Ok, I admit it. I have modelled fur. No one wants to confess, but I have learnt from it and launched fashion models against fur. When I did my first fur shoot in Tokyo I had never seen a fur coat before - there wasn't much of a calling for them growing up Staffordshire! And, I have to admit, I thought the coats were beautiful, so soft and warm. When, I was told that they cost 35,000 dollars each, I just couldn't believe it. It would be a lie to tell you that I didn't feel pretty excited to be changing from my Gap t shirt and jeans into wearing tens of thousands of dollars worth of clothing.
The stylist and photographer were repeatedly telling me how 'elegant' and 'rich' I looked, I guess that was the mood that they wanted to convey in the pictures. The one thing that bothered me was the musky smell that came from the coats all day. It reminded me of the smell of my boxer dog Fred when he was wet. Still, we ploughed through the dozens of coats, and the strong smell of hairspray soon overpowered the whiff.
I never thought about the implications of modelling fur, which makes me feel awful now. However, that soon changed the day I got hired as a model by a top French fur brand….
The company had booked me for their photo campaign in Paris and I was pretty excited to get the job as I was told that they were one of the top luxury clothing brands in the world. Part of the agreement was that I was to accompany them to their suppliers so that I could try on all the styles and we could choose the new seasons range. It was an unusual request but after modelling for a while, I was used to strange requests and so agreed. I took it as a compliment that they wanted me to be so involved in their collection. I had no idea what I was getting myself into…
'SKIN DEALERS'
On a drizzly grey morning I arrived at the address that I had been given. It was an old concrete unit that looked pretty shabby, not quite what I had been expecting. Inside I was met by the French team who weren't the friendliest bunch as they had bad jetlag and were smoking franticly while shouting into their mobile phones. We waited in the reception that was filled with extravagant shrines and awards hung in golden frames before being moved into the director's office. I was immediately faced by an enormous polar bear that had been skinned literally head to toe and pinned to the wall. The animal was proudly displayed behind the manager's large desk, and was clearly the focal point of the room. It was such a shocking site that I just stopped and gasped wide eyed. The others all saw my face and wrongly interpreted my stunned expression as a sign of being impressed. 'This was a gift from Harry Winter, you know, the largest skin dealer in the world, when we signed to supply him,' the manager said excitedly to me through silver teeth whilst in his grubby hand he clutched at his cigar. The others shook their heads and laughed quietly with pride at the mention of their boss. I couldn't help but feel a bit queasy at the term 'skin dealer' - I thought it must be a bad joke? What was I doing with these people? I didn't realise that the firm that I was booked with was a fur company, I had just thought they were a regular clothing brand.
The team then walked us past some scary looking security guards through to the rest of their 'collection'. The first thing that hit me was the smell - the same dog smell from that first shoot in Tokyo. The huge room had no windows to protect the 'garments' and was lit by just spotlights which added to the dramatic effect. It was also as cold as a refrigerator and out of my mouth came steam. Every inch of space was covered by rails and rails of furs. I looked up to the ceiling to look away from the sight to regain my composure and was horrified to see literally hundreds of dead animals hanging from their tails with their eyes staring down at me. I just wanted to leave the room and get back on the plane, but my feet were stuck to the floor. The French people moved towards me and put me into a coat. It felt different this time, not soft and cosy, but spiky and wrong. I felt disgusted with myself. The French client and the supplier discussed their purchasing plan, they wanted to order hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of coats that day. They excitedly looked around at the rails greedily grabbing at coats and whole animals and putting them into a shopping trolley, like a disturbing version of the UK TV show 'Supermarket Sweep'. They called, 'You must show us a baby goat fur, it is going to be huge next season', and 'Oh my goodness, how amazing, did you really knit a chinchilla?' I went over to the sowing machines where some disgruntled looking machinists were running through some 'skins'. There were large notice boards filled with reference pictures of different animals with furs stapled onto them. I saw pictures of live chinchilla, foxes, seals, even dogs and cats, some alive in cages and some dead.
'LIKE A DISTURBING VERSION OF TV's 'SUPERMARKET SWEEP''
I knew that I had to make a decision as to whether I should stay or go. I decided that I had found myself in a rare opportunity to actually find out how the fur industry worked, away from the bright lights of photo shoots and upmarket shops. This was the reality of fur. My decision was to stay as long as my stomach could take it. Over that next three days I kept my head down and my mouth shut as I visited the main manufacturers and factories.
I was shocked by what I discovered. Unquestionably, animals are treated worse than ever as international buyers demand increased quantity and quality. It takes literally fifteen to twenty foxes to make just one coat. Animals are killed in China and Russia where they have enormous factories and then their skins are sold on a global stock market, similarly to gold or oil to 'skin dealers' like the big brands that I was working for. Then they sell down the chain to department stores and boutiques. As fur has been getting more fashionable in the last few years the price has shot up substantially, making huge profits for the big players. It is absolutely true that factories use cat and dog fur as it is so much cheaper to produce than other types such as mink and fox and it is also often softer. In a shop as a consumer you would never know if am item was cat or dog fur though as buyers always insist that the manufacturer falsely labels garments so not to put people off.
When we finished the buying, I told them that I couldn't do the shoot as I would never lend my face or time to the fur industry again. I had nightmares for months afterwards from the things that I saw and my boyfriend would often wake me up crying in my sleep. However, I know that it was worth it as if just a couple of people choose not to buy fur as a result of this story then dozens of animals will have been spared. I encourage other models to 'Say No' to fur on www.lifeofamodel.com as there is no need to further glamorise this immoral industry. We have to vote with out feet, if the demand for fur declines then so will the lucrative industry. The hope is that the nouveau rich of developing countries that are the latest targets of fur companies will not need to wrap themselves in dead animals in order to look 'elegant'.
Article by Kelly Englandkelly@lifeofamodel.com
That is why we at Lifeofamodel.com have launched FurSense - the campaign against Google fur adverts!
