Fur So Chic It’s Unreal

Fakeness is a status symbol in itself, a wink among confident taste makers. In step with fashion’s love of contradiction, the faux du jour isn’t meant to look real, really—aping Chewbacca more than Russian sable.

Karl Lagerfeld went whole hog (or shall I say teddy bear) on the Chanel runways last fall, with head-to-toe looks of shaggy polar bear-esque pile. Alber Elbaz followed suit with his brilliant Lanvin for H&M collaboration, which flew out of stores faster than you could say “mink” (though not before Tory Burch snatched up a specimen).

Although going faux has always been cruelty-free, now more than ever, it’s about making a splash. “It feels like an art movement even,” said Patricia Mears, a curator at the Fashion Institute of Technology.