Furry Funny

The Fur Trend

By Sarah Billingsley

It’s cold, it’s windy, your essay is late and written entirely from Wikipedia; needless to say, you’re feeling pretty glum. You have a tutorial in fifteen minutes and as you cast a glance outside, the clouds begin to gather like a scene from Wuthering Heights and you shiver. There is only one thing that can make a situation like this better: a huge (fake or otherwise) fur coat.

The fashion gods decided to be merciful and bestow this gift upon the A/W12 catwalks; delightfully furry coats, gilets, bags and snoods were all lusted after at the showings of collections from a variety of designers. Alexander McQueen, the ever-pleasing fashion house, created fantastic black fur coats of grizzly bear proportions, while Lanvin showcased a slightly more subtle red fur stole. Fendi stuck to the concept of the classic fur coat in brown and Giambattista Valli turned the classic concept on its head and sent drop-waisted fur skirt clad models down the runway. The real champions of the A/W12 fur trend, however, were Burberry, with their monster-themed catwalk and campaign (starring the mesmerising Lindsey Wixon). The fashion house created beautiful long-hair gilets in orang-utan shades complete with waist-cinching belts - nailing two trends in one - as well as shaggy fur coats with mandarin collars. The high street has some great pieces, too, even if they are a little watered down; River Island and Topshop stock fur-collared coats while Dorothy Perkins and New Look showcase some fantastic fur coats (DP has a fur trimmed coat in berry, so grab two trends for the price of one).

The fur trend is very voluminous; there is a lot of coat and collar. This creates a fantastic silhouette on your top half but your bottom half should be kept clean cut and tight to maintain some degree of shape; cigarette trousers or black skinnies will do the trick. The ‘just-got-out-of-bed’ look is perfect for this trend and also very low maintenance; just roll out of bed, bypass the brush and go straight for the eye make-up. This trend looks great grunged up so a flick of mascara and some smudged kohl eyeliner is the order of the day; you could also inject some colour into the eye make-up with mint green, blue or baby pink eyeshadow separate or shaded together for a kaleidoscope effect.

If there is one thing to say about this trend, it’s this: it has a sense of humour. Have fun with it.