2005 The Rebirth of Mens Furs in Fashion ---David Harrison Levi



2005 The Rebirth of Mens Furs in Fashion


Sleek models flounced in fur down the runways at Fashion Week in New York last month. From fox-trimmed trench coats to white mink vests, designers incorporated fur into their collections, and declared, once again, that fur is a must-have for next season.

But these days fur isn't just for women bent on adding luxury to their wardrobes, but for men lusting after its extravagance, too.

"They're glamorous," said Michael Leonard James, an actor in his 40's, who bought a whiskey-colored mink coat recently. "It isn't all practicality. It's a fun item." Though James, married with three children, pined for a fur coat for 20 years, he has only recently been able to afford one, and was giddily happy over having worn his new purchase to church for the first time in February.

Men wearing fur? Joe Namath and 70s-era pimps might first come to mind. But now, a new generation of men, mostly rappers with too much cash to know what to do with, are padding their wardrobes with mink, coyote and raccoon furs.

Fur has long been the outerwear of choice for the well-heeled woman, a big-ticket item usually bought by a husband for his wife, a single woman as a gift to herself or a rich man for his favorite playmate.

But while fur retains its cachet as a status symbol, women no longer are its sole proprietors. With the help of designers such as Sean "P. Diddy" Combs and Calvin Klein, fur has crossed the gender divide.

Surprisingly, the current retail pelt market runs counter to the rest of the apparel industry, which is feeling the effects of a dismal economic climate. Keith Kaplan, director of the Fur Information Council of America, said people shell out big bucks for fur and spend less on clothes in general because fur is warmer, long lasting and fashionable. So with the economy in decline, a warm, luxurious coat can look like a sensible purchase.

Helping to spark this revival of conspicuous consumption is the entertainment industry -- and rich rap stars in particular. Manhattan furrier Erving Rosenfeld keeps a large selection of men's furs in his store, and said he has made fur jackets and coats for numerous hip-hop artists, including Nas and Fat Joe, who bought a baby blue mink jacket from him estimated at $10,000 to $12,000. (Fat Joe wore the oversized jacket in his 2002 video "We Thuggin," which also featured R. Kelly wearing a matching baby blue mink vest.)

Most recently, Rosenfeld collaborated with music producer and fashion designer Sean Combs on men's fur pieces for his latest Sean John collection, which featured fur-trimmed parkas and shearling-lined cowboy trousers. Rosenfeld also made a chinchilla blanket, measured at about 8 by 12 feet, for R&B singer Usher's tour last year.

From a designer's perspective, fur is almost like a new discovery, Kaplan said. New shearing techniques, including trimming and laser-cutting, make fur a flexible cloth to work with. Fur weighs less than it did a hundred years ago because of processing chemicals used, he said, but it is just as warm.

Rosenfeld, who expects a 20 to 25 percent increase in sales for men's furs this season as compared with last, said the most popular fur jacket among his male clientele is a black mink bomber jacket, which carries a price tag of $3,000 to $5,000. Mink is a favorite of both men and women, Rosenfeld said, because it is lightweight, durable, warm and middle of the price range. Sable, ermine and chinchilla are the most expensive furs.

Mink is the preferred fur at Maximillian's New York flagship store at Bloomingdale's, said its director, Daniela Kane. She estimates a 25 percent increase in men's fur sales this season over last, and about a 15 percent increase in women's fur.

Fur industry sales totaled $1.53 billion in 2001. That was down from the previous year's sales of $1.69 billion because of a soft economy and a warm winter, said Kaplan. Based on figures from October, November and December, Kaplan said he expects fur sales for 2002 to be at least 10 percent higher than 2001.

Kane said last year the store carried more leather jackets with fur lining on the inside, but this year they "shout more fur and men are buying it up." And the weather, she said, is largely the reason. Much of the country suffered record low temperatures this winter, with as many as 15 straight days below freezing in parts of the Midwest and Northeast in January. The average temperature in New York City was about 31 degrees this winter, 10 degrees below last year, which was the warmest winter on record.

"There's no comparison, fur is definitely warmer," said Irwin Abouaf, 68, while walking near Macy's on a bitter cold February day. An ankle-length raccoon coat, the fourth fur coat he's owned, kept him comfortably warm in the 25-degree temperatures.

No matter how cold it may be, fur is not for every man. But an intrepid approach to fashion is as much a part of the hip-hop industry as head-bopping beats. "Hip-hop is more fashion forward than most industries," said Mariel Haenn, an assistant fashion editor at The Source magazine, whose January issue featured the rapper Baby wearing a red mink coat on the cover. "It's just another way of being creative and different."

Indeed, fur makes a statement. And the street wear now being infused with accents of luxury connotes a sumptuousness and extravagance its wearers strive for. "Everything in the urban category is big, wild and colorful, and fur follows that style," Kaplan said.

With a fan base dazzled by a hyper-masculine, gangster image, popular rap stars sport the kind of flamboyant outerwear that is generally associated with women. It may seem incongruous, but for most rappers, ostentation is a mark of financial and professional success. Expensive fur is just another sign of a bling-bling lifestyle of designer clothes, flashy jewelry and pricey cars.

Professor Mark-Evan Blackman, chairman of the men's wear department at the Fashion Institute of Technology, said fur is not a gender-specific commodity anymore, much as diamond earrings and big gold jewelry - also made fashionable by male rappers - are no longer icons of femininity. The appeal of fur, Blackman said, is the appeal of the good life. "It's simply another component of their perception of luxury," he said.