Summer is almost here and furs.com is going to use the next few months to catch you up on the highlights from the Fall/Winter 2007 collections. Starting with the men's shows in Milan and Paris, we'll review the trends and our editor's favorites. Then we'll do the same from the women's ready-to wear collections.

The Paris men's shows delivered a connoisseurs paradise - the uber-luxurious furs, skins and fabrics reached new levels of elegance - from classic coats with fur lining to crocodile jackets to leather suits to mink sheared collars, even anoraks were lined in fur. It also seemed there wasn't a man on the runway without a crocodile computer bag or oversized handbag.

Highlights at Balenciaga included a classic blue pea coat with gold buttons and an enormous fur collar. The theme here was polar exploration in authentic gear but with a lot of style! Designer Nicolas Ghesquière's idea was sort of a deluxe retro - so an awesome looking authentic army/khaki parka was decked with a giant fur collar for added warmth and worn with a classic Russian hat with giant earflaps. Another take on a classic was a close fitting shearling coat - that beige tan shearling coat that you've seen a million times except this coat was very slim and fitted. The collection was gorgeous and showed a wearable mix of classic with the new twist being giant fur collars.

Hermes offered lots of classic coats as well, and a lot of short leather jackets, but again, in the most luxurious skins available. Hermes' collection included a trench coat in chocolate Barenia calfskin, a hooded blouson patinated baby lambskin and another in storm matte crocodile. Think of the perfect pea coat but instead done in a deep, rich black or brown leather calfskin. The buttery soft calfskin jackets - cropped and also in a trench coat were just delicious - you wanted to reach out and touch them as they went by. Even a standard black wool parka was accentuated with a giant fur collar and I imagine will sell out immediately when it hits the stores this summer.

One crazy crocodile blue leather jacket was just extra-ordinary, only confirming that the Hermès show was a recipe for excess. The clothes here were rendered in such seductive luxury that they were irresistible. Everything about the collection was subtle but at the same time showy.

Louis Vuitton did only a few standout fur items - one, a white cropped waist jacket, with a shearling collar and an alligator skinned jacket. The main standout here, were the bags - crazy, over-the-top luxurious crocodile weekend bags and over-the-shoulder computer bags.

But nothing in the collections topped Jean Paul Gaultier's show, which finished out the week of Paris collections. From a leather poncho that was also a cape to a leather suit with the calves and sleeves embossed with trompe l'oeil boots - he really went for it. But when his Lurex tracksuit came out, worn with a monkey fur shrug...well, that definitely won the prize for most over the top outfit. Every model wore fur - on their face - all had exaggerated facial hair glued to their cheeks.

A couple other great things at Gaultier were the orange (yes orange! And it was beautiful!) and brown cardigan with fur lining worn with orange suede gloves. Then there was a gray fur pelt lined with felt and thrown over a Jodhpur suit and more fuzzy, furry longhaired coats. Whether you want to explore Antarctica, wear a fur cape or dress like an urban cowboy, the Paris men's collections showed that in 2007, there is a fur, and a handbag for every type of man.

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