You don’t see fur adverts much these days (or at least I haven’t come across many) but basically fur advertising hasn’t changed much since this type of ad (above) from the 1960s. Why she’s holding a lit cigarette lighter that close to her flammable fur coat I have no idea…
Anyway, by now you probably know my feelings about vintage fur (conflicted), but I think it’s interesting to see how fur advertising changed over the 20th century. There were always adverts of beautifully dressed ladies looking glamorous in their fur coats (I particuarly love that 1930s one below), but there used to be a lot more realism about fur and where it came from.
There are a lot of elements in these ads which you wouldn’t see today: pictures of the animals the fur comes from, pictures of fur trappers, lots of photos of full pelts with the heads attached and even a special offer where you receive a free leopard pelt when you just order a brochure, astonishing! I guess attitudes were very different then, and people were a lot less sheltered from the reality of where fur came from. This shows in the popularity of wearing a whole fox draped around your neck which to me just isn’t very appealing.
Plus there’s the rather strange ad for a coat which makes you look like Santa. I wonder how popular that one was? I was also quite surprised to see the variety of different furs available, it wasn’t just exotic animals which were prized for their fur, people also had furs made from hamster, dogs and domestic cats. Yuk!
What do you think of these ads?
Lanpher Furs, North Star Brand. Lanpher, Skinner & Co., St. Paul, Minn. Season 1906-7
“Skinner” good name for a furriers I guess, 1906
1910 advert for C. A . Herpich & Sons, Germany
Full pelt fur collars from Kastner & Öhler, Graz, Austria. 1900/1901
Advert for “Fourrures André Brunswick” c.1930
Brochure for Buffalo skin children’s robes, 1908
The T Eaton Company, 1905/1906
A flappers fur coat from 1921
Look like Santa for Christmas 1903!
Advert for P. Rückmar & Co, Zurich – Furriers. I’m not sure on the date of this one but it was painted by ERNEST MONTAUT 1879-1909 so it’s way earlier than I would have guessed!
C.G. Gunther and Sons, 1910
Order a catalogue and get a free Chinese Leopard Skin! 1906
We trap and kill these cuddly animals so you can wear them. Lovely 🙂 1877
A decoration of the shop-front of Messrs F. Katzer`s on the occasion of the death of the Empress of Austria-Hungary (1898?)
German fur advert from 1910
A striking lady in a fur hat from 1910
Advertising postcard of a Furrier in Ried im Innkreis, from around 1900.
Albrecht’s Fur Facts & Fashion 1912-13, Saint Paul, Minnesota, 1912
Harvey Nichols fur from 1921
Image source and copyright: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, This image (or other media file) is in the public domain because its copyright has expired. 9, This work is in the public domain in the United States because it was published (or registered with the U.S. Copyright Office) before January 1, 1923. 18, This UK artistic work, of which the author is unknown and cannot be ascertained by reasonable enquiry, is in the public domain. 20, Some Rights Reserved