I have
completed Lucy Siegle’s To Die For which I must say I thought was a well
researched and easily accessible introduction to sustainable fashion and
becoming a more intelligent and informed fashion consumer. The leather and fur
industries associated with fashion are areas I have not researched prior to
opening this book. The chapter ‘Animal Prints’ drew to my attention these
industries, in particular the fur industry.
Although
barely out of my Ellesse tracksuit during the mid-nineties and below the age of
10, I strongly remember images of the PETA ‘We’d rather go naked than wear fur’
backed by the supermodels of the era. I wouldn’t start flexing my fashion
muscles until at least 2002 when I swapped my tracksuit for flared jeans and a
bright pink jacket. Another purchase during this period was a denim jacket with
a detachable faux fur collar and faux fur poking out of the cuffs.
I believe
this must have been the start of the infiltration of fur back into the
wardrobe, or at least the playground. Eskimo coats with fur (definitely fake in
my hometown of Coventry) trimmed hoods and pompoms along
with jackets similar to my denim variety were a staple for the teenage
schoolgirl during the colder months.
Looking
back at this period I do not recall considering the PETA fur campaign while
sporting my jacket. However I do remember removing the collar due to hating the
scratching, cheap quality of the faux fur against my neck. I couldn’t remove
the fur at the cuffs as this was sewn in, which frustrated me as the fur
clumped together and matted. Several brushing attempts could not revive the fur
back to its previous glory.
I can
safely say that jacket didn’t last beyond that season; however I do believe it
is still at my parent’s house hidden in the depth of the cupboard under the
stairs.
Since
2009, fur has officially been back on trend and being used as the main fabric
for gilets, jackets and coats. The main focus on this fur trend was the real
kind which all the celebs were wearing and could be easily picked up by your
average consumer in the trendy vintage shops.
During my
6 month (over the winter of 2010-11) stint at working in a vintage shop in Camden I certainly saw the consumer
interest in fur sky rocket. We sold both real and faux and in order to maintain
my minimum wage job I had to pull in as many sales as possible. The fur always
seemed to do this job well and I kept telling myself and the customers ‘vintage
is better, faux is better’.
But is
vintage really better? Is it justified that an animal was skinned (potentially
still conscious) many decades ago to make it ok to were that pelt now?
And what
of faux fur? Animal welfare is maintained, but is it still ok to plummet
resources into recreating a product that already exists?
Faux Vs. Real
Here I
have tried to compare real and faux fur with the help of Lucy Siegle by
evaluating the pros and cons of both (I hope you can read my scrawl):
Personally
I struggle to evaluate where my opinion swings on this subject as I find both
to be just as bad as each other. The shear amount of chemicals used for both
faux and real fur makes my skin crawl (this phrase is probably more literal for
the workers processing the material).
I have
always struggled to develop an opinion on whether fur (faux or real) actually
looks good to wear. Our species spent thousands of years shedding our fur as it
was completely unnecessary for our survival. It is however now acceptable to
throw fur from another animal onto our hair-less frames for fashion’s sake. Cool,
eh?
I believe
I have developed my opinion: fur is…. pointless.