Taboo Topics by Fashion First Aid Podcast Tuesdays at 10AM PT

Honest Kim and Annie the Psychic Sidekick, with special guest Cassandra Kelly, discuss fur? To wear or not to wear; what is your opinion?  They will announce the ‘DoucheBomb of the Week” winner and give their weekly psychic prediction. Tune in at 10:00 am PST. #podcast   #fur

Read Honest Kim’s latest article: “One Vegetarian in Support of Wearing Fur”: http://honestkim.com/664/one-vegetarian-in-support-of-wearing-fur/

Podcast Summary:

I fully support hypocrisy, that way I’m never wrong. But upon wearing a vintage fur coat into a ski lodge (after attending a fur-themed wedding) I was a surprised to receive so much stink eye from people eating burgers and chili. I don’t get it. The coat was long dead with some (probably dead) woman’s initials in it, so toasty warm, and absolutely beautiful. Have we been programmed to ditch reason and common sense when it comes to fur? This vegetarian thinks maybe it is time to rethink fur.

Eating Animals vs. Wearing Animals

Unless you are Lady Gaga, you realize the difference between what (some) people (and animals) eat for nourishment and what is left over. And whether you are on the “God-Gave-Us-Dominion-Over-All-The-Animals-On-Earth†team or the “We-Are-Stewards-Of-The-Earth†side, you have to logically agree that what is left over should be used: skin (leather), organs (medicine), and bone.

My aprés-wedding, lodge-visiting, fur-wearing accomplice had on a vintage family sable coat. It was the most beautiful fur I had ever seen. I thought sable was sand, not an animal, so had to look it up.

Since owls and raptors are the only ones eating sable for nourishment and excreting the fur as non-nutritious by-product, I wonder if humans can work out a deal with the aviary union representatives to (humanely) take the pelt and leave the meat for the owls and raptors. Circle of Life 2.0?

Vegetarian’s conclusion: I’m OK wearing the by-products of animals that were consumed for nourishment.

Beauty vs. The Beast

Are meat eaters against fur basing their choice on beauty as to which animals are acceptable to keep and kill: furry, cuddly animals should live and ruminants and weird-looking birds get to be eaten? How would Dove feel about this: what about the animal’s inner beauty? Hypocrisy 101.

Frankly, it is not acceptable to keep any animal, cuddly or cuddy, in filthy, overcrowded cages or pens. It seems like it would be bad for business if the “product†was getting sick and damaged, as well as a disgusting place (and vicinity) for humans to live and work. Aren’t there any free-range, organic fur farms where the little sables get to run around, capturing and eating free-range organic mice and local non-sulfated berries, and then peacefully dying in their sleep?

Vegetarian’s conclusion: If organic, free-range farms are OK for meat-yielding animals, then organic, free-range fur farms should be OK, too. But, I don’t think any exist. (Please prove me wrong.)

Old vs. New

Stored correctly, furs and leathers generally outlive their original purchaser. That leaves tons of fur passed down through generations and in second hand stores. What is more honorable or practical than wearing this? It is warm, beautiful, and already existing. It is not creating any additional demand for new fur.

Thousands of younger and liberal-er bequeathees have vintage fur pieces stored in closets and attics, scared to wear them in public. Many of these pieces are falling apart because they are not stored correctly. What good is this doing anyone? Wear them, sell them, or store them correctly. And let’s inform those who intentionally damage fur that they are hypocritical like those who bomb abortion clinics.

Vegetarian’s conclusion: If you got it, rock it! Honor the animal, and your grandmother, by wearing vintage fur and keeping warm or by giving it to someone who will, decreasing the need for new fur.

We are all going to die. Frankly, I hope my own death will be able to nourish or benefit others. Please don’t take this as permission to make leggings out of my skin when I’m dead, and know that I’m not going to make a jacket out of Schooner after he’s gone, however practical it may be. But next time you see me wearing vintage fur, admire the beauty, know that I’m warm, and may it empower you to make your own conclusions about fur and reduce the stink eye.