Jezebel: faux fur

A Faux-Fur Lining?

Sadie — Thu, 13 Nov 2008 13:40:00 EST

Well, at least someone might be benefiting from the economic downturn: all those animals who are just a glimmer in a mink farmer's eye. Anti-fur designer Marc Bouwer expressed the hope at last night's “Cool vs. Cruel” benefit at New York's Bowery Hotel that this was one "stupid luxury" that wouldn't survive the recession. Calvin Klein, Urban Outfitters and Overstock.com were also feted for their anti-fur stances, while Agyness Deyn and Albert Hammond, Jr. for some reason DJ'd. [WSJ]

The Fur Flies At Jean-Paul Gaultier

Jennifer — Wed, 27 Feb 2008 16:00:00 EST

Designer Jean-Paul Gaultier is one of the highlights of Paris Fashion Week: Love him or loathe him, he always gives the fashion folk something to talk about. But, following last night's Fall 2008 presentation, many in attendance had little to say: Gaultier's audience, in fact, was rendered speechless by his gratuitous, almost pornographic use of fur. Fur appeared in nearly every look sent down the runway, and frequently, the heads and tails of the mammals themselves were still attached to the pelts. "I cannot recall the last time I saw so much fur on a runway," wrote the Washington Post's Robin Givhan on her blog this morning. "I couldn't decide if leaving the head on a stole is a form of brutal honesty or just plain creepy. In all truth, I generally like fur as long as it doesn't come from endangered species. But this was fur overload." Said the Telegraph's Hilary Alexander: "[H]eaps of fox-skins dangled from heads and waists and bags, croc-skins were turned into jackets and mink into scarves. At times, there was so much fur on the catwalk it seemed Gaultier was throwing down a deliberate challenge to PETA."

Jen Melocco of Australia's Daily Telegraph points out that, although Gaultier used furs produced from fur farms, he also used faux fur and pelts reworked from old coats, along with "leather and suede printed to look like fur was also used along genuine and fake fox-heads." But Christina Brinkley of the Wall Street Journal seemed downright traumatized by the animals on parade:

With Catherine Deneuve looking shocked in the front row, enfant terrible designer Jean-Paul Gaultier got our attention with fur. Not sanitized mink and fox coats. He gave us visceral fur: a fox coat with two fox heads swinging back and forth on the model's back — noses, eyes, teeth and all... the only thing missing from his show was a live fox prancing down the runway....[The show's] closer: recorded laughter — a huge wicked madman's laugh that followed the models off the runway.

Whether he meant to use fur as a "fuck you" to PETA — Gaultier's Paris boutique, after all, was one of those targeted by PETA's Ingrid Newkirk, as seen in the HBO documentary I Am An Animal — or as "brutal honesty", we do know one thing: The process of how fur gets made is never pretty. A gallery of selected looks, including captions with what we imagine to be Ingrid Newkirk's response to each, below.

Off the Runway [Washington Post]
Jean-Paul Gaultier [Telegraph]
Gauliter Gives Paris Visceral Fur [WSJ]
Fur flies at frock shock [The Daily Telegraph]

Earlier: PETA Founder Thinks Fur Is Yucky, Alexander McQueen is "Desperate"

Heidi Klum Makes It Work; Designs For Jordache Jeans

Jennifer — Tue, 05 Feb 2008 11:30:00 EST

The facts speak for themselves: Heidi Klum is designing a capsule collection for Jordache, for which she has been modeling over the past year. Think she'll offer hair extensions to cover nipples as well? [WWD, sub req'd]
Kathy Hilton just released her own perfume. It's called "My Secret." We don't really want to think about what Kathy Hilton's secret might smell like. [BellaSugar]
Gloria Steinem would not approve: Georgina Chapman, Marchesa designer and wife of Halston co-owner Harvey Weinstein, was named "Georgina Weinstein" on her front row seat at Halston yesterday. Only, as Chapman herself put it, "I didn't change my name, they did it for me." [WWD, 1st item]
Jimmy Choo's CEO Tamara Mellon thinks that boyfriend Christian Slater should take a more active, or acting, role in fashion. Mellon says Slater would be "perfect" to play Halston in any upcoming biopic on the designer. [WWD, 1st item]

One last Halston item! Rachel Zoe, who sits on the label's creative advisory team, wasn't at yesterday's debut show. A rep for the label was quick to issue a statement that Zoe has not been fired. Um, the lady doth protest too much? [WWD, 2nd item]
Does the fashion industry hate the Bush Administration? Laura Bush is having a luncheon next week for all the designers who participated in this year's The Heart Truth's Red Dress Collection but Nicole Miler, Donna Karan, Carmen Marc Valvo, Tracy Reese, and Marchesa designers Georgina Chapman and Keren Craig have all said that they won't be able to attend. [WWD, 3rd item]
Is anyone else depressed that Naomi Campbell and Andre Leon Talley collaborated to star and style in a SoBe "Thrillicious" commercial? [Fashion Week Daily]
Burberry faux-fur parkas actually use dog fur. Fun! [UPI]
Charges have been dropped against the manager of the Abercrombie & Fitch store in Virginia Beach, who was scapegoated by a cop whose delicate sensibilities were offended by A&F ads. [MSNBC]
The latest item up for sale under Bono's (Product) RED line: The Mulberry Roxanne bag, done in sweatshirt material (red, naturally), for the Gap. [Sassybella]
Count Fergie in as the latest face of MAC Viva Glam lipstick. [WWD, 2nd item]
Brittany Murphy on Mr. and Mrs. Max Azria: "They're a very nice family, with great morals, very grounded. Plus, they'll even invite you over for Shabbat dinner. Who would turn that down?" [WWD, 4th item]
Model Caroline Trentini has declared that she will be donating a percentage of her earnings from New York fashion shows to the Center of Support of Underprivileged Children with Cancer in her native Brazil. [WWD, 5th item]
Is model/First Lady of France Carla Bruni pregnant with a son? [Vogue UK]
Just what the world needed: Chocolate Armani Easter eggs. [Fashion Week Daily]
Avon profits have dropped by 30%. There is no time for beauty in a recession. [Breitbart]