OS and vintage fur coats?

dandy-candy

I went to a vintage market with DS1 in tow the other week and there was a stall selling vintage fur coats. I was telling DS about how years ago you would hear of people having cans of paint thrown over them for wearing real fur and he was totally shocked. He said him and his mates think nothing bad of people wearing real fur (he's nearly 19) and a few of the girls he hangs out with wear real fur wraps and jackets - no big deal.

It got me thinking because a couple of years ago I went to a Christmas market in Salzburg and most women there were wearing real fur coats and hats because it is so cold. Well our last couple of winters have been jolly cold too, and a fur coat would keep you lovely and toasty - even if you only wore it in the house!

The coats were incredibly cheap for what they were - £60-£70 for fox or sable. When I was about 14 my dad took me into the fur department at Harrods (just to look obviously!) and coats then were thousands of pound and that was nearly 25 years ago. I'm just not sure how I feel about wearing fur, I still think of the little fluffy animals and I don't think I could get past that.

In the past I would have felt that if I lived in Alaska or Russia I would feel completely justified whereas the UK isn't that cold. But now with heating bills going up and winters getting colder maybe it is more acceptable in the UK now? These were cheaper than a good quality wool coat would cost and probably warmer too. How do other Old Stylers feel about real fur?

Red_Doe

I wear fur, I also live in a very cold climate. My trade means I work with dead animals and I also tan animal hides, so know about fur.
I have never been politically correct, or particularly concerned over animal welfare beyond believing that if you are going to eat one, use the hide as well if you can, if it's vintage, make use of it. Whilst I wouldn't hunt for sport or simply for a hide, I have no problem with anyone rearing meat animals for fur as well as meat ...ie, goat, sheep, cattle etc. For more exotic furs, well, I personally wouldn't go out and hunt them but again, if someone hunts them in a country where it is legal, I would have no problem using the fur.
Because of my trade I too have had the threats from the animal rights activists. I've even had death threats in the past, that's how rabid some of them can be.
I tend to stick up for myself so nothing has come of it and if physically threatened, by a can of paint or anything else, they'd best make their first shot their best because I will retaliate.
Whilst I do understand people championing animal welfare, I believe it's wrong of them to blanket tar everyone who deals with animals by the same brush. I also don't bother arguing the point with them because there is little worse than a fanatic for whatever cause...they tend to be irrational to the point of stupidity, and unwilling to hear the other side of any story.
If your own emotions won't let you wear fur because of 'little furry animals' then simply don't wear it. However, if you want to keep warm...and fur is even more efficient than high tech winter fabrics at doing so...then go for vintage. Those animals are long dead and you will not be contributing to the death of any more by wearing it.

dandy-candy

Red_Doe wrote: »

However, if you want to keep warm...and fur is even more efficient than high tech winter fabrics at doing so...then go for vintage.

I remember seeing a tv documentary with either Ray Mears or Bruce Parry and they were saying how rubbish their high tech fabrics were compared to the locals who were in thick animal hides and furs.

I had a little google after posting this and it certainly seems generally more acceptable to wear vintage fur (although PETA is still anti it). Perhaps a few more heavy snowy winters and they will be seem more often, though I expect up in Scotland you get plenty of those anyway

Fruball

I'd wear fur if I could find a reasonably priced real fur coat - I doubt many people could tell the difference anyway.

A friend of mine has a rabbit fur coat and its lovely! I would love one of those

cottage_retreatist

I bought a fur coat from a lovely vintage stand in Leicester market a year or so ago - only £20 for a gorgeous white pea-coat style one!!! but because i'm scared of people looking at me with contempt I only wear it round locally - maybe i should just do it! :cool:

I also have a fur hat from there too for £2.00 - very Jackie O - maybe the arctic winters will start bringing them back out! My nan sent all hers to Bosnian charities at the beginning of the 1990s - she had a wardrobe full of them! Shame to think of it now - but hopefully they did well out of them!

meg72

I stopped wearing my much loved real Fur coat when my,then, teenage daughter pinned a badge on it. It said .The last owner of
this coat was MURDERED! :eek:couldnt feel comfy in it after that but it was the warmest coat I have ever had.

Jariya

meg72 wrote: »

I stopped wearing my much loved real Fur coat when my,then, teenage daughter pinned a badge on it. It said .The last owner of
this coat was MURDERED! :eek:couldnt feel comfy in it after that but it was the warmest coat I have ever had.

I am well aware of that phrase..I won't say why on here.

I do wear leather goods.
I'm afraid I couldn't wear fur where the animal was just farmed for the fur.

I just couldn't.
Not even if it's vintage.

If I were in the Arctic this may be a different matter..fair enough.

Over here you simply have to move to be warm enough.

I'm one of the very few who makes it to work whenever it snows and 20 mins of walking and I'm in a sweat when I get to work - snow or no snow.

orlao

Animal welfare is very important to me but I do eat meat and wear leather
but I only eat animal products that have been humanely reared. I wish I could also say that they were humanely killed too but that is such a lottery in this country that I really can't. It is also important to me that it is local and not imported from countries where I'm not sure of the animal welfare standards.

Personally I don't have a problem with fur that is a by product of meat/culling/land management ie the animal would be killed anyway so why waste the hide? I do have a problem with fur farming mainly because of the animal management and the methods of killing. In my book that isn't humane. JMHO.

I can't see myself ever wearing fur though.

oldtractor

I am with Red Doe on this one. I dont like the fact that some animals are farmed just for their fur and woulnt want to wear that.
But I'm ok about leather and meat animal fur. I wouldnt want to wear or eat horse because I love horses and own 2 but can understand that they are eaten and if they are transported and killed humanely then thats ok. Years ago my mother had some leather rabbit fur lined gloves. they were the warmest ever and just the thing for a cold winters day.

rachbc

i have a vintage fox ur cape that I got for £5 from a charity shop. I love it and its toast warm- I feel very dressy in it though and would only wear for evenings out etc

emiff6

I have no objection to people wearing fur from animals that have been farmed humanely, but I couldn't wear it myself. When you know the soft, warm, vibrant feel of fur on a living animal, small or large, fur in a coat just seems so...well...dead, IYKWIM.