That's an understatement. She's an influential L.A. jeweler to the stars, whose designs adorn a roster of Hollywood beauties -- especially on big nights like the Emmys and the Oscars. Whatu also loves the feel and fashion of fur. In the past year alone she's amassed a collection of 50 furs, so many that for her last birthday, her boyfriend built her own private cold storage vault in her home. But if you think that vault is full of black mink coats, forget it. Whatu's taste runs more to exotic furs, colors, styles and patterns. This is not a typical 1950s, girly fur fan. Ann is the ultimate fur fashion aficionado for the 21st century: she's young, stylish, independent, opinionated, and not only does she make her own money, she influences how other people spend theirs.

Whatu's first love is diamonds. She's a jewelry designer and a GIA certified graduate gemologist. Together with a partner, her small jewelry company (which she asked not be named here for security reasons) dresses some very big names. Jennifer Lopez, Courteney Cox, Sarah Michelle Gellar, Faith Hill, Sela Ward, Kobe Bryant (Whatu designed his seven-carat engagement ring) and Halle Berry are just a few of them.

"We jeweled Jennifer Lopez for the American Music Awards and for her press junket for her movie The Wedding Planner," Whatu told furs.com. "Jen's cool; she buys the stuff that she wears! We also jeweled her for the Grammys last year. Remember 'The Dress'? Did you happen to notice her hands? I've been called to go to Jennifer's house at 2 a.m. to jewel her for a 4 a.m. East Coast interview! It's nuts! For the Emmy Awards last September, we jeweled both winners for lead actress, in a drama Sela Ward and in a comedy Patricia Heaton. Bulgari and Harry Winston were pissed! It's a lot of drama to get your stuff on these chicks, let me tell you!"

If Whatu sounds a little bit California, a lot younger than her 35 years, you get the idea. I didn't have the pleasure of visiting her store for this interview, but one of her myriad press clippings gave me the picture: "...when you walk in the door, you don't hear Chopin, you hear alternative rock. The staff isn't dressed in tasteful pantsuits; they're dressed in jeans. And though they might have on diamond pave rings and necklaces, they're just as likely to be wearing diamond-studded leather dog collars and platinum belly rings -- both big sellers here."

Known as rebel jewelers for their edgy diamond and platinum designs that are also meticulously crafted, they also set jewelry trends. Now big at Whatu's store are black 18kt gold with diamonds, chocolate diamonds and lots of pave diamonds. Here, bigger is not necessarily better.

This funky style reflects Whatu's own personal way of dressing. With blue streaks in her thick, black hair, pouty lips and clothing choices that blend splashes of bright color with Harem-rich patterns, Whatu is a world away from the 1980s power-suited working girl with her badge-of-success traditional mink coat. "I don't have one classic fur, and I don't want one," she says.

But she has just about every other kind of fur ever made. She's always loved furs and, until last year, owned six. Then last year, she began collecting. She says she doesn't know what triggered her spree, but she has 50 furs plus accessories and doesn't plan to stop there.

Obviously she can't remember each and every fur her in collection, but the following come to mind: a twilight colored sheared muskrat by Zuki (she calls it PHAT), lots of patterned minks, a full-length ermine, a black cross mink, a fitch with a black sable collar, a broadtail striped with mink, fox in black, green and snowtop, "an AMAZING Azurene mink tunic that I wear with nothing under so the whole side of my body shows," a black sheared mink with chinchilla collar and cuffs, a Fendi reversible mink, a black stretch leather with strips of silver fox fanning from the knee to the floor, and a degrade mink with a fox tuxedo.

"I have a two-tone mink bolero that I wear with jeans, plus lynx and mink vests that I got in Hong Kong. These are summer-in-L.A. furs," says Whatu. "Last Christmas I wanted to make a great bedspread for my man, and I met a local furrier that I clicked with. He made me a phenomenal white mink with a big white fox collar and angel sleeves of white fox, probably my dressiest coat.

"Now I need a big, fabulous sable. But I am not a rich girl. I just get great deals. You don't have to be wealthy to own 50 furs."

So exactly how does she buy them?

Some are previously owned garments, which helps a lot. She's honed her used-fur-buying skills on the Internet. She has purchased furs on business trips, especially to Hong Kong. But she also has an advantage the rest of us don't. This is where her two worlds (jewelry and fur) collide successfully. She frequently makes jewelry for clients and trades it for their fur coats.

Other than offering this convenience, one would imagine that working in L.A. with celebrities and being a major fur fanatic might be mutually exclusive. Let's face it, California does not have weather that's conducive to wearing fur, and it wasn't long ago that this part of the U.S. was considered animal rights territory. Image-sensitive celebs were skittish about wearing fur in the 1990s and only recently have re-embraced fur's glamour image.

Ann Whatu doesn't care about either potential obstacle. She wears fur every day that it dips below 70 and on warmer days will still wear vests and tunics.

"September through March, L.A. has cool weather in the evenings that's perfect for furs," she says. "And I'm either really dressed in long gowns or I'm wearing jeans. Fur works with both!"

As for stereotypical L.A. nutjob animal activists, Whatu says she's "never had one weird issue, and I wear my furs every day. I think it's a big attitude thing, though, like getting mugged. If you don't look like a victim, nobody will bother you."

Of course, Whatu is not short on attitude. This is the woman who one day had every five- to six-carat diamond in the country in her bra to bring them to an unnamed celebrity's business manager, so he could choose one for an important piece of jewelry.

Some actresses Whatu knows tell her they like furs but wouldn't wear them in public. "I don't force my views on anyone," she says, "but people are so irrational about it. Especially here, where the attitude is, 'Screw your mother but don't wear fur.' I mean, animals are not dying any happier to be a cheeseburger."

"I think die-hard fur girls will always have furs. Fur will go in and out of fashion, but there will always be women who love their diamonds and furs, and that's it," says Whatu, dismissing any argument.