion industry tells us it was a vicious one. In 1996, a dead raccoon was tossed onto Anna Wintour's plate while she was dining at the Four Seasons, and in 1998, activists burned fur coats outside the headquarters of Vogue magazine in New York City. PETA's Anti-Fur campaign was pretty much unyielding and that resulted in big name designers actually excluding fur altogether in their collections.


But that's all in the past right? The Fur Industry saw an opportunity with young designers; somewhat like starting with a clean slate. Since these newbies personally don't have any ties to the chain of events that happened years ago, the topic is less sensitive to them. With that said, these young designers would probably be more than willing to adopt new ideas.


With this preconception, the Fur Industry like Saga Furs and the North American Fur Auctions (NAFA) are no longer sitting back. They are behind the push to make fur become widely accepted again in hopes of it appearing more frequently in magazines and on runways. Over the last 10 years, they have aggressively approached and enticed young designers-- even those who are still in college, through trade groups by giving them free samples.


The fur used this season by Derek Lam, Thakoon, Brian Reyes, Wayne, Proenza Schouler, Richard Chai and the New York labels Cushnie et Ochs was actually provided by Saga. Last summer, they flew in Alexander Wang, Haider Ackerman, Alexa Adams and Flora Gill of Ohne Titel to their design studios in Copenhagen. The week long visit afforded the designers unconditional authority to use fur with state-of-the-art techniques. Some were shown ways to produce light weight fur for half the expense, while others felt that using fur was quite humane after examining the chain of production. So Mr. Wang, Mr. Ackerman, and the Ohne Titel designers ended up including fur in their fall collection.


These designers all pretty much agree to why they think using fur is cool. They aren't blatantly using it as a luxury statement or an act of defiance but rather more for a novel design approach. Hm...that's a good point but here's something to ponder on, that idea; is it somewhat if not all influenced by the educational sessions and perks made possible by furriers?
[The New York Times]