Word: fur
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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...Lane, reading signs is common sense. Thicker than normal fur on wild animals is a dead giveaway that cold weather is coming. Rings around the moon mean rain or snow is on the way soon. "Nature has a way of taking care of her own," says Lane. "If you pay attention, then you know what you need...
...fashion industry, never a business that espouses moderation, has re-embraced fur with a vengeance. Fur, always a cyclical business, had its best years in the mid-'80s but in the early '90s was hit hard by a combination of warm winters, a recession, a luxury tax and a vehement and well-orchestrated anti-fur movement, all of which drove home the message that fur was a distasteful and excessive luxury. But as with most things in fashion, the trend faded. In 1985, 45 designers were using fur. This year that figure is closer to 200. Giorgio Armani, Badgley Mischka...
Mind you, the fashionistas are not draping their pages with the type of fur your granny wore. Designers have decided that since luxury is this season's watchword, fur is a staple for everything from evening wear to accessories. "I look at fur today as I look at a fabric," says Valentino. "There is no difference. I use tiny borders of mink as a ruffle in my wool suitings." From trim, fur has migrated to sportswear. Versace has a mink-lined biker boot, Prada has a mink vest, Fendi and others have fur skirts, Michael Kors has silver...
...whether this flurry of furriness will revive what has been a dwindling industry. In 1988 there were more than 1,000 mink farms in the U.S. Last year there were about half that number. While some of this is consolidation, Evans Inc., the retailer considered a bellwether of the fur industry, has lost money in seven of the past 10 years. And its share price, which hit $13 in 1987, was still less than a dollar last month...
...wear leather sleeves; they are their own dining rooms. From the shore I watch a few of them do the backstroke while cracking clams open on their chests. They wrap themselves in leaves so as not to drift away while sleeping. First Russians, then Americans killed them for their fur, and they became almost extinct by the early 1900s. Declared endangered, they now number more than 2,000 along California's central coast. Earle tells me she once saw an otter opening clams with a Coke bottle...