If you thought fur was the dominion of women only, you thought wrong. Something savage is stalking men’s wear, too, writes David Hayes. Silver fox, mink, chinchilla, raccoon, rabbit – you name it, it made an appearance at the autumn/winter 2010 men’s collections.
According to Arnaud Corbin, UK managing director of luxury men’s wear company Zilli (www.zilli.fr), which sells large quantities of high-grade fur: “The popularity of fur is growing – even among more traditional dressers, such as businessmen.” His pieces include the Layon coat, a traditional cashmere overcoat with a removable mink collar (£4,300). “The supplies of this coat in the London store have already sold out twice,” says Corbin.
For many catwalk designers, however, fur is predominantly a flamboyant gesture rather than safe seller. Men’s wear designer Thom Browne (www.thombrowne.com), who attached fistfulls of racoon tails to almost everything in his autumn/winter 2010 catwalk show, including scarves, T-shirts and trousers, admits: “I actually don’t use fur very much. It is very much based on the concept I had for this season.”