Fur is not back in style – Britain won't stand for it
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Version 0 of 1. Everything about the production of fur is vile: the filthy factory farms, evidence that a significant number of animals remain fully conscious during the skinning process, the catastrophic environmental impact of the fur dressing industry, and the elitist symbolism that we are begged to aspire to. Fur has long been used as a crude symbol of wealth, to show that you are powerful enough to obtain the death of creatures purely for your pleasure. Fur historically showed that the idle rich could hunt as a leisure pursuit, or else had coffers large enough for others to kill on their behalf. Today, we are in a period of wealth monopolisation – savage welfare attacks on the poor while the number of millionaires rising rapidly. It is no surprise that the super-rich have long celebrated by exhibiting more fur on the catwalks and cockily flaunting it while climbing in and out of limousines. This trend gives the impression of a "resurgence" of fur – a myth also being peddled by the fur industry. In reality, Britain remains resolutely anti-fur. Fur farming in England and Wales was banned in 2000 and a 2011 survey commissioned by the RSPCA found that 95% of British people would refuse to wear real fur. Almost all shops – from H&M to Selfridges – have banned it, and a recent attempt to overturn the Harvey Nichols ban cost fashion director Paula Reed her job. Many of Britain's most respected fashion houses – from Stella McCartney to Vivienne Westwood – are resolutely anti-fur. It is more than just price that separates the catwalk from the sidewalk. This is despite the best efforts of lobbying<em> </em>groups like the International Fur Trade Federation (IFTF) to intervene in fashion production by taking advantage of two prevailing trends : approval of all things sustainable and growing poverty among young people. The ongoing attempt to brand fur as sustainable is galling. Eighty-five per cent of fur is factory farmed, mostly in China. Left untreated, a dead animal will rot, so to prevent putrefaction fur is soaked in a plethora of chemicals. Fur dressing has been ranked as one of the world's five worst industries for toxic-metal pollution – not by animal rights protesters, but the World Bank. If fur is green, then the term "green" is meaningless. The lobbyists other route to the catwalks is via students. A few months ago when I interviewed Mark Oaten, chief executive of the IFTF, he explained that a key project for the IFTF was handing out bursaries to young designers. With poverty and unemployment biting at the ankles of fashion students and young designers, some face the choice of sticking with their principles or getting free sewing machines, travel expenses to shows and publicity in return for collections that include fur. Fur on the catwalk has not happened spontaneously. It is a symbol of wealth inequality twice over. While new fur remains rejected, a small minority of people will wear it secondhand (though there are better uses for it). "Vintage" seeks to annul fur, as if the passing of time makes acts we would not countenance now more acceptable. Secondhand fur is often linked with "glamour" – the kind of glamour that denotes being separate from the reality of a common experience and of being removed from nature. It is perhaps unsurprising then that some people are today seeking to mimic the styles of the 1930s – a time when the screens were lit up by fox-furred movie stars to distract the working class from the fact that there were no jobs and nothing to eat. Fashion artist Andre Walker has said: "Most people don't understand what the word 'decadent' means, they think it means 'fancy' and 'luxury' but actually, it's something in a state of decay." With fur, this is literally the case. Fur products are little more than rotting shreds and toxic chemicals, mass produced, deeply harmful for the biosphere including the people that make them, yet disguised as luxury and promoted as aspirational – a fitting analogy for the state of our deeply unequal society. <em>• </em>This article was commissioned after a suggestion made by leopold1904. If there's a subject you'd like to see covered on Comment is free, please visit our You Tell Us page Our editors' picks for the day's top news and commentary delivered to your inbox each morning. |