Fast-forward to Milan, andBallyshowed dresses and vests lined with elegant fur trimmings.
Before Paris even beganwhereMiu Miuput a faux fur coat on Gigi Hadid andBalenciagaopted for faux-fur dustersit was clear.
The fur aesthetic had officially gone far beyond algorithms.
Left to right: Kim Kardashian in an animal-print coat from Balenciaga, a model wearing faux fur at Loewe, vintage up-cycled fur at Puppets and Puppets, a statement coat at Louis Vuitton Men’s and Ice Spice wearing vintage up-cycled fur at the Grammys.
Were pushing out of that quiet luxury to the next level.
Gigi Hadid walks in a faux-fur coat in Miu Miu’s Fall 2024 show.
But the return of real fur has taken many in the industry by surprise.
Gigi Hadid walks in a faux-fur coat in Miu Miu’s Fall 2024 show.
In 2021, it appeared to be firmly out.
Billie Eilish asked Oscar de la Renta to go fur-free, and it agreed.
Saks Fifth Avenue closed their fur salons and announced theyd stop selling fur goods by 2023.
Puppets and Puppets used vintage, upcycled fur for their Fall 2024 collection.
The British Fashion Council even banned it from London Fashion Week.
In England, only royalty could wear ermine during the reign of Edward III.
(To this day, British kings and queens still wear ermine-lined robes for their coronations.)
Anthony Vaccarello used marabou feathers—which can often be made to look like fur—in his fall 2024 collection.
Fur will always have a luxury aura about it, designer Bach Mai tellsVogue.
There is a desire for it.
Mai doesnt currently design with real fur.
(LVMH also has a 16-page animal-based raw-materials-sourcing charter.)
These were such investment pieces and heirloom items, he says.
Its not meant to be discarded.
When fur is used in a slow-fashion way, it is a relatively sustainable resource.
Shearling comes from lambs set to be consumed, making it a byproduct of our food supply.
Mink fat, for example, can be used in soap manufacturing.
Puppets and Puppets used vintage, upcycled fur for their Fall 2024 collection.
But we dont live in a world of slow fashion anymore.
We live in a fast, mass-consumer one.
Ethically, its hard for some to justify that number.
The solution, at first, seemed like faux fur: something that made the wearerfeelluxurious yet was cruelty-free.
Yet faux fur is most often made from microplastics, which are not biodegradable.
Fur can be sustainable, but faux fur is not, Mai says.
But faux fur isnt an animal product, and fur is.
Those are two separate conversations.
Many consumers and designers recognized this and sought a different, environmentally friendly embrace of the material.
For example, brands like Nereja are making modern coats out of found and thrifted materials.
Some62%of Gen Z and millennial consumers say they look for items secondhand before buying new.
(Clean girl is out, mob-wife era is in…. Its impossible to know what is upcycled fur versus newly harvested fur.
Many feel like theyre still stuck in a moral quandary.
People dont knowhowyou sourced the material.
But they do know it continues to be coveted.
This is whats popular.
This is what the trend is.
This is what the future of fashion looks like to me as a designer.
The more famous you are, the more reach you have.
Previously, Taymour has used deadstock faux fur in her collectionsa sustainable, cruelty-free choice.
However, she stopped even that in 2018.
There is a possible solution to this hotly debated fashion quandary on the horizon.
Still, its unclear if this material will ever, well, materialize.
Proof of concept is expected sometime in 2024.
Anthony Vaccarello, meanwhile, at Yves Saint Laurent experimented with powder-puff marabou jackets.
(Marabou is a key in of feather that can easily mimic the texture of fur.)
Even The Rowthe trailblazers of minimalistic stealth wealthused shaggy wool for their most recent collection.
Meanwhile, shearling is still widely embraced as a more-moral material.
Anthony Vaccarello used marabou featherswhich can often be made to look like furin his fall 2024 collection.
As for now, one big question looms: Will real fur sell?
The choice, it seems, is the consumers.
