Brooke Shields

What would be the first thing that comes to your mind when I say Brooke Shields? Young, virgin, innocent, beauty babe, sexy...

This shot has all of the above and more: naive, gentle, feminine, romantic...

Elle Macpherson's gleaming beauty

 

Elle Macpherson is one of the unforgettable models of the 1980s and the 90s, perhaps best known for her covers of the Sports Illustrated magazine, where she delighted men and made women jealous of her impossibly long legs and athletic body. At nearly 50, she is still in the business of delighting men and making women jealous! On November 24, 2011 she appeared at a live interview for the American daytime TV program "Today Show" and gave these beautiful shots.

 

Elle is so cheerful, so energetic in these photos that whenever I look at them, my heart just melts in her warmth! Her outfit in burgundy-brown colors is simply stunning! Just like the colors of the autumn leaves that the Atlantic board of the US is famous for. Her Fedora hat, her turtleneck sweater with cable knitting all around, her burgundy suede boots that make her already long legs look even longer and of course her fur vest... Simply stunning! It's both comfy and elegant at the same time while suitable for the unpredictable autumn weather. 

Her fur vest is probably dyed raccon fur. The short guard hairs are in dark mocha brown whereas the tips of the longer guard hairs glisten in metallic gold, and this effect can only be achieved with real fur. Also pay attention to the fact that these gold tips of the fur coordinate nicely with her blonde hair and her gold accessories. Perfection, I say...

Adriana Lima at Donna Karan fashion show

Adriana Lima attends Donna Karan fashion show at the New York Fashion Week. She looks gorgeous in the pictures even though she is wearing minimal makeup, which means she is either too photogenic or too beautiful. Or, she is both!

Both Adriana and Donna Karan are dressed in blacks from head to toe, yet the fur trims of Adriana's black leather jacket bring color and contrasts to her outfit.

The way her hair is ruffled in the wind, the way she uses her hand to tidy her hair, and that naughty smile on her face... Adriana knows how to be sexy-Ooops, pardon me, she is BORN sexy!

From Michael Kors to Simay Bülbül

While I was following the Simay Bülbül show at the Istanbul Fashion Week (IFW) through the Turkish fashion blogs, I saw the fur coat above and liked it a lot. At that time, I even commented "This coat reminds me of Michael Kors!" at a blog post. Then came the Michael Kors show at the NYFW and bingo! There was a fur piece that resembled Simay Bülbül's coat! And here we are, comparing Michael Kors with Simay Bülbül...

I find it very "cool" to have coats, jackets and cardigans that are worn over the shoulders without putting arms through the sleeves:) It's cool, because it has a certain spontaneity, a certain unkempt, careless way with which the coat hangs... How can I say, it's as if the wearer transmits "I am not cold right now, but I placed the coat over my shoulders in case a cool breeze shivers me"... Besides, I really like the way the wearer holds on to the coat with her hands, pulling the sides to herself.

I have an answer to the question "Why do women love handbags so much?" and it is this: since women cannot simply put their hands to the pockets of their pants or jackets the way men always do, they are faced with the difficult question of what to do with their hands. A handbag provides a convenient solution to this problem. A woman can simply hold the handles of the handbag, or place it on her shoulders and grab it with her hands, or simply hang it on her elbow and point her hand upwards with a broken wrist. Likewise, a coat worn over the shoulders this way serves a similar function and provides two convenient handles for the wearer's hands.

Now this is the fur garment that reminded me of Michael Kors in Simay Bülbül's coat. This is from Fall-Winter 2010-11 collection. Okay, fur keeps you warm but this is not a coat, it's a long and sleeveless vest! The stylist of the runway show decided to present the fur vest and the deep V-neck sweater in olive green this way. And I must confess, Abbey Lee Kershaw looks gorgeous!

There are two similarities between the furs in Simay Bülbül and Michael Kors. Both are coyote fur and both have a patchwork-like appearance, they have a certain texture. Indeed, they are a patchwork of coyote fur pieces. They are not made from whole pelts. Of these fur pieces, some have long hairs, while others have short hairs. From the perspective of the furrier, these types of garments help use fur pieces that would otherwise be thrown away, hence making something useful out of them. From the designer's perspective, these patchwork designs are an opportunity to obtain a different texture.

Here we see the Michael Kors fur cest on Kelsey Van Mook, in the January 2011 issue of Flare magazine. It is combined with a  V-neck body in camel color. The fur's colors are a perfect match for camel.

And this is from the latest Michael Kors show, namely Fall-Winter 2012-13. Kors has revisited the patchwork coyote after 2 years, this time as a jacket and hat.

Finally, I would like to return to a fur vest where similar fur pieces were used in a patchwork design. I wrote about this fur vest from the Fabrika collection vest two years ago in the Turkish version of my blog.

White fur: Noble and elegant

There are so many blogs I follow but when it comes to the Turkish high society and their taste of fashion, the  "Moda ve Sosyete" blog tops 'em all, and it turns out the author of this great blog loved a white fur coat worn by Siren Ertan Çarmıklı, a well-known fashion designer and socialite. That prompted me to talk about white furs in my blog. I also thought it quite fitting as the whole country is swathed in white snow these days. In this post, I would like share some of the classic white fur examples of fur fashion, while trying to identify the white fur worn by Siren Ertan.

Since fur is a natural product, simple color descriptions such as "black" or "white" are usually not sufficient. You must have seen this popular infographics on social media, which compares the color literacy of women with men (or their lack of). In this Mars-Venus type of comparison, color for men simply consists of primary colors such as white, black, red, yellow, blue, etc, while for women there are all sorts of hues and tones in between colours. So, white is never just white: there is ice white, milk white, eggshell, creme, beige. For men, blue is blue, but women apparently see all the spectrum from parliament blue to sax blue, from sky blue to turquoise... The colors of furs are just like that. In this post, we shall see all the different types of white in white furs.

Coming back to the picture above, it's always been one of my faves. Although it is probably from the (late) 80s, I think the model's hair, make-up, and especially her look, her gaze... appears very "fresh" to me. And that naughty expression on her face! Reminds me of Uma Thurman in Pulp Fiction.


Regarding her fur coat, though we cannot exactly determine its cut because of her lying pose, its broad collar and turnback cuffs immediately strike our attention. How about the fur's type? It's mink, for sure. But what kind of mink? Well, white is a very tricky color since it does not reveal any patterns at all, and since its tone could easily appear different under different lighting conditions. Hence, it could just be "white mink" or it could be "pearl mink" that is closer to cream or beige color. In any case, it is lovely:)

Since I started the post with reference to the white fur coat Siren Ertan Çarmıklı wore, let us see how she looks in it. First question, what kind of fur is this? At first glance, I said mink, but it is so hard to tell in the absence of any revealing clues such as patterns or density of guard hair (I would fare much better if I had a chance to see it close range or better, touch the fur:) ). Hence, it could well be rabbit or sheared beaver. Or sheared/plucked mink. Heck, it could even be faux fur, since these days they do some faux furs that are virtually indistinguishable from the real deal.

Nevertheless, there are some other interesting aspects in this coat besides the type of fur it's made of. First of all, it has a quite large drape, which means its hem is quite large. If it was another branch of fashion, it would not matter that much, but the raw material in the furriers' craft, namely fur, is a very valuable material, just like gold or diamond. Therefore, from the fur designer's perspective, it is important to know how much fur is required to make a particular design. A coat with a large hem requires more pelts, hence it would be more expensive.

This is why, you see a certain type of picture on online fur sellers' sites in the descriptions of their fur coats, which shows its hem size to the viewers, and this is how they do it: The model turns her back to the camera, and grabs both sides of the coat. Then she draws her arms as high as possible. This way, all the drapes in the coat are flattened and its true hem circumference is revealed. Well, I did my best in explaining, but it is much better if I show you some pictures!

This white mink coat's collar and trims are in fox fur, which makes them fuller, fluffier and more voluminous. The hem of this coat measures 148 cms from one side to the other. That is nearly one and a half meters, but wait till you see the next two.

This is another white mink coat, but clearly its hem measures much larger. In fact the model has done a poor job of lifting the sides of the coat, which would have made the look more spectacular. The hem of this coat measures 228 cms. Think about it, this is more than 2 metres!

This is not a regular full length coat, but it's more like a cape or stroller. As you can imagine, its hem is larger, quite larger: 3 metres!

Let me return to the classics. In immaculate styling and full of sensuality, this picture is a true classic indeed! The textured top she is wearing, her gold accessories, and her makeup is flawless. Her fur coat is very chic as well, but more importantly, how can you the color of this coat as simply white!?

Here is a few more classic white fur pictures, and this concludes my post.

Lara Stone's little black leather dress

On Valentine's Day, Lara Stone attended a video exhibit by photographer Solve Sundbo, titled "The Ever Changing Face of Beauty". I had a look at her pics, and immediately shouted out a loud WOW! Look at her  black leather dress! She surely looks incredibly sexy in black leather. I am not a big fan of Miss Stone, and I usually find her fashion editorials quite cold, but here she is giving an infectious smile to the cameras and I love it!

Soft as Velvet: Sheared Mink

I have been thinking of talking about the modern and trendy furs of Gauja Furs from Lithuania for a long time. Actually, I am not a big fan of the showy (gaudy even!) fur style of Eastern European and Russian women, yet Gauja's designs are not short of the most avantgarde Italian fur styles at all! The jacket above for example, is both very trendy and very chic. In this post, I would like to present a number of examples from Gauja where fox and mink furs are mixed in innovative ways.

Fox is a longer hair fur and it's quite puffy, while mink is shorter hair. Still, in the example above, the mink section has been turned into something that is as soft and densely textured as velvet. Normally, mink fur has two types of hair or fur in it. There is the longer an coarser "guard fur", which, as its name implies, provides some protection, and then there is a shorter, denser "underfur". In the example above, the guard fur of the black mink was removed in what is called as "plucking" (literally plucking away the long guard fur!) and then the remainder is a fur that is very soft. A similar technique is called "shearing" and the resulting fur is called "sheared" (as in "sheared mink" or "sheared beaver"), which is similarly soft and dense.

In contrast with the uniform look of the plucked mink part, the shoulders are covered with dramatic contrasts of the silver fox. Furthermore, the monochrome palette of black mink draws all the attention to the stark contrasts of silver fox from white to steely gray and black.

Another fine fur taking great advantage of the contrast between the short haired mink and long haired fox. The red fox in the collar surely looks very fluffy and voluminous, but it is greatly aided in this endeavor by the fact that the mink fur making up the body of the coat has been plucked off its guard fur. In the meantime, the photograph is so sharply focused that the viewer is lost in the deep green of the model's eyes:)

Just like the previous two, this model consists of a body in sheared/plucked mink and polar fox as collar and hood trim. Polar fox is normally white but here the coat is uniformly dyed to the same color. The collar and the hood trim nicely frames the model's face, right!

If you are somewhat familiar with leather fashions with fur trim that primarily target the Russian audience, you must have seen lots of leather jackets and coats whose hems, cuffs and edges are trimmed in fur. The picture above has a tendency to slide in that direction, but this time the body of the coat is not leather but mink. This  mink is called blue iris and it blends perfectly with the silver fox trim of both the collar and cuffs. From the makeup of the model to her earrings and to the turtleneck sweater she is wearing, this is a fantastic combination and the resulting image is simply breathtaking.

The fur accessories of Gauja are great, too. Hopefully I will talk about them in another blog post soon.

Miroslava Duma's Sable Fur

I have realized that I did not give any space to Miroslava Duma in this blog, while Mira, as she is affectionately known by her friends, is a cute girl just like Olivia Palermo to jump from high society into the fashion world!

Miroslava Duma is usually introduced in the fashion blogs as the assistant editor of Harper's Bazaar Russia, yet, her salary from the magazine would not even cover her famed Hermes handbag collection, not to mention the fact that she is well known for her extensive Louis Vuitton scarf collection as well. It is not surprising then that her wardrobe is the envy of many. Under such conditions, one would expect the young fashionista in question to rely on a strong "sponsor" and thus, we learn that Mira's dear daddy is an important Russian politician and by extension, one of the major oligarchs of Russia. We see the father-daughter Dumas above. Indeed, her father looks like he was the right-hand man of Yeltsin!

Anyhow, after this much gossip, let us now turn to our furs, sorry I meant our topic, which is Mira's furs:) Well, there are so many rich people in the world, yet most can never attain elegance, while Mira makes whatever she is wearing fit her in an incredibly stylish way, regardless of the brand name. And this is all that matters, right?! Above, for example, we see Miroslava Duma in a classic "street style" pose, one that has probably been the subject of 29 thousand 876 blog posts! If I recall correctly, it was during a Paris Fashion Week. God knows how many women have left "I adore her outfit! xoxo" "I need to buy her shoes, please help me ID!" type of comments on these posts...

Yes, where was I, right, let us return to our subject while Mira is taking a point-and-shoot pic of all of us with a naughty expression on her face. Miroslava Duma is a Russian beauty, and since Russia is known for its cold winters, it should not surprise us that Mira wears furs. Lots of furs. How ever, the fur that she is wearing in the above shots are not an ordinary fur. It is sable, considered to be the most precious fur in the world. And not just sable, it is Russian sable, that is, the finest sable.

Russian sable was so precious that during the days of the Tsars, only the royal family could wear it. All others were forbidden from sable. And out of Russia, sable was the fur of choice for kings, queens, emperors and the sultans. For example, history books record that in the 17th century, the Ottoman sultan Ibrahim, known as the "Crazy", paid extraordinary amounts of money to the Tsar of Moscow to purchase sable. When the monarchy was destroyed in Russia and everybody was equalized in "comradeship", a special company was formed to handle the Russian sable business. Known as Sojuzpushnina, it continued selling this precious fur to the capitalist West, even during the height of the Cold War. Which, being a "cold" war, must have meant the Westerners needed sable even more than usual:)

All these shots are from the same series. I guess it is February 2009, must have been taken during the New York Fashion Week. Well, the last shot reveals the location as the Central Park in Manhattan, surrounded by familiar skyscrapers...

From a distance, Mira's fur looks like a "normal" fur in dark brown colour. I said "normal" and I suppose for many it means mink. One needs to be a bit more knowledgeable to appreciate the difference between sable and mink. If you are one of those lusting after the Hermes handbag collection of Miroslava, trying to calculate its worth and getting your head dizzy while doing so, let me just tell you that this fur's price tag is in six figures, and that must be enough for you!

What a cute pose she is giving, right?! Actually, I can say that sable is a close relative of marten, which you may have come across more easily (since it is more affordable). Sable comes in two distinct types. One is the Russian sable, as you see on Mira, in very dark brown-chestnut color. The other is Canadian or golden sable, which is lighter in colour, in a golden yellow. What makes Russian sable invaluable is its incredible softness and "dense" touch. Moreover it has a very rich color palette, browns, chestnut, mocha, etc. The most valuable Russian sable is known as Barguzin sable.

It apparently takes someone like Miroslava Duma to throw a 100 thousand dollar fur carelessly onto a snow truck or tugging it under arm as if it is a garment purchased from HM!

I strongly suspect that Miroslava Duma is showing off her handbag to the camera! By the way, I don't know if you have noticed, but she is wearing sable again, but it is not the same sable as in the previous pictures:) If you don't believe me, have a look at the next shot.

Mira posing with her mum. Mummy and her little daughter, dressed to the nines in precious furs and crocodile handbags, I don't know how to describe their style! Anyways, let's just focus on Mira's fur. In the NYC shots above, her sable was falling all the way below her knees, and its collar was quite big, but this coat is shorter and it is more like a stroller.

I think her hoodie sweater in this shot with a cute penguin figure on is Chanel. Recently, we have been seeing lots of these 3/4 or half length sleeves in fur fashion. This way a more "trendy" or "youthful" fur design is obtained...

Three friends posing here. Of Mira's friends, the blondie on the left is wearing a "blue iris" mink, but the most precious fur is worn by her other friend, the one on the right. It is definitely Barguzin sable. I don't know if you have noticed, but I have been trying to count how many furs Mira has in her wardrobe. Up until now, I think we have seen at least two different pieces, but this last one might well be a third one...

One distinguishing quality of Mira is that she likes to use and reuse a garment she loves after two-three seasons. This way she reminds me of Olivia Palermo again. Nevertheless, I think the wealth of Mira's father easily doubles or triples that of Olivia's dad, but that's another story:)

Mira's cute knit hat is the same hat as we saw in the very first pic in this post, but her fur is different. When we are talking Miroslava Duma, there is no shortcut for a cheapie route, hence this is again a Russian sable, but it's a different Russian sable, that's what I was trying to say!

I would like to direct your attention to the horizontally worked pieces in this coat. Lately, these horizontally worked designs are quite popular, not only for sable but for minks as well.

In this picture, we appreciate better the horizontally worked sable coat Mira is wearing. This is a reversible garment. Just like UGG boots, the same pelt's one side is fur and the other is leather. There is no lining here. Please pay attention to how the individual fur hairs are sticking out of stiches of the horizontal bands on the coat's sleeve. Normally, the lining in a fur coat serves to cover the rough aspects of the workmanship, the not so perfect stiches etc, but here everything is out in plain sight. There is no room for error. And that requires immaculate craftsmanship.

I also would like to note that in the last two photos, the lighting conditions cause the fur to appear different. The one immediately above is taken during night with flash on, so the fur appears lighter, whereas the one before that is taken during the day without flash, hence the fur has hues going even towards brownish green.

I am ending our tour of Miroslava's sable furs with this picture from a Range Rover Evoque launch event. I have counted at least three, maybe four different sables, but the numbers are not that important-they all look gorgeous on Miroslava Duma!

Hopefully, we will have a peek at her other furs in a different blog post...