Fur Age

Change the way you look at fur garments, starting right now. Or at least get ready to set your sights askew just a bit, because Michael Kors is designing in fur again, and he's not taking any prisoners with his strong ideas about modern minimalism. He designed collections under license agreements with Birger Christensen for about three years in the late-'80s, but his modern, '90s vision is quite different. Kors has cleared out dated, '80s-mentality sensibilities about what can be done with fur pelts, and he's started fresh. To traditional furriers, his ideas might seem a bit odd. This stripped-down, bare-bones, clean-lined simplicity might appear downright strict and severe.

From his Fall '96 collection for Pologeorgis Furs, New York, I've already seen a meltingly soft, bare-edged curly shearling pullover sweater and belted cardigan, a no-holds-barred sexy black broadtail pants suit, a wardrobe-building long A-line skirt, and even a brown broadtail pullover tunic that could function as an ultra-chic sweatshirt. They do take a little getting used to, but once your eye adjusts to the purity of line, they make many other furs look dated. What's more, the way Kors has engineered them to fit into modern lifestyles is uncannily obvious, once you believe that women are willing to pay more-than-designer ready-to-wear (rtw) prices for a fur sweater.

Q: Why did you stop creating fur collections, and what made you decide to relaunch your collection now?

A: I consider myself very pragmatic and very plugged into my customer. I do a lot of trunk shows and a lot of personal appearances, and I always tell people that my customer is really my influence. When we did fur the first time around, it was something I had always wanted to do. Then I started to see that my customer was starting to lose interest. It was not that she was not wearing fur anymore, but she was not as turned on to buying new coats at the time. It also happened at a time when the whole fashion industry was on a roller coaster ride [regarding animal rights].

We continued to do shearling after we stopped our fur collection; we produced it ourselves. The shearling business has always been very, very nice for us.

In the last year or two, I have seen a younger woman buying more expensive clothes. I think there's also a return to luxury in rtw, and my customer is telling me that she is indeed looking for something in fur Ñ something different, though, from what she already owns. We've also had two tremendously cold winters across the country. Between this renewed interest in luxurious things, cold weather and a younger customer coming into the designer market, it says to me that the time is right for a fur collection.

Q: What you have to say about younger customers buying more expensive clothes recently is very interesting. Who will be the customer for your fur collection?

A: I think there is a customer who wants a more sportswear attitude today -- in everything. Look at this year compared to 10 years ago, 1996 versus 1986: in 1986, the designer rtw business was strictly about a suit. Today it might be about a remarkable cashmere sweater and a pair of pants; it could be an amazing blouse and a skirt. There is a return to sportswear, but it's very luxurious sportswear. It could be a sweater that's priced over $1,000 retail. I think that the luxurious sportswear attitude is what she's looking for today in shearling or in fur.

Q: What exactly do you mean by sportswear -- sporty outerwear or separates, or is it about silhouette?

A: Some of the pieces are quite casual in their shape, but they're elevated. It could be a little zip-front cardigan, a pullover, or a pair of pants for that matter. I don't think it's about your mother's heavy, clunky old fur coat. I also think there's a weight issue in clothing today. Women don't want heavy clothes. They aren't comfortable; they don't pack easily. It's the same thing with shearling and fur. These are definitely not the kinds of furs where you say, 'I remember my mother had something like that.'

Q: So you think there's a customer out there for a broadtail lamb skirt, for example?

A: Absolutely. Today there is a customer who wants to be really turned on and seduced. It's not always 'Oh, I'll wear that every day.' Instead it's, 'oh that's remarkable. I don't have something like that.' I think that's a key issue today -- with rtw, with fur, with shoes, with everything. She owns a lot, and she's still wearing it. I think unless you give people a reason to buy, there is no reason.

Q: What other items will you include in your fur collection?

A: We're working with a curly, very thin shearling, which I love because it's soft and drapey. There's nothing heavy and Marlboro Mannish about it. They're all reversible. We'll be doing that in coats and separates, such as tunics -- a lot of my customers go skiing, so they're looking for clothes they can wear on or off the slopes -- tops, little cardigans, things like that. We're working with broadtail full-tilt, in everything from outerwear to separates. I like the fact that it's a texture without being too obvious. I think luxury today is a little bit more understated. Again, it's not 1986, so it's not about Dynasty returning. Dynasty will not come back. People have been there and done that.

All of the shapes are very clean, very simple. It's what I'm known for in rtw. For my customer, that translates into everything, her home, the shoes that she wears, so why shouldn't it translate into the fur and shearling pieces she owns?

We're also doing trim on double-faced coats and on cashmere sweaters, which I think are great, because they really are sportswear pieces. You can throw them on over a pair of jeans if you want or with a pair of leather pants and look fully dressed.

We are doing some pieces with nutria linings. We're not doing any old-fashioned storm coats. Again, I think it's a different generation, a different eye. It doesn't mean necessarily that the woman who buys these things has to be 30, but today I think the woman of 50 thinks like 30, so why should she think like 70? These are all nutria linings in nylon. I love the lightness of them, but they're warm. There are amazing nylons out of Italy now that have nothing to do with a cheap nylon raincoat. They almost feel like taffetas but perform like nylon.

Q: What about color?

A: None. There is none in my rtw this season. We don't do a lot of color in clothing. I always try to think in terms of what is new, yet at the same time what can be worn for quite a while. Neutral colors -- whether its camel and gray in rtw or all the browns blacks in fur and leather and shearling -- are the kind of colors that I think people really base a wardrobe on. You might want to buy some colored clothes or furs if they were very inexpensive and throwaway, but we're really talking to a customer who wants to wear something for quite a while. This is not about that one-wear, which was very '80s.

Q: What kind of lifestyle does a fur pullover fit into?

A: Casual. It's a whole casual lifestyle. There are more and more career women who don't have to wear a suit every day. They're not dressed. We had whole parts of the country in the '80s where people wore suits strictly because everyone said the power suit was in style. But ultimately she really didn't need to, didn't want to. Everyone wants to wear a sweater and a pair of jeans.

So how does the designer customer separate herself from the average woman in a sweater in jeans? On a cold day, she's in a fur pullover and in an amazing pair of cashmere pants. And we're not talking about a customer who worries that the sweater doesn't have a zipper in the back, because she doesn't have a big hairdo to worry about messing up. She's got her hair pulled into a ponytail or she has short hair. She throws something on that's casual and comfortable but still looks elevated. I think that's the key issue here. Because I really don't think there are tremendous differences today in how people dress as far as what styles they wear. I mean, America lives in leggings: but the designer customer is wearing cashmere leggings; the bridge customer is wearing merino leggings, and the better customer is wearing cotton/lycra leggings. And everyone wants an easy, relaxed pullover; one is in cotton, one is in wool, one is in cashmere, and one might be in broadtail.

Q: So when you talk about a return to luxury, it's all about a relaxed luxury.

A: Yes. It's not formal; it's not old-fashioned. I think there are too many clothes today that hearken back to another time. Today is today, and we can't pretend it's 1977 or 1967 or 1957. Life today is fast, busy and increasingly casual. A good designer responds to that. A lot of people say women don't like clothes anymore. Well quite frankly, I think a lot of clothes out there are just not appealing and a lot of women say, 'I don't want to look like that.' So I think you have to combine the idea of enticement and practicality -- and comfort is a key issue.

Q: A couple of the ways to translate that attitude into furs are unfinished edges and less construction. What other ways do you use?

A: Yes, less interfacing, lighter weight, no heavy padding, not a lot of structure, softness, and yet somehow there must be a way women can still feel neat without feeling constricted and restricted. The way that clothes are made has changed so much in the last 10 years. Everything has Lycra in it today; you can buy a beautiful wool suit with Lycra, put the jacket on and it feels like you have on a t-shirt. Why shouldn't that translate into shearling and fur?

Look at an old shearling coat: you could barely stand up, it weighed so much. Now it's got cut edges, it's reversible, and it's made out of skins that at one time were probably considered only for gloves, they're that light. People want something that's going to keep them warm without feeling like Nanook of the North. It's the same thing with clothing. We sell cashmere coats very well, but we don't sell bulky heavy melton coats anymore; that's from another time. No one wants to put something on and feel weighed down.

Q: Do you think that marketing this fur collection will be a challenge, since it is so different from most other furs hanging on the racks of traditional fur salons and even major department store salons?

A: In the past there was that old-fashioned idea of, this was the eveningwear department, this was the fur department, this was the sportswear department, and this was the coat department. Today I think there's a lot of crossover, and women just want what's terrific-looking. So I think a lot of specialty stores will be working with us. In upscale department stores, where there is a separate department for fur, the collection would hang separately from the rtw.

Q: But these don't look like anything else in many of the fur departments I've seen.

A: That's the whole idea.

Q: So obviously you're going to be marketing to a different customer than the traditional fur customer. How do you reach her?

A: First off, the press helps tremendously. During some of my rtw trunk shows, I see women will literally just be walking around the store. I'll ask, 'What are you looking for?' And they'll say, 'Nothing in particular.' I'll say, 'Well, do you want dressy clothes, day clothes?' She'll respond, 'I don't know. Show me what you think is fabulous. What's different? What don't I have in my closet?'

Within an outerwear or a fur department, part of the problem has been that everything is the same. She walks in and says, 'Well that's a nice coat, but I have one, and I'm still wearing it, and I'm not going to stop wearing it.' So I think that the stores are well aware of the fact that they have a customer who's bored. I have to rely on the stores also to get the message across.

In some stores, the merchandise could be housed dually, splitting the buy between the fur or outerwear department and our rtw. Because there might be a customer who wouldn't even think to walk into the fur or outerwear portion, and she perhaps might be interested in it. We find it's the same thing when we do evening gowns. We're really known as a sportswear house, but designers who do sportswear -- whether it's me or Donna Karan or Calvin Klein -- we all do evening clothes. Yet women sometimes walk into a store looking for a special occasion dress and don't even know to look in the sportswear area; they go right to the eveningwear department.

But I think we're finding less and less of that. She knows that the rules have all broken. You can wear the most amazing coat with jeans; you can wear a t-shirt with beaded pants. Sharon Stone at the Oscars sort of sums it up. It's all about breaking the rules.

Q: I guess I have to ask you the obligatory animal rights question. I'm sure you saw in the New York Post on Monday, Nicole Miller was attacked by PETA again. These activists have no intention of going away. Is this an issue for you at all?

A: I've spoken to them. For me personally, I'm a believer in choice, and that goes with everything in life. My customer is the determining factor here. If my customer overall says to me, 'This is not something I'm not interested in, not something I care to wear,' then I'll respond to that. I would hope that some of the energies that the anti-fur people are expending should be put into making sure that there are proper facilities as far as trapping and all of that. Because it needs to be supervised properly; that's no different from the poultry industry or the cattle industry. We need to have someone supervising them and watching them.

But again, my customer will determine that. The same thing with apparel. If she tells me that she is just absolutely not interested, does not want to wear very short skirts anymore, well then I'm not going to make them. But if I find that she is just thrilled with the short skirts, we're going to make them. And, I think today more than ever, women are very vocal with their opinions. And it's my customer I'm concerned with -- not the general populace, but the woman who buys my clothes. She determines what I do.

Q: Not some phone call or letter from PETA.

A: No, it's not about pressure one way or another. I don't say 'Do fur because it's a political statement of Hah! Hah! Hah!' and I don't say, 'Don't do fur because it's politically correct.' I say that we're in a business that hopefully caters to the consumer and her wants, wishes, desires and needs, and she'll determine it. I think she's wearing it -- I know she's wearing it. I see her in fur, and I see that she's in old coats, and I think that she wants something else and is looking for something else. That's how I work as a designer. I respond to what I think my customer is interested in, is looking for. To me, that's the only intelligent way to work today.

I also think it's very disconcerting to me that a woman should be forced one way or another to make a decision about what she chooses to wear. I don't think that's how America was set up. I think everyone's entitled to think whatever they'd like and do whatever they'd like and wear whatever they'd like. Unless it's illegal, and that's another discussion altogether.

I think women are very up-front. We're not living in a time when you can make proclamations of fashion and say, 'This is what you must wear!' I think that women today say, 'Well fine, what are you proposing?' and then they look at it and say, 'Yes, that'll fly,' or 'That won't fly.' So I have no fear that she'll let me know whether or not it's terrific.