News

Swaths of Toronto's old shmatte district have been taken over by loft developments and club kids. And Spadina is for tourists. But on a wee stretch of Adelaide Street, centred around Zuppa's Deli, are the old-school New Yawk-style furriers. Yes, when fancy people go to buy beaver, they expect dingy blue carpeting, deathly lighting, no-frills racks and a puce rotary telephone so old it has that shrill pre-Touch-Tone trill.

And that is exactly what Angelo Papaevangelidis, like his father before him, provides to his retail customers: from Canadian cut-up Leslie Nielsen (his signed headshot is on the counter) to a raft of Detroit Pistons players (think long custom flash) and Leaf wives (think mink). His store, Four Season Fur, is the big player, fashion-wise, on the wholesale circuit in Canada, and Papaevangelidis makes product for the country's top independent designers (shhhh!) and funky custom pieces for fashion shoots. And, these days, business is brisk.

The runways were fuzzy with fur this season, from fluffy ponchos at D&G to dramatic big blue Teletubbies minks at Versace. Miuccia Prada did a wild lamb fur that International Harold Tribune reporter Suzy Menkes described as simian. (It grows on you.) Marc Jacobs for Louis Vuitton took the touchy-feely thing one step further with his “wet rabbit” top and skirt, where the pelt had been gummed up to appear more wild, we suppose. At the top of the market were Fendi's $200,000-plus sable coats. No surprise, Russian sable is at a peak price right now. In fact, the whole fur trade is on a high.

In fashion trend terms, it's all about texture, be it real, faux or reworked. “Fur is being used in so many new ways,” says Alan Herscovici, executive vice-president of the Fur Council of Canada. “On purses on hats, as trim on sweaters, shoes, slippers, parkas, pillows, blankets.”

In practical terms, it's all about timing. “The big fur slump was in ‘89 and ‘90, when the bottom fell out of the stock market,” Herscovici says. “The fur industry is small and artisanal, so it takes a long time for it to respond to changing trends.”

Those were also the big green-paint-throwing years. “It didn't hurt business as much as the media made it out,” Papaevangelidis says of the protests. Nonetheless, “business has never been better than right now,” he says.

And it's a different business. For starters, it's much younger. “We had a lost generation,” Papaevangelidis explains. “Now, you see the young women in their 20s coming in. They want the short jackets. You can wear them over cocktail dresses. Or you can wear them with jeans. And they come in fun colours.”

Indeed, customer surveys for the Fur Council (which represents the producers, manufacturers and designers that make up the $800-million-a-year industry in this country) show that about 50 per cent of consumers are younger than 45, Herscovici says.

Part of the appeal is that fur has become more affordable – and not just the faux variety. “Fur has emerged as another fabrication,” says Barbara Atkin, vice-president of fashion direction for Holt Renfrew. “It was in virtually every collection, even in more moderately priced lines like Theory and Diane von Furstenberg.”

Of course, it remains a sign of wealth: There is a difference between a rim of trim and a full-length coat, after all. The big bucks buy innovative new looks, Atkin says. “The treatments are so unique, they look like velvet, they are sheared so tightly. We are even seeing fur corduroy. The designers are making the pieces so lightweight and casual, they now have the same silhouettes as cloth coats. Yves Saint Laurent had short swing coats with dolman sleeves. Armani did chinchilla. Gucci used a mix of furs together for little bombers.” These are investment pieces.

Which raises another surprising factor in the fur resurgence: Unlike all the disposable fashion out there, fur is a surprisingly green product. According to the Fur Council, 60,000 aboriginal and traditional trappers in Canada practise sustainable harvesting. Few, often safe (such as alum), chemicals are used to dress hides, and any dyes are monitored closely to cut effluents. And fur lasts a long time.

This means it can be reused. “Remodelling is a big part of the business,” Papaevangelidis says. “Young girls are dying to wear their grandmother's furs. And grandmothers are dying to see the treasures they once prized so highly worn again.”

It's a trend we applaud. We just wonder whether our daughters and granddaughters will be keen to revive the “wet rabbit” blue Teletubbies looks of 2007 say, oh, 40 years from now.

HOW TO WEAR FUR NOW

Colour

Dyed fur (faux and real) is fresh again, but it's not quite the hip-hop baby-blue rabbit bomber of years past. Think beaver in eighties electric blue.

Short jackets and shawls

Straight from the Jazz Age, little fur jackets are perfect for cocktails and black tie. But don't save them just for big nights: They are fine for the grocery store paired with jeans and sneakers.

Long

The length for designer furs right now is the same as cloth coats, just grazing the knee. If you are renovating a family heirloom, go for cropped. Classic minks are still selling at mid-calf, but you might look a little fusty.

Fur clothing

Dresses, pants, vests: You name it, you can find it made of fur. These pieces are not a great investment, as the trend will probably not last past this season.

Trim

Fake and real fur adorns the edges of everything from sweaters to skirts and dresses. In most cases, this looks a bit like warmed-over mid-eighties mall wear.

Accessories

Another unwise investment. Fuzzy bags just feel weird. We are in favour of the classic white mink muffler. Wear it skating or carolling. Too cute.Leanne Delap