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Fur flying on the catwalks
Top designers add some element of fur to their fall collections
Canadian model Daria Werbowy wears a fur-trimmed coat by Carolina Herrera. Fur retailers are saying now that items made with fur are no longer simply suitable for special occasions, but have also found a place as daywear for women to wear to work or for simply carpooling their kids during cold winter months.

Canadian model Daria Werbowy wears a fur-trimmed coat by Carolina Herrera. Fur retailers are saying now that items made with fur are no longer simply suitable for special occasions, but have also found a place as daywear for women to wear to work or for simply carpooling their kids during cold winter months.
Photograph by : Mark Mainz, Getty Images

Melissa Shabinsky, For CanWest News Service
Published: Tuesday, October 10, 2006

After years of avoiding any reference to the F-word in their collections, fashion designers have renewed their love affair with fur.

From Ralph Lauren to Oscar de la Renta to Carolina Herrera, you would be hard-pressed to find a top designer who hasn't showcased some element of fur in their collection this fall.

Stewart Chadnick, co-owner of Pat Flesher Furs in Ottawa, says fur is the ideal element to complement this season's trend of mixing old-world glamour and elegance with new world styling and sophistication.

"After an era of minimal fashion styles where everything was clean and lean, fashion today is about mixing textures and fabrics," Chadnick says. "By adding fur to their collections, designers have discovered just how wonderful it is for adding colour and dimension to their collections."

One of the most coveted coat trends is anything lined, trimmed or styled out of fur, but it's not just coats that are getting "furst"-class treatment.

Some of the standout favourites at the fall/winter 2006 ready-to-wear runway shows were fur trimmings. There were fur collars and cuffs on dresses, skirts and blazers and even fox-fur trim on the classic trench coats at Burberry.

Designers also showed their creativity by combining furlike fabric with leather, tweed and wool and transformed otherwise classic looks simply by adding oversized fur shawl collars to coats and fur trimmings to pieces such as sweaters, jackets and vests.

"There are a lot of Russian overtones to accessorizing this season's newest styles and fur gives designers the opportunity to add glamour to any outfit, even your jeans, to compliment this trend," Chadnick says.

If your wallet is not yet prepared to invest in the real deal, or you are a card-carrying member of People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), there are fabulous faux-fur options in coats, clothing and even accessories such as "fur"-trimmed boots, shoes, bags and scarves. They let you enjoy the larger-than-life look of fur without compromising your ethics or your budget.

"Today, women don't buy fur and let it sit in their closet. They use it not just for warmth, but as an accessory," Chadnick says. That means wearing it everywhere their busy lives take them, be it carpooling the kids, to work or an evening on the town.

"Think how easily you can update your everyday winter coat just by adding a faux-fur collar.

"Designers have rediscovered that nothing can substitute the texture, colour and touch that fur can provide," Chadnick says.
© The Vancouver Sun 2006