As the crisp autumn breezes whip into wintry winds, I get that same old feeling about being able to wear my vintage furs again.
Perhaps nothing else in my wardrobe has the power to make me feel as regal and glamorous, or as anxiety-ridden.
Living and working in Washington, where everything and everyone is judged and appraised in political terms, I'm cognizant that fur is polarizing and offensive on both sides of the political aisle.
Once I Facebook-friended the wife of a high-profile American politician and received a message from her explaining to me that she'd be happy to accept my virtual friendship if I removed my profile picture in my rabbit capelet.
When I was a reporter at the Washington Times, I regularly corresponded with Mrs. Obama's press liaison, and was told, in no uncertain terms, that she will not wear fur, despite her penchant for patronizing top designers.
Ditto with France's glamazon premiere dame Carla Bruni-Sarkozy.
Can you imagine Mrs. Romney or Mrs. Perry on the campaign trail in fur?
She would be nailed to the cross as the GOP's Cruella de Vil.
The public boycotting by some of the world's most elegant women has made my fur wearing all the more unsettling for me.
I get the impression that they pine to wear fur publicly, but are running scared.
How things have changed since Jacqueline Kennedy warmed her hands inside a fur muff while her husband was being sworn in as President of the United States.
This passionate but uneasy history with fur was the topic of conversation last Friday at Saks Fifth Avenue in Chevy Chase, when I had the pleasure of meeting Giuliana Teso, one of Italy's top fur designers, whose luxurious fur jackets and handbags are now being carried in Saks' fur boutiques.
"It's about freedom of choice," Teso told me emphatically in Italian, explaining that in Italy and Europe, women don't have the same reservations about fur as we do here.
She said one's decision to wear fur is treated with the same nonchalance as one's decision to be a vegetarian.
She points out the hypocrisy in many of the celebrities who pose for PETA posters claiming they'd "rather be naked than wear fur" while waltzing down red carpets in leather, and other products made from the hide of an animal.
"They don't feel embarrassed," Teso says of her clients, many of them Americans.
Vogue editor Anna Wintour has been equally unabashed in her promotion of the fur industry, in spite of a barrage of attacks.
"I don't like to travel with security, but it got to the point when I was having thrown pies and rice and fake blood and all sorts of things thrown at me," she told 60 Minutes.
"And it just became easier to use the security. I mean, was I going to not have security and not wear fur? No way."
So I'm embracing Teso's "personal choice" philosophy and Wintour's steely fortitude, and wearing my furs this winter without shame.
I'll also be donning cashmere, eating beef, and thinking for myself.
Wearing fur may not be politically correct, but being comfortable with one's self is the definition of chic.
I'd rather be chic.
Photos courtesy of Saks Fifth Avenue Chevy Chase.
Follow Stephanie Green on Twitter: www.twitter.com/stephlgreen
Can you wear fur with a clear conscience? | Mail Online
"I'd Rather Go Naked Than Wear Fur" Campaign Gets "Kardashian ...
Celebrities Who Wear Fur vs. Celebrities Who Protest Fur | Fur ...
The Devil Wears Fur (and Prada): Documentary 'Skin Trade ...
I think everyone needs to atleast watch the trailer of Earthlings before wearing animals. If you wanna wear it, have the decency to find out where it comes from
Make sure you watch it from start to finish, though. No skipping out after the first few minutes. Of course, it doesn't come to the 'fashion' part straight away, but sit tight.
'I'd rather be chic'? Meh. Me personally, I'd rather a clear conscience, and I find it incredibly sad that so many people feel a need to define themselves by what they wear.
Also, I suppose it won't hurt to point out how much it stings when you accidently rip a teeny, tiny piece of skin off; let's say the old 'bit sticking out near your cuticle that you might pull off, only to take more than you anticipated with it'. Now you have that to contemplate, imagine having every scrap of your skin yanked from the soles of your feet, right up over your head. Mmm... what a warm, fuzzy feeling that incites, right! :D
Regarding this article, I had to keep my nighttime bowl of cereal down with this:
.."I'd rather be chic."
deep thinker..great priorities. chic rules (among the vacuous)
Nothing is as warm and feels so good as fur.
And if we buried my mink next to a synthetic/polyester coat, the fur would be decomposed in a fraction of the time of the latter.
My fur was bought at a garage sale for 50 bucks. It's a good 50 years old. Those mink would have been long dead whether they were on my back or running through a Michigan farm eating the chickens.
I'll not apologize for eating meat either. And I like my shoes made of leather as they wear longer and feel better.
I still remember the story my grandparents told me of when my grandfather got my grandma a fur for Christmas. She was jealous because she thought the neighbor got one. He surprised her by having it delivered next door, in a fur truck from one of the department stores.
A fur truck! We do not have those anymore! We have the fur storage for ultra-rich consumers but not delivery trucks from department stores!
I have the fur now. Im never allowed to wear per my mother and I would be afraid to wear it because of all the crazy paint-throwing PETA/fake hippie/fake vegan, etc../fake occupiers people.
Would you really throw paint on my grandmothers 1950's fur coat that was handed down to me? Such weak people these days
Right on with your fur story!
A. Because I buy directly from Indigenous people and designers who use all of the animals they hunt, and are extraordinary designers. Most specifically, seal -- which Inuit MUST hunt in order to have proper nutrition in the Arctic, and whose populations they are very mindful about.
B. Because there are no materials superior for warmth and dryness to weight ratio, or that have a lower carbon footprint.
C. Because synthetic materials consume more petroleum products and create more plastic waste and release toxic chemicals into the environment both in the creation of them as well as in their disposal.
The issue is not fur/no fur -- the issue is HOW fur. By banning all seal fur, for example, we are currently condemning the Arctic peoples to poverty in this induced wage labor economy.
Eat seal. Wear seal.
My guess is Ms. Green doesn't give a crapola how her mink was killed...strangled, electrocuted..whatever, as long as it's chic looking. BIG difference!
First People respect nature, even as they kill it. Ms. Green...me thinks has zero respect for anything but looking cool.
Namaste
Wind Feather
Most people who protest fur don't wear leather. Animal Rights vegans don't wear leather ever, or silk or pearls or wool.
But a lot of people who don't wear fur on principle, even if they can afford to, do wear leather. To call that hypocrisy is to ignore the issues attached to the different processes. Leather, unlike fur, is a slaughterhouse by-product. Cattle are not raised and slaughtered for their hides, but for their flesh. Their flesh brings ninety percent of the money for the carcasses. Leather is part of that remaining ten percent, and if there were no market for the hides, the cattle would still be raised and slaughtered for the meat. The difference as I see it is that leather doesn't get cattle killed, whereas fur does get mink, sable, chinchilla, beaver, fox, and dogs killed.
The research group visited 10% of Finnish fur farms. The material is shocking: foxes without legs, puppies eating dead puppies, huge open wounds, injuries, stereotypical behavior, cannibalism, animals not able to walk, hundreds of animals with bad eye infections, gum infections, half rotten animals with worms left in cages with alive ones, etc.
Finland is the biggest fox fur producer in the world. Here you can see footage that shows the everyday life of these animals: http://www.tarhauskielto.fi/investigation-into-fur-farms-in-finland-2011
Here is a petition demanding the Finnish government to ban fur farming:
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/3/ban-fur-farming-in-finland/