**Just going to start out saying that I do not believe in the modern fur market/situation, but I do believe in preserving things from the past, especially to stop them from going into a landfill. These vintage pieces were either thrifted by me or gifted to me and I intend to preserve them as best as I can.
My husband and I (and our 9 cats) live a 50's household in reverse, more or less. I work and he takes care of the kids/cats. No, I don't make a lot of money, but its enough to get by. So when I do buy things for myself or my husband, its usually pretty cheap. We frequent thrift stores, help centers and flea markets. We buy things in lots online that are in need of repair or cleaning because they're quite a bit cheaper. I quite like the mending and washing of things, so I don't mind one bit. I have cleaned and mended vintage hats, vintage gloves and vintage toys. But that means that we get to buy little things for each other from time to time which is fun.
So when I was watching an auction on Ebay about this time last year and it said someone bought it, I was pretty bummed. It was for a 3 fur hats, a fur collar and a fur stole. Ebay emails me new listings each day for specific key words and vintage hats is one of them. I thought this listing was pretty cheap and I loved each of the pieces, so I was going to make them an offer for it. But someone bought it. This was the day after I found out I didn't get the position at work that I had applied for. I was crushed. First off, I had really wanted that position and thought I had a pretty decent shot at getting it. And secondly, it was going to be my pity purchase to myself for not getting the job. We had also just gotten cat #8 who had just showed up one night and meowed into an open window. It is stressful enough to have a new cat show up and have to get him tested for feline aids and leukemia so as to not kill the others, but also we had to have him fixed and worry about introducing him to the brood. It was a slightly stressful time to say the least.
A week later a package arrived. My husband had bought me the lot right after I told him I had not gotten the job. Not only was I amused that my husband had bought me furs, as it seems like something a proper 50's household husband should do, but I was also quite intrigued at the vintage fur items before me. They were in absolutely lovely condition and I was so freakin excited to get to wear them, even though it was May and quite warm. Have a look for yourself!
This is the wrap/stole. I have been trying to do research on vintage furs but have not come across much. I haven't seen any stoles with a closure like this, the way one side slides through the other. And I cannot begin to tell even what kinds of furs these are. Lots of places talk about how to tell the types of fur by how it feels, but since I don't have a lot to compare them to, I am out of luck. Not that it really matters, but I am always curious as to the type of materials in vintage clothes.
This is the collar that came in the same lot with the wrap above. It's a very soft, slightly cream colored fur. It has a few spots sewn inside that you could use to attach to a button on your coat. It also has a lapel style where it splits mid way up, which looks very business like to me but still feminine.
This is a fur cape that I found at Flealand for $25. I had actually been looking online for vintage capes for a few months when I found this and another cape in the same trip. It is labeled on the inside 'seal dyed coney' which is rabbit dyed to look like seal. I wasn't sure if it was real until I undid the lining stitching at the bottom and looked inside. The fur is stamped 'seal dyed coney' all over. I carefully stitched it back up. It's ridiculous soft and warm and quite hefty. There is a hook and eye clasp in the front that was coming off a little, so I had to fix that. No biggie. It also has a very small mandarin style collar which is interesting.
This one is one of my favorites because of the size and color. It's in the most lovely shades of gray. This is also the one I paid the most for- $50 from Flealand. It's in excellent condition but has a bit of a perfumey smell. It's not terrible, but I would prefer it not to smell like anything. Aaaaand it's got pockets!!
This is the other cape I bought from Flealand that same day, from the same booth. It was only $15 but it had some condition issues. First off, the removable fur collar was shedding like a mofo. Like if you held it and shook it once, a little cloud of fur came off. I wasn't too worried about that, but then I read about shedding fur and how it might mean it's begining to deteriorate in some way. Still not a huge deal to me as it was only $15. Secondly, the cape itself is a lightweight wool but it had quite a few holes that I needed to mend. I didn't see them until after I had hand washed the cape, so it's possible I made them worse. It also had a smell but it was a smoke smell. I'm not super sensitive to smells but it was strong. And it was kind of fun to fix the holes. For the fur collar, I combed and shook it until it stopped shedding. Now every once in a while there is a little shedding, but not nearly as much.
These collars right here, let me tell you. These were a gift from a very nice local lady. She helps out at the local community sale that we go to twice a year. She also caters when the local auction house has an auction. Talk about a great hamburger! Anywho, she got them for me and held them until the next community sale. Sometimes she gets free stuff from the auctions because no one bids on them. I'm assuming this was the case because she told me I could just have them. Seriously, we went to check out at the sale and she was all hush hush like 'do you like vintage fur?' and I was like 'yeah I do!' and she was like 'go look in that bag.' And there they were, all gorgeous and shit. They're in extremely good condition and I almost cried when I saw them. She knows I love vintage stuff because she's sold me some vintage hats before and saves us any Visionware that she finds at auctions. We're addicted to that cookware. Lol. Anywho, they're rather large collars which add to the vintage flair. They're pretty dramatic. I love them.
Next are my two fur scarves. Well, I'm not sure if the pelt one is considered a scarf. I got them both at Flealand for $15. Not $15 each, but $15 for them both. I really like the fabric one as it has a couple of button holes so you can attach it to your own coat, although I think I saw an advertisement with a matching coat. I think those odds of finding that matching coat are pretty low, but I like it by itself just fine. It's black but looks grey in the picture with the flash. I only used it to show the button holes on the left. The pelt one is interesting and makes me feel very fancy. Although it's not a fur coat per se, it reminds me of that scene from Ghostbusters 2 with the fur coat. Go watch that if you don't remember it.
Last but certainly not least is this little fur wrap that I got at a local antique store which doesn't really sell much in the way of actual antiques. There is one booth in the back that has actual vintage stuff and I found this for $20 which I was not happy about but I didn't have anything in actual white and it was in need of repairs so I felt bad for it. It just needed a new hook and loop thingy in the front. Its very soft and not in terrific shape, as some of the fur is coming apart at the back seam. It was not easy to repair because its very thin and kept ripping further as I sewed it back together. But I felt bad for it, so I bought it and that's all she wrote.
I have a couple if vintage coats with fur collars, but that's for another post.
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