While most of the major fashion houses have stopped using animal fur – there are, for example, no more mink, rabbit or fox pieces at Burberry since 2018 – faux fur, made from synthetic fibers (acrylic, polyester, etc.), was featured in a variety of ways by designers in the Fall-Winter 2025-2026 ready-to-wear collections presented in London from February 20 to 24.
Fur, for example, plays a part in the desire to create silhouettes with a "rebellious aesthetic" expressed by Yasuko Furuta, founder of Tokyo-based brand Toga. Inspired by photographer William Eggleston's penchant for parading around in black suits, white shirts and nonchalantly undone bow ties, the Japanese designer developed a collection for a gently nonconformist fauna chic. Faux-fox jackets and toques were worn with cardigans stitched with crystal brooches, unbuttoned shirts, sequin-embroidered miniskirts and floaty pants. Even bags, as if rolled under the arm, were shaggy.
At American designer Conner Ives's salon at the Hôtel Savoy, where he revived dated, teasing and mannered glamour, fur was used to line diva coats and form-fitting dresses. With red lips, turbans and impeccable blow-dries, models struck poses in skin-tight sequined dresses, draped sheaths with low necklines, copies of Adrian's evening models, houndstooth jackets, Chinese-influenced outfits and zebra and leopard boots. This proved an amusing return to a faded "Old Hollywood" and '80s world, which nonetheless leaves fur in a slightly old-fashioned setting.
It's at Simone Rocha that fur appeared most unexpectedly. In the sumptuous Goldsmith's Hall, a 19th-century building with marble staircases, gilded ceilings, massive chandeliers and paintings of monarchs, the teenagers imagined this season by the Irish designer poured out in biker jackets, dresses and coats belted with chains and padlocks; rugby polo shirts; babydolls in braided satin ribbons; and Neoprene sweatshirts embroidered with crystals. Rocha explained that she wanted to start from teenage archetypes to summon a cast of characters, at an age when everyone is searching for their individuality: wise guys, bad girls, emos.
Models wore coats, scarves, shorts and tops in black faux fur, some even holding rabbit-shaped stuffed animals. In contrast with leather, Rocha said, these animals would bring a touch of naïveté. Worn over the shoulder or tied around the neck, they more resembled giant hares brought back from a hunting trip and butchered. In other words, how to incorporate fur without betraying its dual reality: both soft and macabre.
Translation of an original article published in French on lemonde.fr; the publisher may only be liable for the French version.