SHOW OF SKIN: Animal rights activists will be up in arms come autumn. Fur of all shapes, sizes, colours and origins was one of the strongest statements at the Milan collections, which ended on Monday.
And it isn't only specialists such as Fendi and Marni - which showed blanket-like, woven shawls and shrunken mink boleros, respectively - that are going all out. Prada, Pucci, Miu Miu, Moschino and Anna Molinari tossed fur trim at all manner of evening and outerwear, from heavy woollen coats to tiered chiffon dresses. Fox stoles, tinted in shades from deep aubergine to bubblegum pink, were ubiquitous, as were fur accessories.
Tom Ford, in his swansong collection for Gucci, was the least apologetic in his use of both, combining 40s-inspired stoles - heads and tails included - with his signature funnel-neck and caban jackets (these will be detachable when they hit the shops), as well as full-bodied minks spreadeagled across 105mm stilettos. The designer's favourite bag of the season? A dragon-buckled, mink clutch with tiny tail that will be a sure hit among the proudly un-PC set.
Eastern block: There was a mass exodus during the Milan collections, with designers as diverse as Miuccia Prada, Roberto Cavalli and Molinari for Blumarine interpreting middle European and Russian influences in their own signatures.
For Prada, which showed one of the best received and refined collections of the season, the look was luxurious and no-nonsense at the same time. Knee-length winter coats, in cold war wools, were embellished with fur collars and crystal beading, all worn with mannish Cossack hats.
At the other end of the spectrum, Cavalli - no stranger to tsar-like excesses - showed flirty peasant blouses and Hussar jackets with pendant bags that looked as if they once belonged in an Orthodox church.
Molinari showed 1970s-inflected peasant blouses and skirts with frogged jackets and vests, as did Pucci, where designer Christian Lacroix dulled his palette with not-so-drab loden and grey.