Times_fur
Times_fur
News
Green or gross? Gen Z says its fine to wear real fur . . . if it’s vintage
Lola Clarke, right,
Influencers opting for Bond film. I bought it at the Ardingly
antiques fair. It’s leopard print; it’s says real fur is
grown up with the anti-fur
movement. Gen Xers would recall
pre-loved mink have pretty amazing,” she said.
You could not pick up anything
more sustainable
than plastic faux
David Bailey’s striking “Dumb
Animals” campaign issued by
crossed the industry’s similar in a charity shop. Oxfam and fuzz, as does Greenpeace in 1984. Ditto when
Cancer Research shops do not Federica Labanca Vogue’s fur-clad Anna Wintour
most divisive frontier, accept donations made of fur. Most famously received a tofu pie to the
shoppers source it from designer face from protesters during Paris
Hannah Rogers writes vintage stores or reputable antique Fashion Week in 2005.
and flea markets. You can also Elisa Allen, Peta’s vice-president
F
orget how you use emojis or find fur on the resale platforms, of programmes, said: “Whether the
part your hair, the TikTok Depop and eBay. animal died yesterday or decades
generation’s latest age- The other option for ago, when someone wears fur, they
revealing litmus test is far shoppers is to hope they can appear to be endorsing a nasty
more controversial. Just ask inherit one. Hannah, a industry that kills animals in
yourself: would you wear real fur? 28-year-old fashion crude ways, leaches toxic
If you are over the age of 30, the assistant, said it felt like a chemicals into waterways and
answer would almost certainly be waste not to make the most devastates entire ecosystems.
no. For Gen X and millennials, the of a mink handed down by “Anyone with leftover fur
use of fur is fashion’s most divisive her mum. “She bought it from a bygone era can do some
frontier. Even if they owned some, back in the seventies. I have good with it by donating it to
they would never admit to it. That thought twice about wearing Peta to be used as bedding for
rule does not apply to Gen Z. it, but it’s the warmest coat I orphaned animals or shipped
Just ask Lola Clark. The own and has remained in great overseas to help refugees in
18-year-old TikTok influencer and condition. I don’t mind telling cold climates — only people
granddaughter of the fashion people it’s vintage real fur if struggling to survive have any
designer, Ossie Clark, said her they ask,” she said. excuse for wearing old furs.”
friends think real fur is cool again, A report in London’s The luxury conglomerate
with one caveat — it has to be Evening Standard this week Kering, which owns Gucci,
second-hand. She is among a said the city’s young cool crowd announced it would go
growing crowd of eco-conscious had “started to resemble a zoo” for fur-free in 2021. Prada does
young shoppers wearing inherited “the sheer number of animal pelts not work with fur and neither
and vintage-sourced pelts to parties. cloaked on people’s backs”. do Burberry, Versace or Chanel.
They think it is more sustainable The price clearly does not concern Federica Labanca, 27, a
than plastic faux fuzz — and are them. The cost of second-hand fur London-based stylist, said: “I am
happy to wear mink in the milk aisle. can be high. A fake take at New against new fur and what fur stands
“It makes more sense to buy real Look is £60, but the real thing could for. To wear something passed down
fur, but vintage,” said Clark. The be two to three times that. Clark said from generation to generation has to
Central Saint Martins student it is this, not veganism, that stands in be more sustainable and sentimental
collects pre-loved fur with her mum the way of more of her peers taking than wearing something new made
and sister. It is a specialist buy: the up the trend. “Not everyone can of plastic fibres.
trio “thrift” for theirs in Amsterdam, afford vintage real fur because it can “Old fur keeps you warmer, it’s
on Notting Hill’s Portobello Road be quite expensive.” better for the environment and
and from old movie sets. “We have This shift in attitude may come as you. But people still don’t agree with
one that was featured in a James a shock to millennials. They have it, even if it’s vintage.”