My eyes were temporarily assualted when I flicked through the September issue of UK Vogue to find a 6 page Paris Vogue promotion of fur nestled in the middle. Now, let’s just get a few things clear and let’s keep it short and sweet. I don’t pretend to be an eco warrior who lambasts people for their unethical treatment of animals. I eat meat very happily, I wear leather gladly, I don’t feel a particular affinity with animals to be honest. The honest truth is that I’m very selfish in my consumptive habits involving animals. I eat free-range or organic chicken not because I feel particularly sorry for battery-farmed chickens, I just prefer the taste. This applies to fur as well. Of course I don’t condone the cruel treatment of animals in the fur farming industry but my main objections is my aversion to the material itself and that is simply because I’m just not a fan of having animal skin draped over my body. By animal skin, I mean animals purposefully killed for nothing but it’s skin. Sheep are shorn not skinned, leather is a bi-product of our consumption of meat. It just freaks me out to know that a part of a mink stole or a fox fur coat once covered these creatures’ face and actually, just seeing a fox’s head is enough to make me nauseous. Then there’s the material – it’s just so bulky and in your face. It’s like swathing around in unsubtle luxury.
Therefore it perturbs me that this material is once again all over the catwalks for autumn/winter like a heinous rash. Then to have it fed to me in a magazine, not just via catwalk roundups but as a piece of obvious publicity – well, I’m not at all impressed. Seeing these models attractively photographed does not compel to want to buy fur in the slightest. Yet, there it is. A blatant promotion. A sign of condonement.
But wait, the fur trickery at Vogue get even more cunning. In the August issue of Vogue Italia, I flick through and see what at first glance looks like vintage images of people in fur coats, and I though to myself ‘Ah, perhaps Vogue Italia are suggesting people go down the vintage fur route instead (which for a lot of people is the ‘ok’ fur route).’ I was mistaken. This is yet another promotion of fur that used vintage photos with contemporary fur garments superimposed on top. It seems they’re vehemently and violently thrusting fur in people’s faces and they don’t care what devious route they go about to try and convince people to buy this stuff.
Please Vogue, allow us to have an iota of intelligence to decide for ourselves whether fur is good or bad and not use such heavy handed promotion.