Late last year, Norwegian media published a video exposé of horrible, horrible abuses at one of Norway’s “pelsdyrfarmer” (farm where fur animals such as foxes and mink are raised/imprisoned). I suspected the video would be difficult to watch but I had no idea how truly awful the conditions are; I only made it about 30 seconds into the video before I had to turn it off. If you’re curious, you can see it here; please let me know if you’re able to watch the entire thing without vomiting over your keyboard.
That video was quite an education for me, as I was very ignorant about the genesis of fur clothing. Ever since seeing it, I can’t look at any piece of fur product without feeling sick and angry. And there is, sadly, a lot of opportunity to experience that queasy feeling here in Sandefjord, since a lot of people---women, mostly---wear fur. Just last week, I stood in line at Vinmonopolet (where I spend a lot of time) behind an older lady wearing a long, thick, beautiful fur coat. I had a super strong impulse to grab a bottle of akvavit, break it open, pour it on her, and light a match. Isn’t that terrible? But, honestly, after seeing those pour foxes with their legs half-chewed off and the mink with their open, festering sores, slowly going crazy in those itty, bitty cages…. Well, I just don’t understand how anyone can buy their skin, let alone wear it proudly to buy their week’s supply of wine-in-a-box. I mean, okay, it’s cold here but it ain’t that cold. I get along just fine with my cotton sweaters and man-made poly-whatever-it-is shirts and socks. And I’m from California, dude!
Okay, I do have some wool stuff, a down-insulated jacket, and a pair of leather boots and I do eat the occasional chicken, pig, and lamb, so I guess I’m not a whole lot better than Fur Coat Lady. And probably there are some vegans out there who would like to set fire to me in line at the grocery store. I feel bad about that, I do. And just to reassure them, I eat vegetarian at least two or three times a week, wool is a sustainable product, leather come from animals whose flesh I eat for dinner, and I buy only free-range eggs. See, at least I’m trying.
So imagine my delight when I read in the papers this week that the people behind Oslo Fashion Week banned fur from the catwalk for this year’s show! Awesome! According to News and Views From Norway, the ban is “an international first that has been greeted by praise within the country and criticism from the fur industry and some in the Scandinavian fashion community.” Apparently fur farmers here and abroad are complaining that they’re being unfairly maligned as greedy bastard animal torturers (my phrase, feel free to quote me), and designers from around Scandinavia are whinging about how fur has a long tradition in fashion and it’s wrong to exclude it based on some tree-hugging-animal-loving-amateur-movie-maker’s secret video of a few sad foxes.
Most offensive was the comment by Morten Sauer,* a spokesman for the Norwegian fur industry, who said Oslo Fashion Week “was simply being ‘laughed at’ in Europe. ‘In Germany, France and Italy, the catwalk is full of fur,’ Sauer told newspaper Dagsavisen. “OFW has no meaning and gets little attention.’” What a wanker.
Just a month ago, Norwegian fashion designers (and sisters) Tanaz and Sanaz Shirazi shot to fashion fame when Kate Moss was photographed wearing one of the Shirazis’ fur jackets. Upon reading this, I wanted to set fire to the newspaper but then I learned that the sisters use only fur from food animals such as rabbits, sheep, and cows. Said Tanaz, “Alt materiell brukt er av det beste av naturlig materiell som finnes. Vi bruker aldri materiell som ikke er naturlig. Det er kun kaninpels, saueskinn og lignende hvor kjøtt går til matproduksjon.” That roughly translates to, “We use the very best natural materials. We never use anything that isn’t natural. It is only rabbit fur, sheep skin, and similar products where the meat is used for food production.”
I guess that’s a step toward the responsible use of fur in fashion? It’s so much better than the fox and mink hellfarm, though, that I wish the Shirazi sisters continued success and I hope that other designers can be inspired by them. It is too bad that their notoriety was generated by that never-met-a-dead-animal-I-won’t-wear bitch Kate Moss, but if that’s what it takes for people to see that rabbit can be dinner and a jacket, I’ll accept it.
In the meantime, I will try, I will really, really try to keep my hands off the red paint the next time I see this in town:
* “Sauer” translates to “sheep” in English, which I find ironically funny. How to say “wanker” in Norwegian? Anyone?
11 comments:
what a wanker indeed...hopefully it is only a matter of time before someone at NY fashion week decides to take a stand....although I guess that would be wishful thinking.
tbh I have never liked fur. even as a kid it was kinda akin (to me) to a guy wearing a toupe. Bizarre but that is truly how I have always seen it. Eeeuuuw.
Please let me know the norwegian word (and pronunciation) for wanker because i have good use for it but am running in a circle of moms that would raise an eyebrow....not to mention my extremely impressionable sprogs! ;-)
HOpe that pic is not Janne Pauls cousins wife she has a coat the same. LOL
Seriously Michele I was on this case many many years ago and it has improved - a lot. Not the conditions obviously but the amount of animals killed for this disgusting industry. One day we can have this long talk but for now next time you are in the bottle shop in your nicest Norge tell the lady in the fur how beautiful her coat is and that it must have looked fabulous on its 'owner' - gets them everytime,.
We have foxes and mink on campus, and even though they are researching humane ways of keeping them, it makes my blood boil to see them. No animal like that should spend its life in a cage, it's heartbreaking to watch them run up and down their ramps. Why are fox and mink needed in today's world? It's useless fashion.
My neighbor has a wolf fur coat and thinks anti-fur people are silly. Yes, I do want to kill her, and also all the WANKERS (great word; nothing like that in paltry Norwegian) who want to kill the 7 wolves or whatever that we have left in this country. Fence in your sheep and damn your brats, people. Neither are endangered, to say the least.
Hey! So, just wanted to say I HAVE been reading, just haven't checked in recently. Aspen, CO has a similar fur problem. I'm kind of hoping as the older generation dies out, so will much of the fur trend. (And hoping the Kate Mosses of the world will eventually give in to the peer pressure. One can hope. It certainly does not flatter her figure.)
I think the problem is not so much the fur as the fur farming.
If someone wants to make clothes out of something that lived a free life and would probably have been killed and eaten anyway, such as a cow, reindeer etc, that seems perfectly reasonable.
The fur farms though....that is completly different. And to be honest, much like factory farmed chicken or cattle. I guess what I'm saying is that it is the conditions the animals live under, not what they are used for afterwards, and the fur industry is only a small part of the "packing animlas into far to small spaces for profit industry".
It probably doesn't help that in Norway, anti-fur has been associated with Greenpeace and Sea Shepherd. Which gives the fur industry a lot more leaway.
You may also wish to google "Steinbittskinn" for an interesting replacement.
I grew up next to a fur farm. You don't want to know the dead flesh smells that come from such a place. Fortunately it has since been closed down. I managed to release a 'silver fox' from a cage once - the farm owner was furious (I must have been 8 years old).
I like the look of fur but only wear fake myself. The real deal always reminds me of the smell of the mink farm.
If only to play Devil's Advocate...
My mother has several furs and Holy Crap, they are GORGEOUS! I know, I know, I see them and the Liberal in me thinks, "the poor animal" and then I touch it and it's amazing.
As much as we like to think we are humane in the way we treat animals for food, we aren't. The process is brutal--it's called a slaughterhouse for a reason. One of the reasons I can't eat fish (besides it's horrific taste): When they serve chicken or beef, it's not in the shape of the animal. Fish often ends up on the plate as if it jumped out of the water, into the frying pan and then rolled onto my plate. Is it staring at me?
Seriously, I'm not trying to come off as callous... (even though I fear I may be.)
Let's end on a laugh: There's an urban legend of the woman walking down the street when a person comes up to her and says, "Do you know how many animals died for your coat?" and her response is, "Do you know how many men I had to f*ck to get it?"
Hi Mel. Yeah, I wouldn't hold my breath for any change in attitude about fashion in NY, or anywhere else, I guess. They don't even care about a lot of their models, let alone the animals whose skin they use to make their clothes. Anonymous is suggesting "Steinbittskinn" as a replacement for "wanker," but I'm not feeling it. More often than not, I end up just saying, "cock," as in, "What a cock." I'm guessing, though, that's not helpful?
Hi Clare! Your friend, Janne Paul, he's the hunter, right? :-) I read recently that the fur industry is getting a big boost in sales because of rich Russian and Chinese people. Nice! What a bunch of cocks.
Hi Corinne. I'm horrified at any kind of imprisonment of animals for farming (food, fur, or otherwise). I should stop drinking milk, eating meat, eggs, and, probably, cheese. Damn! I really like those foods! Why can't farming be done responsibly and humanely? Have you read about the mega-dairy two twits are trying to set up in England? Something like 4000 cows, all living indoors all the time. Fur, milk...soon it will mean the same suffering to make it happen. Gross.
Hi Liz. A wolf coat? Seriously? What does it look like? Is it even pretty? She sounds like a...cock.
Hi Cat! Your blog is rockin' again! Sad to know Aspen is a fur town, too; I imagined it was cooler than that? I have always thought fur was old-fashioned, too, and while that might be true in the US and possibly Norway, apparently it's made a comeback among the young and wanky in other parts of the world. :-(
Hi Anonymous. Your comment is so thoughtful and well-written, I wish you had left your name. I agree 100% that the important part of the conversation is the life any animal has before its death. Sadly, even farmed fish are being packed into too small spaces now. It really is time for me to go veg.
RtN, you grew up next to a fur farm?? That's very interesting. And you liberated a fox! Good for you! Someday you must tell me the details of that story.
Hi Chris. I hear what you're saying but I just cannot agree. Diamonds are pretty, too, but once one knows of the human suffering that occurs in diamond mining, the rock becomes ugly to me. Same with fur; one look at that video and I can't appreciate the "beauty" of a fur coat. I absolutely agree that many slaughterhouses are disgusting; I read an account of a chicken processing plant that made me want to vomit. I try to eat very little meat or farmed fish. I like the joke but, really, that slut should lady up and pay for her own damn coat.
Oslo has a Fashion Week?!
I agree Michele! the fur industry is disgraceful and should be shut down. Minks and foxes are completely wild animals - I can't imagine what they feel like in cages - at least chickens, cows, pigs etc have been bred and "domesticated" by farming for thousand of years. And of course there are so many alternatives including fake furs. I realize a veggie diet is an alternative to meat consumption but I genuinely believe small farming can lead to good lives for pigs, cows, sheep chickens. Of course industrialized farming/raising is far more common and that should be changed. More and more emphasis is being placed on this..thankfully.
Post a Comment