T his past October, The New York Times announced that fashion had resurrected fur. It does indeed appear that fur is back.
Many consumers feel that it is effectively an issue of consumer rights.
As they do so, they borrow language from the abortion rights movement to legitimize conspicuous consumption. Perhaps fur's new exoticism is directly connected to its bloody history. Maybe fur is back precisely because the message that fur is dead has been heard and absorbed by fashion. Perhaps it wasn't effective for anti-fur activists to link their campaign to the issue of dead animals. Fad is fundamental to fashion, and this season, the newest must-have status symbol is clearly fur.