Fashion's bloody secret

Despite the bans and the rise of faux fur, we are falling in love with the real thing again

- REBECCA COPE

If the upmarket Colorado ski resort of Aspen had a dress code this winter, it would be fair to assume it was "fur" - and not just the faux kind. In the space of less than a week in late January, model Kendall Jenner was photographed wearing a plethora of fur looks, mostly vintage, including a fox fur coat from Nicolas Ghesquière-era Balenciaga and a cropped fur-lined jacket from Tom Ford's 1996 Gucci collection with matching skirt. As faux furs - most of which are made from petroleum-based synthetic materials that aren't biodegradable, and destined for decades in landfill - become an increasingly serious faux pas among a new, eco-conscious generation, fashion's dirty secret appears to be: real fur is back in vogue.

It seems everywhere you look, you can't escape it. At the cinema, Angelina Jolie's turn as the glamorous opera diva Maria Callas has her shrouded in fur, while Oscars front-runner Anora even has a quip in it about the eponymous lead's coat being "sable, not mink" - a fact that was as true in real life as in fiction, with the costume designer choosing to use vintage fur rather than faux for realism.

There were anti-fur protesters at the Toronto Film Festival in September, targeting Pharrell Williams, who uses it in his collections for Louis Vuitton.

Kanye West and his wife Bianca Censori's Grammys stunt involved a black fur coat.

And when Rihanna, a keen exhibitor of real fur, came face to face with a man screaming, "What type of person wears fur in 2025?" at her, as she left husband A$AP Rocky's trial in court this week, the answer appeared obvious. Everyone.