After Fall 2010’s onslaught of fuzzy purses, I hoped against hope that fur bags would be a single-season trend and that when cold weather rolled around again, we would have forgotten all about them. Unfortunately, the advent of the first Fall 2011 pre-orders has made my hopes look like nothing more than pipe dreams. The fur bags have returned.
I don’t have any particular gripe with the look of fur, although I prefer to keep my own fur purchases faux or vintage. In fact, I’m very much looking forward to scouring vintage stores for a fur coat of my own for winter. But I’ve said it once and I’ll say it again: The innate texture of fur and innate structure of handbags do not go together. At all. Like the Lanvin Fur Trousse Shoulder Bag that you see at right, when the two combine, all that results is a big lump.
I’ve held off writing on this bag for a few days in hopes that it would eventually start to tickle my fancy, but it just isn’t cutting the proverbial mustard. (Who came up with that saying, anyway? Has anyone, in this history of humanity, actually cut mustard? It’s a liquid.) Instead of being on of the smart and epically chic bags that we all expect from Lanvin, this bag is rather shapeless and nondescript. That’s the problem with fur – for a large-form piece like a coat, the density and texture work. For something compact and structured, they still don’t, no matter how much the fashion industry would like to convince me otherwise. I’d appreciate it if they could stop trying to make fur bags happen. Buy through Neiman Marcus for $2900.
