1930s Fashion Slaughterhouse

[HistWardrobe]

little furry feets and faces on your fur stole

I actually adore those old fur stoles with the mink or fox faces and feet on them. They are SO bizarre and so period. I remember back in my earliest youth in the 1950's, my aunt Josie (my great-grandmother's youngest sister) playing with me and our having "duels" between "biting" mink heads.

Somewhere, I have a great 1940s picture of Aunt Josie with two of her older sisters, my Aunt Fannie and Nana my great-grandmother (Annie), all decked out in their smart looking suits and jaunty hats, all with "mink biting it's own tail" stoles, ready to go to church or downtown shopping and to luncheon. (these ladies put on a hat & gloves to go to the department store - it was an occasion in those days)

Re: hairwork, I have several Victorian hairwork pieces, mostly "palette work". Not all are mourning pieces. My favourite is an 1840s British "mother's brooch" with the hair of three children, in brown, red and blonde, with their initials on the back. You can tell it's not a mourning piece as the brooch mounting is light and dark blue enamel on gold, rather than black enamel.

A couple years ago, I took a workshop in hairwork and learned how to do palette work and to make hairwork flowers. When my 33 year old buckskin mare Katie had to be put down, I made a memorial piece from hair from her mane and tail.

 

[ArrowCollarMan]

The scarb cufflinks are awsome. At least they use the whole creature for something, better than throwing it away? What gets me is the animal rights activists that say fur is murder. Arrg, its being dead is being useful damnit! The Native Americans killed animals then used the whole body for clothes, food, tools, etc. Whats wrong with that?

 

[Marc Chevalier]

Glad you like them. Actually, they're not cufflinks -- they're shirt studs. You put them in the front of your shirt, like placket buttons.

 

[Rosie]

The scarb cufflinks are awsome. At least they use the whole creature for something, better than throwing it away? What gets me is the animal rights activists that say fur is murder. Arrg, its being dead is being useful damnit! The Native Americans killed animals then used the whole body for clothes, food, tools, etc. Whats wrong with that?

Well, I guess the argument for this would be that when Native Americans or other persons who hunt and kill animals, hunt and kill animals, they are doing it for survival. All parts of the animal are used and it is necessary for living. When a fox or mink is being killed, it is being killed solely for use of its fur. Most people don't eat mink or fox so, I think the point they are making is that it isn't right to kill an animal specifically for it's fur as opposed to killing it for survival and then as you've said, using all parts of the animal.

 

[catsmeow]

.

Here are a few:



-- stuffed birds on ladies' hats

-- Mink heads (with glass eyes), paws and tails wrapped around ladies' shoulders.

-- Alligator purses with baby alligator heads and feet on them.

-- Monkey fur coats. (No heads or hands, but they look creepy nonetheless.)



Please add your own horrors to this list ...

.

As much as I adore the fashions of old, I must admit I can't buy anything vintage that has fur on it. I just can't do it.

fftopic: Just off fashion topic, I went into a antique centre in Sydney and to my horror were authentic elephant feet as tables?(not sure). I was like 'geeze' look at that, but sickened at the same time.
I also saw a couple real Bengal tiger rugs with the heads :cry:

 

[Miss Sis]

Oh dear, I really, really hate the Monkey Fur coats and the Hair Jewellery turns my stomach, I'm afraid!

Also I can't bear to wear snakeskin (hate snakes) or alligator. Basically they skin them alive to keep the skin from drying out and that horrifys me, even though I'm not fond of alligators. I also don't like Shagreen which is fish skin. (Again, I have a bit of a problem with fish, which I know is strange but I just don't like them) and I don't like elephant feet thingees.

Bit hypocritcal as I don't mind old fur, even with heads, feet etc. and I do love feathers, even though I know many birds were killed for them. Oh dear. I just hope that doesn't happen anymore and we can wear old things without perpetuating the thought that we should still be doing it.

 

[HadleyH]

Yep. Slaughterhouse indeed.
It's when I see these things that I'm happier I'm living in the year 2007, when the frenzy has somehow lessen a little.

 

[Fatdutchman]

Elephant's feet were used as umbrella stands.

In my 1902 Sears catalog, some of the best fur coats were DOG coats! "This coat is made from Jet black, glossy curly dogskins, carefully selected, evenly matched, thoroughly deodorized, one of the handsomest and best wearing coats in our line, and the kind of dog coat we do recommend."

...Tony, I thought I was the only one who had seen "Bubba Ho Tep"!lol

"That's how clever they are...they dyed me this color!"

 

[Tony in Tarzana]

...Tony, I thought I was the only one who had seen "Bubba Ho Tep"!lol

"That's how clever they are...they dyed me this color!"

How that movie was overlooked at Oscar time I'll never know.

 

[GOK]

How that movie was overlooked at Oscar time I'll never know.

Count me in as no.3 - I love that film! lol

 

[Fleur De Guerre]

Well I'm a massive Bruce Campbell nerd and I own Bubba Ho-Tep. I want to collect the action figures too! lol

 

[GOK]

"Gimme some sugar, Baby!" lol

 

[Feraud]

fftopic: This is off topic but I too love Bubba Ho-Tep. I think there is a thread about it in the movie section.
Someone should bump it up and get some discussion going over there!

 

[jamespowers]

"Gimme some sugar, Baby!" lol

Klatu Barata Necktie.

 

[GOK]

Klatu Barata Necktie.

lol :eusa_clap lol :eusa_clap lol

 

[Story]

"Gimme some sugar, Baby!" lol

Shop smart. Shop S-mart.

I find monkey fur coats/trim to be rather disturbing, as the fur is *very* similar to human hair.

Why do I think of Montgomery Burns, whenever I see one of these?

[Massed choreographed FL song and dance routine] See my vest, see my vest,
Made from real gorilla chest,
Feel this sweater, there's no better,
Than authentic Irish setter.

See this hat, 'twas my cat,
My evening wear - vampire bat,
These white slippers are albino
African endangered rhino.

Grizzly bear underwear,
Turtles' necks, I've got my share,
Beret of poodle, on my noodle
It shall rest,

Try my red robin suit,
It comes one breast or two,
See my vest, see my vest,
See my vest.

Like my loafers? Former gophers -
It was that or skin my chauffeurs,
But a greyhound fur tuxedo
Would be best,
[/Massed choreographed FL song and dance routine]

 

[TailendCharlie]

I've got two of them my father brought back from Panama during the war, one for my mom and one one for grandma,neither one got used. They are a little freaky looking.

 

[pigeon toe]

Atomicblonde- I am actually learning how to do hair jewlery now. There is a fabulous book called "The Art of Hair Work" By Mark Campbell that is very instructive.

How interesting! How is it coming along? I imagine it must be hard work. Last year a sculpture of mine grew out of the idea of hair jewelry. Everyone in my class was grossed out by the idea of hair jewelry when I explained it to them, but I've always thought it was very interesting and beautiful.

Then again, using dead animals in an ornamental way has never bothered me. My dad lived in Ecuador for a few years in his 20's, and picked up a few shrunken monkeys and sloths and brought them back with him. They ended up becoming my favorite playthings when I was little, so obviously, none of that stuff bothers me now!

I would never buy new fur or taxidermied animals, but I don't mind collecting if they are vintage or antique.

 

[scotrace]

One of Marc's more fun contributions.

 

[dhermann1]

Very interesting. I just scanned the previous posts. I've always heard that ladies in the old days wore fur because at that time (200 years ago) practically everyone had lice and fleas. Having a fur piece on your body made the wee beasties gravitate to the fur, rather than your neck. Makes sense.
We forget that people in the past lived closer to nature. We today are insulated from the cruelty and brutality that is a natural part of nature. We don't see the process by which chickens and pigs and cattle become tidy little packages of dinner. But in the past people could sincerely love their animals, and then butcher them to meet their basic needs. This one's lucky, that one's not so lucky.
My brother shot a bear last winter, a feat of which he extremely proud. Not my idea of a fun way to take a walk in the woods. But I had some bear Stroganoff at his place recently and it was DEEElicious. So the bear was used. I can't condemn him for "harvesting" it.
Now that monkey fur . . . eeek. But how about the beavers and wild hares that get used for the fedoras we all love? The hares (which can't be farm raised, nor can beavers) are trapped in the wild. This is a cruel process. The traps used for beaver grab the animal by the leg and drag it under the water where it drowns. This is a real impediment to me buying a beaver hat, I must say.
So, that's my 2 cents on the subject.