A few days ago a friend and I had an interesting conversation…. With the much cooler temperature of late, we got to talking about the eventual arrival of Old Man Winter. Somehow the conversation went from shoveling driveways buried underneath 3 feet of snow (Hello, Canadian winter!) to snowboarding and eventually fur coats. F has been thinking about getting one while I’m not exactly a fan — textile technology has improved so much that faux fur no longer looks tacky and obviously fake.

But then I suddenly remembered that I have bought fur in the past.

In high school I held a part time job at Brown’s, a shoe store in Canada that also sells coats, bags, etc., where day in and out I would lust after shoes and winter coats. I remember giving in to buying a knee-length coat from Mackage with a detachable hood lined with fur. I loved that jacket to bits until the zipper ripped a year later (@#!).

At the time, I was totally ignorant of how furs were sourced. Wait. Actually, I don’t even remember giving it much thought; I just wanted that darn coat. Six years, a half dozen videos exposing fur farms and a wonderful doggy later and the thought of fur as material for accessories, coats, etc. breaks my heart. Yes, I do think it’s the softest thing on earth — it screams luxury and high fashion. But it’s not for me.

When I see fur, all I can seem to think of are clips and stills of the videos that have forever laid their imprints on my mind. Now, don’t get me wrong — I’m not trying to get all ‘better than thou’ to those who do like fur. To each their own, right? And besides, I’m a meat-eater so, really, who am I to say anything? It is just that for me, fur is something I can live without.

This obviously is nowhere near as easy as saying love it or leave it to blue lipstick a couple of posts back, but what do you think? Would you wear fur yourself?