In a true promotional coup, Saga's Designer Initiative program enticed more than 20 U.S. name ready-to-wear designers to use fur last year, but can the marketing company repeat its success in '96?

Absolutely, if Saga's Steve Gold has anything to say about it. He launched a second Designer Initiative just two weeks ago, and already he's lined up about half of his target number of 20 new designers. "We're working with manufacturers and big-name designers to put them together," Gold said last week.

Can we tempt you? Pictured on this page are the front and back sides of the invitation Saga (New York) sent to ready-to-wear designers, inviting them to participate in Saga's Designer Initiative and create a fur stole. One side (left) hearkened back to the incomparable Hollywood starlet days of (from top left, clockwise) Rita Hayworth, Mamie Van Doren and Marilyn Monroe. The flip side (below) showed that the stole is alive and well today, interpreted by Byron Lars for Mohl Fur Company (top right) and Dolce & Gabanna, spring '96 (guess PeTA's poster girl Naomi Campbell would rather wear fur than pass up a chance on the runway for one of the hottest collections today).

The program works by inviting the designers to try their hands at coming up with a few designs using fur, and also recruiting fur manufacturers to donate their time and craftsmanship to create it. Saga Furs of Scandinavia donates the mink and fox skins. The resulting fur garments are shown during the premiere of each designer's fall ready-to-wear collection. Last year the program also led to a handful of the designers signing licenses to produce full collections.

This year Saga is using the program to promote two specific fur fashion trends: stoles, and fur-trimmed garments.

"We're bringing back the stole," said Gold. "People love shawls and those kinds of wraps. Since fur is so popular again, and with retro styles being so big, we think the time is right for fur stoles to return."

Certainly, timing is everything. The combined influences of ladylike fashions, a return to glamour and several threads of '40s silhouettes in last fall's fashions put elegantly draped fabric stoles onto the arms of celebs stepping out in columnar evening gowns over the holidays. The entire look was reminiscent of Hollywood's movie star heyday, making the timing perfect for the fur stole. (Designers Byron Lars, Eric Gaskins and Bradley Bayou actually anticipated the trend last season, showing dramatic versions of the stole.) And what better way to gain publicity for designer furs than to see them on the arms of actresses who have rediscovered a taste for dressing to the nines.

Last year's Saga Designer Initiative gave a remarkable boost to the image of fur garments, a boost which definitely contributed to an increase in retail fur sales this winter. In spot surveys by Fur Age, retailers cited the prevalence of furs in fashion magazines as one reason they were doing better business this year. The crop of new designers working in fur is part of what interested fashion editors in furs once again. (The first Fur Fashion Week show of designer collections served as the perfect venue to help grab editors' attention).

It also gave the industry something to brag about. Just two weeks ago FICA (the Fur Information Council of America) distributed a news release announcing that the number of fashion designers using fur in their collections has increased 150% over the past 10 years. The following is the list, compiled by FICA, of designers/companies who worked with fur in the form of either full fur collections, shearling fur or fur trim for the 1995/96 season:

Adolfo Anne Klein Adrienne Landau Alberta Ferreti Alfred Sung Andre & Lisa Bisang Annabella Anna Sui Arnold Scaasi Azzadine Alaia Bill Blass Bob Mackie Bradley Bayou Byblos Byron Lars Calvin Klein Christian Lacroix Christie Complice Cynthia Steffe Danzi D'Arcy Moses DeCarlis Dennis Basso Dolce & Gabbana Donna Karan

Ellen Tracy Emanuel Ungaro Eric Javits Escada Etienne Aigner Fendi Ferragamo Francesca Sterlacci G & G Milan Gemma Kahng Genny Gianfranco Ferre Gianni Versace Giorgio Armani Giorgio Sant'Angelo Giuliana Teso Givenchy Gucci Guy Laroche Halston Han Feng Iceberg Industria Ingrid Klahn Irma Paytler Isaac Mizrahi

James Purcell Jean Paul Avizou Jean Paul Gaultier Jeff Hamilton Jennifer George Jerry Sorbara John Galliano John Robert Miller Jon Karas Joseph Abboud Karl Lagerfeld Krikis Lanvin Louis Feraud Luchiano Onesti Liz Claiborne M. Julian Marc Jacobs Marco Gianoti Marni Mary McFadden Mary Jane Marcasiano Maximilian AltaModa Michael Lund Natori Nic Janik

Nicolas Petrou Nicole Miller Nina Ricci Norma Kamali Oscar de la Renta Pano Sereti Pierre Balmain Prada Ralph Lauren Randy Kemper Richard Tyler Rifat Ozbek Robert Danes Rodney Telford Roland Nivelais Romeo Gigli Sergio Soldano Theo Valentino Vera Wang Watson by Design Yeohlee Yves St. Laurent Zandra Rhodes Zuki

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