Comments on: What Miss Plumcake is…

By: Lisa

Lisa — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 21:52:45 +0000

“Furor” (GRrrrrooooooooooan! Actually not true. I love puns.)

On the L’Eau D’Hiver by Jean-Claude Ellena for Frédéric Malle front, I bought a sample of this a bit ago based on Plumcake’s recommendation. Sweet jumping Jose….I have never smelled anything so fricking beautiful.

By: Stella

Stella — Fri, 20 Nov 2009 14:05:08 +0000

Ooh, you must post a picture of the coat when you get it! (or would that cause too much furor?…HA!) As a native Buffalo NY girl, I am never really warm between October and April. I would looove a fab fur coat. But:

a. can’t afford one
b. would only want a quality vintage or humanely produced one, which means
c. REALLY can’t afford one

By: Margo

Margo — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:54:00 +0000

People may be interested to know about the eco-fur option: In New Zealand, where there are no native land mammals*, the introduced possum wrecks devastation on the environment – culling the possums is the only way to help protect birds and native plants, not to mention the agricultural industry. The World Wide Fund for Nature endorses possum-fur products, and I love my possum-fur mix scarf and hat.

Linky: http://www.guardian.co.uk/environment/2007/sep/20/ethicalliving

http://www.nzgifts-souvenirs.co.nz/possum/

http://www.maninnature.com/AFibres/Trapping/Trapping1b.html

http://www.ecosalon.com/the_eco_ethics_of_fur/

http://www.ecowool.com/possum-fur-products

*Save for my very hirsute Uncle Andy.

By: hickchick

hickchick — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 02:32:53 +0000

Being boring is a much bigger sin than wearing fur. Until you start boring me, I will be a reader.

Besides, vegans have it coming.

By: that redhead

that redhead — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 00:47:11 +0000

not to ignore the fur debate but….

I LOVE Fake AP Stylebook on Twitter! Always good for a giggle.

By: Mrs. Hendricks

Mrs. Hendricks — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 17:18:01 +0000

“we’re not used to the cold so when the thermometer hits 50 we all panic and start covering plants and calling in to work”. I loved this. As a Minnesotan who lived in Dallas for a time I frequently received polite, well-meaning and worried inquiries when I went without a coat when it was around 40 degrees. And when “wind chill” was mentioned during the weather forecast, I got yelled at for rolling my eyes: “We have wind chill here, too, you know!” Ah, Texas. I still miss it.

By: Lisa

Lisa — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 16:01:53 +0000

Mink raised on farms have a pretty bad life, especially at the end in some parts of the world, and I just hate mink–vicious things. But if I could get convinced if somebody managed to demonstrate that they were treated humanely from beginning to end and slaughtered with as little suffering as possible, no, I wouldn’t be as bothered by fur as I am right now. Salmon farming is pretty bad for the surrounding areas. There’s a bunch of things like this that I just think we could push ourselves to do better with if we weren’t lazy/cheap/thoughtless: do we *really* need t-shirts assembled by little kids chained to machines in factories? Is that cost savings really necessary? Esp. for companies like Ralph Lauren, who will then turn around and charge high prices for their goods? As a consumer, I am willing to pay more if cost savings mean hurting somebody/something unnecessarily; as a shareholder, I’m willing to accept smaller dividends if it means I can know I’m investing in things that try to do right by people and places. The fact that we aren’t there yet and I do consume some things I wish were different doesn’t make me a hypocrite (I eat meat; I wish we’d do better in producing it). It means the world is imperfect, but we can and should think about where the next horizon of improvement is.

In the fur case, trappers are soooooooo not rich people. I empathize with that; you gotta to make a living, and places where lynx live are places where people need work to do. Furriers, too, are craftsmen/women and deserve some respect. I just wish the folks producing pelts had sort of the equipment that make an animals’ last hours less terrifying and agonizing.

That said, I suspect Plummy will wear it forever and be absolutely breath-taking.

By: La BellaDonna

La BellaDonna — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:14:02 +0000

Oh, and it IS important to worry about frog destructions. They are to the Earth and the environment what canaries are to miners and mines: the first warning that your environment is about to kill you.

By: La BellaDonna

La BellaDonna — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 14:05:46 +0000

NO kitty fur. NO endangered fur. I eat meat, I wear leather, I’ll wear vintage fur that would have been dead by now anyway, or fur-of-food – but trapped animals means trapped “junk” animals as well (cats and dogs) (who should be INSIDE, owners – this is one of the reasons why!). Kitties are FAMILY … and there are humans I’d wear first.

Educational note: if it’s made in China or the Philippines, and it’s trimmed with fur, it’s probably domestic dog or domestic cat. I’ve seen videos that still give me nightmares … and I’d press a button.*

Big girls, whether voluptuous, large-busted, or fat, can absolutely wear double-breasted garments – IF they’re cut properly, and IF the buttons aren’t placed in the dreaded here-are-my-nipples zone. I have several beautifully tailored jackets, and two lovely lightweight velvet “trenchcoats” (from Newport News!), and they’re all double-breasted. NOTE: I do NOT recommend wearing a double-breasted coat over a double-breasted jacket; one is apt to feel like a stuffed sausage.

*there’s a proviso with that, of course.

By: class factotum

class factotum — Wed, 18 Nov 2009 13:57:13 +0000

Lisa — I am totally sincere when I ask this. Are you OK with mink that is produced on mink ranches? You imply that one of the reasons you don’t like fur is because of not liking how fur is produced via trapping. But mink are nasty pretty rat-things raised just for coats. Does that change the equation?

I would love a fur coat because I live in Wisconsin and hate being cold, but fur is not in the budget and if it were (at least fur of the flattering sort), I would rather move to Texas.