FURS

Animal right-to-lifers will bypass this page, possibly for good reason. But most men and women still think there’s nothing more luxurious, more sensuous, more (let’s face it) conspicuously rich-looking than an elegant fur coat.

In certain social circles, the perfect set of pelts can still announce your arrival, establish your station and even make your introductions without a spoken word. Thus the fur industry continues to flourish.

This fall, even the dressiest, most precious furs have taken a ready-to-wear turn, carved exactly like some of the season’s newsiest dresses.

Tent-style coats, for example, swing wide from shoulders to hemlines, stopping just above or just below the knee. Dresses beneath the coats often echo exactly the same shape.

The amazing pyramid-shape cape on this page, by Geoffrey Beene for Goldin-Feldman, is made of horizontally worked chinchilla. Yves Saint Laurent’s sportier version of the same tent shape is in spotted lynx.

Carolina Herrera knows a thing or two about all-weather coats. Her reversible number, for Revillon furs, is water-repellent fabric on one side, natural Russian sable on the other.

And Calvin Klein’s wild mink tunic for Alixandre Furs, also shown here, is all-purpose in another way. Klein says this particular design is so flexible that it can be worn with sportswear to the most casual places or with evening wear to formal events. The man in the photo on this page wears an otter coat with fisher collar by Jerry Sorbara furs.

The pin-stripe coatdress by Spitalnick, pictured here, is dressed up with a fox cowl collar and matching cuffs. Also pictured, a Lakara rabbit toque and muff, part of the expanding fur accessories scene for fall. These are by Silva-Cone.

And, for the ultimate in evening fur, James Galanos adorns a black broadtail bolero jacket with hand-embroidered roses, the perfect California cover-up.