15 Şubat 2013 Cuma

NYFW street fur style -1-



The New York Fashion Week is going ahead in full steam, but this has been a fierce winter so far in the US. The East Coast is covered in snow throughout. I have been in Boston, MA for two weeks and boy, I am really cold! Interestingly, last year we had a very tough winter in Turkey, lots of snow and freezing temps, while it was one of the warmest winters on record in the US. This year it's just the opposite-very mild winter in Turkey but very cold in America. Brrr!

Since it's freezing outside and there is snow everywhere, the fashionistas following the NYFW have wrapped themselves in furs. I loved the above shot a lot (as expected from a fur lover LOL!). Both ladies are daring the cold weather head on! The full length fur coat on the left is clearly a vintage piece, but looks quite sharp. The V-shaped pattern on the fur is called "chevron" in English. From a fashion perspective, it is just another pattern, like tweed, houndstooth or leopard print-some extra possibility to work with but in fact, it is a furriers' technique where thin stripes of fur alternate with thin stripes of leather or suede. This way, a little fur goes a long way to make up a full garment. The body of the coat is made from coyote/wolf fur, but the collar is made from a fuller and more expensive fox fur. The overall outfit is drenched in black, from the studded booties to the sunglasses and finally the beanie hat. The lighter colors of the fur coat simply pop out.



The blue-dyed Mongolian lamb jacket stands out in Alessandra Codinha's outfit, who works at Women's Wear Daily (WWD). I think it is from this year's Blumarine collection. The extremely long and curly hairs of the Mongolian or Tibetan lamb give an incredibly fluffy appearance, yet the garment is light as feather.


With its bright colors, striking patterns and lace top, this outfit is begging for the spring to arrive. And the Mongolian lamb vest with its pure white color is just the perfect choice over this grand revelry.



Her dark eye makeup gives away an off-duty model, in between catwalks. The fluffy parts of her coat are from Kalgan lamb. Is the rest made of fabric or Persian lamb fur, I could not tell, but we see a lot of such designs recently where furs with different textures are mixed up together. 


All attention is naturally drawn to the red pants in this outfit. The coat can again be made from Kalgan fur or an imitation of it...



The center of attention in this all-black outfit is not the feet but the head. This magnificent fur hat with its dramatic colors is made with Tanuki fur, also called Finn raccoon. This fur is perfect for hats, for the hoods of the down coats or for collars; it simply stands out above and beyond all. The black fur jacket looks very warm and inviting, too:) Judging by its fluffiness, it must be made from dyed fox fur.


Another all-black outfit. Biker leather jacket, mini skirt, black panties and Chanel boots make up a great "biker chic" ensemble. The individual furs of the black-dyed fox hat shine brilliantly, as if you can count them one by one! 

1 Şubat 2013 Cuma

Celine pink fur coat



I saw Kasia Struss in this shot above that appeared in the October 2012 issue of the Flair magazine, and I was immediately in love! I have always been a great admirer of the romantic and feminine style of Kasia Struss, and here, she gives a truly delicate, naive pose... Of course, what stands out most in Kasia's outfit is her fur coat with its bright pink color. A little research revealed that it was a Celine coat and that's the subject of this post. 


This fur coat in the Celine FW2012-13 collection attracted a lot of attention with its pink/fuchsia color. Well, with such a bright color, it is something hard to miss, right?! Since fur is such a precious item, we usually see it in designs that will not go out of fashion in a season or two. But if we are talking about furs designed by a such a luxury fashion house as Celine, there must be a unique angle to them-they must be something eye-popping. This fur coat has some other original features besides its color. For example, it does not sport any collars, which opens up a lot of possibilities in terms of combining the coat with scarves or cowl collar sweaters.

I also would like to point out that the model is wearing a simple white top and a pair of black trousers with this coat. We shall see below that many editorials will either go through the white route or the black route.


Furthermore, the back side of this coat is in a dark neon blue color and has a leather detail. Frankly, both of those elements seem unnecessary to me. As we shall see below, in many fashion editorials only the front side with its bright pink color is featured.


We see Carolyn Murphy in Vogue Korea's November 2012 issue, wearing this coat on her shoulders with an entirely white outfit. Such simplicity suits Celine style well!


From the whites of Caroline Murphy to the blacks of Anna Vyalitsyna'nın in Numero October 2012, we've got the full contast in our hands, right? Just like Caroline, Anna has placed the coat over her shoulders. This makes the collarless design of the coat pop out even further. In the meantime, I would like to take your attention to the black pattern in the fur. Maybe we should not have just called it pink, as it seems there is more to the fur than being simply dyed in pink.



Here we are! If the Celine coat had been made from a wool, cashmere or camel-hair fabric, it would have a monotonous color, but that's not the case. This is a fur coat, not a fabric coat and the fur is a special type of mink, called "cross mink" since the black pattern looks like a cross. The original color of the cross mink is white, with black cross-like markings over it. When it's dyed, the white fur takes up color easily, while the black fur stays black and the original, natural pattern is preserved. The pattern of nature that is worth imitating...


Next up, Nadja Bender in Vogue China October 2012 issue. She is wearing the coat over a white body. The pink color is so dominant that stylists go either the white way or the black way...


This shot is from an editorial called "Fierce Creatures" by the renowned photographer Patrick Demarchelier and it is from the August issue of the W magazine. The models are Zuzanna Bijoch, Magda Laguinge and Meghan Collison but which one is wearing our Celine coat, I could not determine. Again we see the coat styled with blacks and whites.


The US edition of the Elle magazine had a "pink explosion" collage page in December that has the Celine coat as its main feature! It's perfect for the girls going crazy after polyvore.com, but this much pink might give others a heart attack!


In December Celine opened a shop in Beijing, China and the Chinese actress Huo Siyan attended the opening as the resident celebrity. Since this is a Celine shop opening, and since Huo Siyan was "invited" by Celine (possibly even paid for it), it was appropriate for her to wear Celine. We see the pink fur coat worn with blacks and whites again.




Finally, the online shopping site luisaviaroma.com has this coat and as you see how it is presented, we see the same black-white styling there, too. It is interesting to see all these fashion editors and stylists "converging" on the same idea.