New York City Fur Report

[Worker 11811]

All's I can say is "Fur is alive and well in New York City!"

 

We took the train into NYC last Sunday. We got to Penn Station at about 7:00 PM. The weather was chilly, about 45-50 deg. but mostly clear. We only had to go a few blocks to the hotel so we decided to walk it.

 

Within two blocks, there were a couple of stores selling leather and fur items in the windows. Mostly hats and scarves but there were a few leather and fur coats plus a fur or two. I wouldn't shop at one of these storefronts but I saw this as a good omen. If a cheezy fly-by-night shop sells fur, that HAS to be a good sign!

 

We met up with our native guide and had dinner. Afterward we went to the Beekman Hotel for cocktails so we could see the Manhattan view at night.

(The Top of the Rock is more famous but the Beekman has a better view.)

 

http://www.thebeekmanhotel.com/Dining/

 

The elevator door opened up and we stepped out into the room and my chin just about hit the floor! There was a woman wearing a full length crystal fox!

 

Take a look at the picture in the link above. The black and white one on the right. See that woman in the picture, standing by the bar? Give her a crystal fox and that's EXACTLY what it looked like!

 

I'm already thinking, "I LOVE NEW YORK!"

 

During our travels in the three nights we stayed there, I must have seen a dozen people wearing memorable fur coats!

 

I saw two minks in Times Square. Saw several furs walking down 5th Av.

We went to the top of the Empire State Building and there was a woman on the observation deck with a whiskey colored mink.

 

The whole time we were there, the temperature never went below 50 deg in the day time but people were STILL wearing fur! There were plenty of fur hats, accessories and coats with fur trims. There was a lot of "fish fur" but I would estimate that at least half the fur items I saw were real.

 

If you stand in Times Square and look closely enough, I'd bet you could see somebody wearing a fur coat within the hour!

 

The whole time, never did a single person make any negative comments or even a gesture. 99% of the people just walked on by as if they see this sort of thing every day. It was just a normal thing.

 

Just the fur watching alone made it worth the trip!

 

We did a little fur shopping too.

 

All the department stores have fur departments. Macy's. Saks. They've all got at least a FEW furs! Macy's has a nice fur department. They have two full length white minks on display in the window. Saks has a full length sable on sale for a mere $25,000.

 

It wasn't until the last day, just hours before we were scheduled to leave when we went to the Fur District but we had a VERY good time! Just in the span of time between 10:00 AM and Noon, we hit 6 or 8 shops! My wife tried on one or two coats in each place. That was a lot of fun just by itself!

 

In one shop, the salesman put a lynx jacket on my wife's shoulders and she fell in love with it right away! We almost bought it right there! We held back though.

 

A little while later, we were in another shop and she mentioned the lynx coat she saw earlier. The guy says, in his heavy accent, "You like cat? You come in back of warehouse. I show you cat"

 

We went in back and he opened up a giant cardboard shipping box just jammed FULL of lynx pelts! It was about 2 feet wide and 1-1/2 feet deep and almost 4 feet long! The label on the outside said "92.4 kilograms." That's over 200 pounds of nothing but PURE FUR! There were EASILY 200 pelts in that box! I thought I was going to pee my pants!

 

We couldn't get a coat from him because I just didn't have the money for that kind of fur but I've got his business card! If I ever run into some "mad cash" I'm giving this guy a call! No doubt!

 

Now, this isn't the end of my fur story but I need to go to bed. I'll have to finish later. Rest assured! This story has a good ending!

 

The bottom line is this: If you're a fur lover but you haven't been to New York, at least ONCE, you haven't seen fur! Everybody REALLY needs to just get up and GO to NYC.

 

If you don't you're missing out!

[JGalanos]

Thanks fur the report!

 

What surprised me about furs on the streets of NYC was the vast variety of colors and styles. I must have seen at least half a dozen different types of mink ... And many of the coats were a far cry from the classic mink coat. Turnback cuffs were prevalent. Many of the coats had the pelts worked into beautiful patterns. I saw at least a dozen HUGE cape collars that could have served as a hood. I saw one lady in midtown in a golden colored mink with a (reverse) triangular collar on the back side that extended ~2 feet down her back. Lots of incredibly styled furs that you don't see very often on the streets of the Midwest.

[Worker 11811]

More on fur shopping:

 

We visited almost all the shops at street level in the Fur District. We at least stopped and window shopped every one but we passed up a few because they didn't seem to have the styles we liked from the window's view. A couple of them looked like they only had really trendy stuff.

 

So, finally, we found the Fur Building on 7th Ave.

We pretty much took the elevator up to the top and worked our way down. We visited a few shops and saw some really nice furs and we learned a lot from them. Just about all of these people were very willing to explain anything you want to know about.

 

When we got down to the 5th floor we found Hennessey Furs and that's where we found it...

 

My wife tried on two or three different coats, including a full length coat made of sable paws and one sheared beaver. The sable paw was cute but we wanted something more classically designed. Maybe if we were looking for a novelty, it would be good.

 

Mr. Hennessy, himself came over and told the salon mistress, Tatiana, to bring out a coat from the back. A minute later, she came back with a full length dyed Espresso long-haired beaver coat. It has a matching black fox tuxedo front.

 

We gave it a good look, Mr. Hennessy gave us the price and went out for a bite to eat. About an hour later we came back and pulled the trigger.

 

So we're all set with a real nice fur coat for my wife's anniversary present!

 

The original length was 56" (70" sweep) so we had them shorten it to 48". The excess fur from the bottom will be made into a matching headband.

They set the hooks and lapel button for correct height.

Will have a custom monogram sewn in.

Then it will be fluffed and packed and shipped out!

 

As we were signing the paperwork and everything he told us that furs shipped directly out of state aren't subject to New York taxes so we only paid the bottom line price! And, with the fur covered by our homeowner's insurance policy we don't even have to pay insurance on shipping!

 

They said the coat will be here in about a week!

Can't wait!

[White Fox]

Great to hear that Worker. I am certain that your wife will really enjoy it!

[Guest]

you are one lucky man worker11811! but your wife is one lucky lady! so you both enjoy her fur!

[Worker 11811]

When I was a kid, all good husbands were "supposed" to buy two luxury items for their wives:

 

1) A diamond ring.

2) A fur coat.

 

I had the diamond covered from the get-go. I gave her my grandmother's diamond ring for her engagement/wedding bands. My wife works for a museum so she's the type to appreciate a vintage diamond ring. She's also got some Bear jewelery with diamonds in it. So, diamonds, we got!

 

Now I've got the fur coat!

It took me almost two years to save up the money but I finally did it!

 

It feels really good to buy my wife a fur coat, not just in the "fur way", but because I finally feel successful enough to do it.

 

So, I woke up this morning, went downstairs and looked out the window.

There was about an inch of snow on the ground! I hollered to my wife, "Looks like FUR WEATHER is here!" She answers back, "It's supposed to be in the 30's (Fahrenheit) all week and they say it will be in the low-teens by the weekend!"

 

That's right about the time our coat is supposed to arrive.

With a little luck we'll be able to wear our new coat outside on the day we get it!

[Guest]

Wow, congratulations! Isn't that the best feeling, buying that first fur coat for your wife? May there be even more in your future!