Fur Dominates New York Fashion Week
Vintage and faux fur coats, hats, and stoles dominated the streets during a frigid Fall/Winter 2026 New York Fashion Week, with attendees embracing the trend as both weather protection and nostalgic fashion statement. Street style focused on statement coats and accessories, with details defining entire looks when outerwear takes center stage. Rihanna experienced a wardrobe malfunction while supporting A$AP Rocky at his AWGE show.
- The Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) has announced a ban on all animal fur from the official New York Fashion Week schedule, which will take effect in September 2026. - The ban will prohibit materials from animals farmed or trapped for their pelts, such as mink, fox, chinchilla, and raccoon dog, though an exception exists for fur sourced through traditional Indigenous subsistence hunting. - This move aligns NYFW with other major fashion weeks in cities like London, Copenhagen, Berlin, and Stockholm, which have already implemented fur-free policies. - Many prominent American designers had already stopped using fur in their collections years ago, including Ralph Lauren, who went fur-free as early as 2006, and Michael Kors. - For the Fall/Winter 2026 season, some designers incorporated faux fur and shearling as alternatives. Christian Siriano showed pieces of meticulously trimmed faux fur designed to look like feathers, while LaQuan Smith used shearling sculpted to mimic Arctic fox. - Historically, fur was one of the first materials used for clothing and evolved into a symbol of wealth and social status, with specific furs like ermine once being exclusive to European royalty. - The conversation around fur alternatives is also evolving, with some critics pointing out that faux furs made from synthetics can have their own negative environmental impacts. - At A$AP Rocky's AWGE show, Rihanna wore a fur-trimmed leather jacket straight from the Fall/Winter 2026 collection presented on the runway.
