FAKE FUR: STOP THE TRADE

Today, I poured through my huge box file of old newspaper clippings on fashion and came across a really fascinating article written by Belinda Edwards for the TELEGRAPH: "Fake fur: stop the trade", Saturday January 3 1998.

Belinda is pleading to save us from the latest craze. She writes that the High Streets were jammed-packed with an array of fake animal pelts ranging from cosy sheepskin to chinchilla and zebra.

One time fake fur was thought to be the badge of bad taste, conjuring up images of drag queens or blousy Bet Lynch types, who shopped in Kensington Market, hung fluffy dice in cars and went out with real-life Del Boys.

She explains if you want a pure dose of fake fur walk into Fenwick of Bond Street. On the ground floor the department store has recreated a mini version of the Paris shop La Maison de la Fausse Fourrure. The walls are lined in fake-fur prints and that there is virtually no object unworthy of being be-furred. From slippers to footstools, from picture frames to handbags, from dog leads to dog coats- "you name it, they've got it".

The bestselling item was the hot-water bottle. A spokesman for Fenwick commented, "that one lady came in and bought four of our fake fur shopping trolleys... the more camp, the more they seem to just walk out of the door".

O course, that's the secret with Classic Christmas clichés. They have to be very silly, over the top gimmicks- things we can't buy for oneself, but willing to buy and give to everyone else.

Kate Reardon, Tatler's fashion editor back in 1998 commented: "There cannot be a household in the country that doesn't have a fake-fur hot-water bottle, kettle warmer or fridge slip cover. But the irony is that, all those people who hate hunting are buying stuff that is non-biodegradable and will actually destroy the environment. Surely our obsession with it will peak soon and frankly, any fad, even fuzzy felt, that replaces it will be a relief."

Of course, Mary Killen, the agony aunt for the Spectator back in 1998, say their love of fake fur will never die. She recalls the time she stayed in the Devon home of Char Pilcher, a contributing fashion editor to Vogue, and found a fake bearskin bedspread in her room "...unlike a real bear, it was completely free of bumps."

20 years on and the fake fur craze hasn't gone away. Today, it's found online, on the High Street, and even in your favourite charity shop. I'm so in love with my designer John Rocha fake-fur coat. So chic!

Oh dear, I dread to think how Belinda Edwards feels today after writing that stinging article 20 years ago. Fake-fur is as strong now as it was back then. Ouch!!!