Fur Slinks Along Underground Tracks

http://www.nytimes.com/2013/02/14/fashion/fur-slinks-on-underground-tracks.html

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On a recent frigid morning, when the thermometer barely reached 11 degrees in New York, the sidewalk glimmered with ice, fruit peddlers were absent and dogs shied away from the leash. Underground, however, the city was in its usual rush.

“This morning I was late so I ran into the subway and this fabulous woman in a big fur coat held the door for me,” said Adrienne Landau, a fur designer who was wearing one of her own jackets to board the E train at the 50th Street station.

“She said, ‘I love your coat,’ and I said, ‘I love yours too, honey!’ ” Ms. Landau said. “I could tell she was feeling good — she was happy she could wear it, that it was cold enough, because it was a big mink coat.”

Farther north, along the A line, a slender 20-something woman was turning heads in a full-length fox that strikingly set off her red hair. And at the 125th Street station, two more women got on wearing furs in an older style. Having three ample furs in such proximity suddenly made the subway car feel like the coat check at Cipriani.  

Animal rights activists may disagree, but this season’s arctic cold snap — combined with safer subways (save a rash of iPhone thefts) and the embrace of fur by some younger riders — has turned what used to be a glamour accessory for a night at the opera into just another item for the morning slog.

“The perception of fur in general has changed,” said Dennis Basso, a veteran society furrier. “The day of the woman getting into the back of the limousine with the fur coat has totally changed.  Today, she’s a modern young girl, meeting girlfriends downtown. She’s on her way to the office, on the subway.”

Not to mention it’s good for the bottom line of a segment of the fashion industry that has chafed at accusations of being insensitive and out of touch.

When the weather allows, Grace Yang, a 28-year-old e-commerce product manager, wears “a sheared mink three-quarter-length coat with chinchilla trim and a hood” for her work commute on the No. 6 train, from Gramercy Park to Midtown. “I think it’s more socially acceptable now to wear fur,” Ms. Yang said. “I’ve seen a lot more fur on the streets this year, and I’ve seen it on a lot of younger women.”

Her one concession to the M.T.A. is that she wears her reversible coat inside-out, to expose the rainproof lining instead of the mink. “I have noticed on the subway that people touch other people’s coats, and I really dislike that because people’s hands are so dirty,” she said.   “I also have this phobia that the oils on people’s skin is going to get into the mink and then there are going to be bald spots on the coat.”

Ms. Yang also avoids heels with fur because, she said, “it’s harder to run away if somebody tries to take the coat.”

Ms. Landau, the fur designer, is collaborating with the fashion blogger Bryan Boy this season on a range of furs meant to appeal to contemporary consumers. She also takes photos on the subway, using her phone, to record new ways that young people are wearing fur.

“The other day I saw a girl and she had a beautiful fur headband with a big jewel on it, and, like, a metallic scarf and a fur collar, and I thought that was cool,” she said. “The subway is a great place to see a lot of different looks. And a lot of crazies.”