Leading the way with the lining of both the catwalk and a range of outerwear was fashion giant Adrienne Landau with their varied collection of cuts, prints and animal homage, such as mink, beaver, fox, ostrich feather, sable and wool.  The designs themselves may have been diverse but the underlining stamp of classic tailoring was certainly a cohesive theme.

The latest winter collections saw a range of styles from Adrienne Landau‘s bold use of animal prints and vibrant injection of colour onto fox capes and Mongolian lamb trims to Aigner’s more classic looks of golden fox coats.  It also embraced the contemporary take of Julien Macdonald’s shearling jackets and Akris with dyed darker hues of broadtail coats, over to the big statements of Maison Martin Margiela with its huge hat and cape combos.

Elegance shone through in the classic lines of Alberta Ferretti, the karakul capelets of Carlos Miele and the trims and bolero’s of Carolina Herrera, along with the red hues of Cerruti, the natural and flowing contours of Marc Jacobs and the very British bowler hat and umbrella mode that accompanied the collars and scarves of long established French fashion house, Hermés.   The real glitz and glamour came from the bold feather collars of Ann Demeulemeester, the layered trims of Christian Dior and the ribbon tie scarves of Donna Karan, in the company of black and white flashes from Givenchy and the bold tones and pom-pom patterns of Giorgio Armani.  The unconventional designers such as Jean Paul Gaultier and Adrienne Landau didn’t disappoint with warrior crowns and embroidered hoods from JPG and oversized Zhivago style Pill Box hats from Westwood.

Accessorising the themes were the wool, broadtail and fox bags of Dolce & Gabbana and the distinctive check of Louis Vuitton converted to dyed black and grey fox in a satchel style with the fitch berets of Oscar de la Renta.  While Alexander Wang added a touch of class to the chic that lies under the garments with a mink bra, perfectly highlighting furs future potential in lingerie.

Fendi’s master craftsmanship of fur was yet again apparent in their assortment of pelts with broadtail, lynx and goat among many others, as trims, rings and patchwork vests highlighted their evident passion of working with the real thing.  While Chanel’s grand ice world in their fall show not only voiced its stand against global warming but brought to life another Ice Age with giant glaciers and an abundance of head to toe pelts.  Head Designer Karl Lagerfeld, who is renowned for his love of fur, decided on faux-fur for the entire collection as he felt he couldn’t compete with Fendi’s authentic repertoire and that advancements in the synthetic substitute “are so perfect, you can hardly tell fake fur from the real thing”.  The candid designer went on to add that fake was not chic, but “fake fur is”.