Black Women And Furs: Nyt Article

[Belle Du Jour]

https://www.nytimes.com/2019/01/31/style/fur-black-women-history.html

 

[SoniT]

This makes me think of my mother in law. She loves her furs.

 

[Lute]

I saw this article on the table.. but I didn't get a chance to finish it ...my mother still has her fur coat. This also made me think of my mommy too.

She only wore it and sometimes let my grandmother wear it.. If it was was for a very special event and it was very cold that evening.
Always felt wearing fur had a "purpose" protecting us from the bitter cold. For centuries that's what people did to keep out the elements.

I'm a bit torn.. when it comes to wearing fur though. I don't like excessiveness of it which I feel that the fashion industry loves to push.

 

[Everything Zen]

Interesting. This argument could be used in many aspects of black achievement like education and with the tiny house movement. I’m not sure it’s completely aimed at black people. My dad bought mom a full length mink coat almost 20 years ago.

 

[Leeda.the.Paladin]

Good part:

But to champion animal liberation, PETA has repeatedly invoked human suffering, specifically, that of marginalized communities. The plight of livestock animals has been compared to Holocaust victims; captive whales at SeaWorld have been likened to chattel slaves.

In 2005, a PETA exhibition juxtaposed a photo of a black civil rights protester being beaten at a lunch counter with images of a seal being bludgeoned. Another piece from the show, titled "Hanging," paired a graphic photo of a white mob surrounding two lynched black people, their bodies hanging from tree limbs, with the image of a cow in a slaughterhouse. In 2007, in an advertisement, the organization compared the American Kennel Club to the Ku Klux Klan.

“A chicken is a cow is a mink is a boy,” Mr. Williamson said. But PETA’s advocacy does not extend to people.

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In 2008, the organization took it a step further, and antagonized Aretha Franklin with a cruel open letter. “Music lovers may think of you as a ‘queen,’ but to animal lovers, you are a court jester,” the letter, attributed to the vice president of PETA, said. “I’m sorry, Aretha, but your furs make you look like a clown. Why not shed the old-fashioned look that adds pounds to your frame and detracts from your beautiful voice?”

 

[LaFaraona]

I have seen some very beautiful and to my taste fashionable furs. I fully intent acquiring some at some point.

 

[aminata]

I love fur, . I have no issues.

 

[SoopremeBeing]

Now I’m wondering if my Nana had one...

 

[CarefreeinChicago]

All the women in my family have them, I plan on getting one soon. Mink like my mommy’s.

 

[Cheleigh]

My older sister has furs--she's an old school vixen. And when I was a kid, I remember my aunt proudly getting her first (and only) fox fur coat. Frankly I've always felt uncomfortable about fur--generally my philosophy was that if I won't eat the animal flesh, I won't wear its skin. And it seems only in recent years have fur farmers been processing the whole animal post fur removal. I don't equate animals and humans. But I'll likely never wear, and certainly will never purchase, fur. Also not a big fan of mined diamonds, as an aside. Vintage diamonds and furs I don't feel as strongly about as something recently mined/farmed.

 

[momi]

Thanks for sharing @Belle Du Jour. There is something about seeing a woman walking in with a beautiful fur - I've always considered them to be so classy.

Even though I live in the south, I plan to add one to my wardrobe when money allows.

 

[Sheriberi]

I don't care for fur and doubt that I would ever purchase one. But I am all for joyful black women luxuriously living their best lives. If that includes fur, then: Yay, fur!

 

[MACGlossChick]

Growing up in NYC, a lot of the women I saw had them. I know the majority of my aunts did as well as my mother and grandmother. My sister and I had white fur muffs when we were younger. Unfortunately my grandmother died early in my lifetime, so I was unable to request that any of her furs be kept aside for me, not even a stole.

My mother still has one of her furs and refuses to let me have it. She went and had it cut from full to knee length so she can wear it in SC on the rare occasion when it's cold. She did let me wear it on my last birthday though. My dad wants to get a fur soon.

I definitely want to purchase some peices. I have some fox earmuffs, and I'd like to get a stole and muff before I get a coat.

 

[Ganjababy]

Interesting. This argument could be used in many aspects of black achievement like education and with the tiny house movement. I’m not sure it’s completely aimed at black people. My dad bought mom a full length mink coat almost 20 years ago.

Tiny house movement and black people? Never heard of that

 

[Ganjababy]

I remember one of my moms bestie wearing her mink on a night out with her hubby. In Jamaica of all places. The hottest place I have ever been.

 

[PretteePlease]

I have a 3/4 mink a white fox jacket some rabbit a mink stole and a red fox jacket I'm always waiting for the temp to drop so i can wear one. Anything under 59 and I'm busting it out although the 49 and under feels the best. I want something that drags on the ground and a black john snow king of the north fur

 

[qchelle]

Cool article! My grandma had a long mink coat, that my mom now has. My grandma bought me a white fox jacket when I was a teenager. My mom pays for the maintenance for both garments each year (to store them during the warm months). I haven't worn mine at all since we got it out in the fall. But my mom regularly wears her mink. She always looks very classy when wearing it.

 

[IDareT'sHair]

Purchased my 1st Full Length Ranch Mahogany Mink Coat as a B-Day Present to myself when I turned 40!

My Mother was all for it. She said: "You work everyday, you deserve it"

It's my Only Full Length Mink.

However, I do have several "Cloth Coats" long & short that have huge Fox Collars & Cuffs and a Couple Leather Jackets (with fur trim).

One has Mink Cuffs and a Mink Lining and 2 short Mink Jackets to the Hip (for Casual).

I love Fur and have no problem purchasing and wearing it!
We all look so Beautiful in Fur.

If only we (they) pretend to care for humans the way they do animals....

@Belle Du Jour Thanks for sharing. I've sent it to several of my friends.

 

[Misseyl]

Yes, I read that article in the NYT recently. Yep, probably some truth to what she was saying. All of a sudden, now that black people could afford it, you become a pariah if you own one.

 

[FemmeCreole]

I remember one of my moms bestie wearing her mink on a night out with her hubby. In Jamaica of all places. The hottest place I have ever been.

 

[Everything Zen]

Tiny house movement and black people? Never heard of that

Well it’s the same thing with black women in particular and the statistic that came out over the past few years about our education levels and being among the most educated groups in the country. Of course there were pushback articles trying to disprove it. White folks lost their ever loving minds over the difference of a couple of words I believe that we’re left out of the title meaning “one or among” the most but I digress. In general, there has been a dumbing down narrative in this country for quite a while - which I believe is due to declining numbers of white men obtaining higher education. Remember when presidential candidate Rick Santorum called President Obama a snob for pushing the notion of higher education (even though he holds several degrees himself)?

https://www.google.com/amp/s/family...re-not-the-most-educated-group-in-the-us/amp/

https://www.google.com/amp/s/m.huffpost.com/us/entry/1301854/amp

Now that a few minorities can afford some of those bloated McMansions I feel like white people who have lived in excess for generations are pushing the tiny house movement and that less is more. Which is fine and I can get with that to a certain extent but I squint a little when I look at the messenger. All the sudden we finally arrive and things aren’t vogue, degrees are a waste of money, jobs vanish and everyone is supposed to deprive themselves of things?

I bet if all black women had waist length hair, the in thing would be to have bobs. I would hope that we all joined this board for personal reasons and not to emulate Eurocentric standards.

Essentially - It’s the equivalent of the perpetually moving goal post. Which is why we need our own goals. Mine is to gather all the education and experience I want/can get in order to eventually work for myself.

 

[Chrismiss]

I have several fox vests and a black mink jacket. Over the last Xmas holiday I obliviously walked right smack dab into a PETA demonstration while wearing one of my vests. I was shopping in a shi shi poo poo mall in San Diego. Of course, name calling ensued...all I could do was shrug my shoulders and keep walking, while being kept very warm in my vest. To balance it out, I received no less than 10 compliments on the vest prior to the verbal berating. A white guy actually stopped me and asked where he could find one for his girlfriend because it was what she wanted for Xmas. We scrolled through my phone and I showed him one I had just purchased from Neiman's but it wasn't exactly like the one I had on. What can I say?