Zandra Rhodes returned to furs after a few-season's hiatus with a collection produced in North America by Pologeorgis. Mohl Fur Company took on a hot new collection by Byron Lars and produced a capsule group for Bradley Bayou. Eric Gaskins was a hit for Miller & Berkowitz. Alixandre did Yeohlee and Robert Danes.
Besides its own labeled collection by new, brash, in-house designers Nicolas Petrou and Michael Lund, Ben Kahn produced "Signatures," a series of designs by Nicole Miller, Gemma Kahng, Natori, Mary Jane Marcasiano and Rodney Telford. Coopchik produced pieces by James Purcell, Randy Kemper and Pamela Dennis. The Tepper Collection produced confections by Han Feng, Cynthia Steffe and Jennifer George. Revillon contributed a few garments by Roland Nivelais.
With the exception of Rhodes and Marcasiano, all these designers worked with fur for the first time this year, most as a result of the Saga Furs of Scandinavia North American Designer Initiative. While only a few of them had license agreements with manufacturers to produce full collections, most importantly, they incorporated it into their own vision of contemporary fashion, showing furs within their own fall ready-to-wear collections.
Other young designers working in fur developed their names: Irma Paytler for RosaMori, Veronique Miljkovitch and Janet Watson for Jean Crisan, Angela Bucaro, Dominique Ouzilleau and Fantazia.
But these turned into more than just names. Together in the fur industry, they became a force of nature, inspiring veteran fur designers and grabbing the attention of fashion editors. They also shut up People for the ethical Treatment of Animals (PeTA), which had erroneously claimed that designers were dropping fur like a hot potato.
It wasn't just new designers who were responsible for a revolution in fur fashions. A thoroughly logical, why-hasn't-it-happened-before-now plan went into effect offering designers and manufacturers a professional venue to present their collections to their best advantage. Organized by the Fur Information Council of America (FICA), the first Fur Fashion Week presented the annual designer collection premieres together under one roof, at Parson's School of Design. Compared to press weeks past, when most of the collections debuted in manufacturers' showrooms, this was a treat for fashion editors and -- more importantly -- garnered more respect for fur fashions from those editors, who responded in kind.
All of this together resulted in increased coverage (see story on '95 In Review: Media) and fur finally taking its rightful place in the world of fashion as its ultimate luxury.
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