Fur vs. Humans  

Fur has been used since ancient times. It is thought to be the first item of clothing created for humans to keep them warm and protected. Fur was also used and is still used in cold areas such as the Arctic. But when did fur become a way of boasting how successful and rich you? In this article we take a quick look at the history use of fur in fashion.

The trade for fur had increased in 1670. This was because the Hudson's Bay Company had been combined by Royal Carter. Through this fur was able to be provided to many more people. From here on, even earlier, right up to the mid 20th century, fur was given the label of  luxury and success.

Even though in the 17th century, there were some animal rights activists very little to nothing was done about the well being of animals. This was specifically over shadowed by writer, Agnes Laut, who had very little patience for such people claiming that they contradict themselves by going and eating meat. Wearing fur had become so widely popular that in the 18th century beavers nearly became extinct in Scandinavia and Europe. Fur was particularly popular in the 19th century by both men and women, but was flaunted rather differently. While the fur on men coats was facing inwards as the lining, women enjoyed flaunting them as collars, cuffs and hemline. Furthermore, the most popular animal used during that time was beaver (for hats) and seal skin (for coats). It became so widely popular to own a fur item that people were using almost any animal such as stuffed kittens and baby squirrels to create jackets, hats and muffs.

Post war in Britain, it was considered a dream to own a fur item and a luxury. In one of Carol Dyhouses articles she writes "In popular culture the ambition to own a fur coat became a defining quality of femininity, tantamount to a secondary sexual characteristics", suggesting that a woman who owned fur was desirable.

In the 20th century, when film was beginning to become also popular, it helped the use of fur grow even more. Celebrities would wear fur in movies and appearances in the 1920s and 1930s, and it was estimated that two out of three women would own a fur item. It was something to be proud of and boast about with towering fur collars and full length fox fur coats. Resulting in fur coats symbolising a a dream of a better life for women. This is evident in a movie which came out in 1937 called 'East Living'. In the movie a rich couple are arguing, and out of anger the man throws his wife fur coat out the window which lands on a poor lady. The movie then focus on the lady living a fairy-tale, dream like, life. The species that were most popular used are shocking and unbelievable; badger, skunk, wolf, poleat, squirrel, musk ox, monkey, nutria, racoon, wombat, wallaby and even hamsters and house cats. Cheaper substitutes were rabbit, nutria, skunk or squirrel.. something less lavish.

From high demand breeding companies for fox fur opened in the 1930s, where their preferred colour fox was silver, blue, platinum and white; Arctic foxes. Footage from the movie "Eve's Film Review" show how little sentiment the men had for the animals. These breeding companies though were short lived as after the second world war fox fur came out of fashion and were replaced by minks fur. The reason this happened is because of the development of beauty products such as perfume and make-up. Women would rather spend their money on that.

In the 1950s minks fur was worth three to four times as much as all the other furs put together, with six million minks being produced annually. Truthfully though, it was not only the rise of make-up which made fur come out of fashion, it was also animal right campaigns and movements. Animals Liberation Front, PETA and Lynx were creates in the late 1970s and early 1980s and they made it their goal to make people aware. The most famous campaign ad designed by David Bailey for Lynx is the model trailing a fur coat dripping with blood. This not only made people aware but celebrities promised to stop advertising the use of fur and turned against.  By the 1990s, many fur retailers and fur sections had shut down, and farming fur became illegal in the UK in 2002. 

 

So the big question is, if fur has lost so much popularity why was Rihanna and Kendal Jenner wearing the same $10,000 heart shaped, fox fur coat? By having such a wide fan base, and being so famous are they now influencing people and suggesting that it is actually okay to wear fur?


                                                       

Sources: http://www.historytoday.com/carol-dyhouse/skin-deep-fall-fur
http://www.fashionintime.org/history-fashion-fur-1950-2000/
http://www.fur.org/history-of-fur/