February 28, 2000 -- With a blizzard of references to styles gone by on the ready-to-wear runways for fall 2000, a lot of journalists have been asking, "But what's new?" We wonder if there will ever be another New Look, another evolution in design, reinvention of dress. After all, how many different ways can you make a skirt? Or for that matter, a fur coat?

Like the rest of the fashion world, furs are dependent on technological developments to inspire designers toward a fresh approach. As always, the mink and fox pelt marketing company Saga Furs of Scandinavia is at the forefront of pelt research and development, including pelt-working techniques and treatments.

And if you really want a sneak preview into a future trend, possibly fall 2001, check out Saga's latest: a breathtaking spectrum of fresh color dyes for fox, whether in solid colors or literal rainbow of hues in one garment.

While sapphire blue and magenta and fire engine red were popular dyed colors for fox at the Fall 2000 ready-to-wear shows in New York (you'll see them in the stores in about five months), these new sherbet-shaded fox tones, called Fantasy Fox, are ahead of the fashion curve for now. We might see them pop up in collections later this spring, or they might be embraced a year from now. But they're certainly too beautiful to be ignored.

Chinese consumers and furriers were treated to their worldwide premiere last fall. Saga enlisted a group of Italian designers to interpret their colors into coats and take them on tour throughout China and Hong Kong.

Sales of fox fur have been declining in China over a period of time. Since China is one of the world's top fur-wearing countries and the world's top fur garment-producing country, Saga set out to reverse the trend by reinventing this luxury fabric. And, these new Fantasy Fox colors are especially suited to the Asian color palette.

Well-received consumer fashion shows throughout China and Hong Kong were designed to create demand for the new colors, and already they have been successful. According to Nora Tse, Saga's Hong Kong representative, "Right now we are busy helping fur producers meet the public demand."

First China, next the world. Saga is ready and anxious to have everyone seeing rainbows. If you want Fantasy Fox, tell your furrier.