Is this the end for real fur?
时装业是否走入了零皮草时代

London Fashion Week recently became the first global fashion week to ban animal fur. Campaigners were euphoric. In the past year, fur has faced significant challenges everywhere, but still – it was quite a moment. Then, a few weeks later, Los Angeles voted to ban the manufacture and sale of fur within city limits, becoming the largest American city to do so. Has fur – fashion’s most controversial material – finally had its day?

今年的伦敦时装周成为全球首个弃用动物皮草的知名时装周。动物保护人士一片欢呼雀跃。在过去的一年里，皮草行业在全球各地都面临着巨大的挑战——但此次伦敦时装周禁用皮草仍是个大事件。几周后，美国洛杉矶市投票表决在全市范围内全面禁止制造及销售皮草，从而成为美国迄今为止最大的零皮草城市。动物皮草作为时尚界最具争议性的材料，是不是已走向消亡？

It certainly looks like it. Week after week, another luxury house is ditching it. Burberry, now helmed by Riccardo Tisci, made its stand just a day before the British Fashion Council event; Gucci, Michael Kors, Tom Ford, John Galliano, Maison Margiela, Jimmy Choo and Versace within the past two years. Stella McCartney, undisputed queen of green luxury, has of course been fur-free from the start.

情况看起来的确如此。在过去一段时间内，奢侈品牌相继弃用皮草制品。奢侈品牌巴宝莉（Burberry）新任设计总监堤西（Riccardo Tisci）在伦敦设计周开始前就响应了零皮草号召；而古驰（Gucci）、迈克•高仕（Micheal Kors）、汤姆•福特（Tom Ford）、约翰•加利亚诺（John Galliano）、马丁•马吉拉（Masison Margiela）、吉米周（Jimmy Choo）和范思哲（Versace）等国际一线时尚品牌也都先后宣布加入零皮草阵营。而斯特拉•麦卡特尼（Stella McCartney）向来是毫无争议的奢侈品界的环保先驱，其设计中从不使用任何动物皮草。

Last June, luxury online behemoth Yoox Net-a-Porter, which sells to some of fur’s biggest consumers such as China, announced it was going fur-free – citing customer feedback. “Do you think using furs today is still modern?” Gucci CEO Marco Bizzarri asked eager students at the London College of Fashion in October 2017. “I don't think so. And that’s why we’re not doing it.” For an industry that prides itself on being buzzy and on-the-ball, Bizzarri’s statement was a death knell for real fur.

去年六月，全球第一大时尚奢侈品电商巨头Yoox Net-a-Porter集团引述客户反馈并宣布跨入零皮草之列。消费者再也不能从其旗下的电商平台上购买到任何动物皮草制品，其中也包括中国等最大皮草消费国的消费者。“时至今日，你们还觉得用皮草是潮流吗”， Gucci首席执行官比扎里（Marco Bizzarri）在2017年10月伦敦时装学院的一次演讲中这样问道台下的学生。“我不这样认为。这也是为什么我们不再使用皮草了。”时尚业作为一个活力十足从不墨守成规并引以为荣的行业，比扎里的这番话不啻于给动物皮草敲响了丧钟。

About time too. From wild trapping to the horrors of a Chinese fur market, where live skinning is par for the course, nothing about fur production is easy. Films such as Klatki have uncovered the devastating lives of animals on European fur farms. “Fur is immoral, cruel and barbaric – it is an industry that capitalises on death,” says a call-to-action on McCartney’s website. As one look at the small, traumatised creatures in Klatki will demonstrate, she’s not exaggerating.

这一号召也确逢其时。从野外捕猎到中国某皮草市场活剥动物皮流水线的惨状，皮草生产的各环节都令人难安。波兰电影《牢笼》（Klatki）向我们揭示了欧洲皮草农场里动物们的生存惨剧。麦科特尼个人网站上的一份行动呼吁指出，“皮草是不道德的，残忍的，野蛮的——这是一个掠夺生命的行业。”去看看《牢笼》这部影片里那些被虐待的、弱小的动物们就会知道麦卡特尼并没有夸大其词。

Why is fashion moving so fast to distance itself from fur now? “Increasingly, consumers expect brands to demonstrate social responsibility, sustainability and animal welfare; the fur-free movement is part of that zeitgeist,” says Wendy Higgins, media director for Humane Society International. “People don't want to see fur; it’s come to symbolise a selfishness they don’t want to endorse. That realisation by designers like Gucci has created a domino effect.”

为何时尚界如此迅速地推动“零皮草”？国际人道协会（Humane Society International）的媒体总监希金斯（Wendy Higgins）表示，“消费者对于品牌具有社会责任感、关注可持续性且关心动物福祉的期待越来越高。人们不想看到动物皮草——这象征着自私，而他们无法认同。古驰等品牌设计师的觉醒引发了多米诺骨牌效应。”

None of this comes as a surprise to Kym Canter, ex-creative director of ultra-glam label J Mendel, self-confessed former fur addict and now director of her own ethical faux-fur company, House of Fluff. “I switched teams,” she laughs. “Some of my favourite coats were so glamorous, and then, one day I thought, this is insane, I’m an animal lover and I’m wearing garments that don’t match my morals.”

这一切对坎特（Kym Canter）来说不足为奇，她是奢侈品牌J Mendel（现已申请破产）的前创意总监。她从前公开承认自己热爱皮草，但如今她是自创了人造皮草品牌"绒毛屋"（House of Fluff）。“我的立场变了，”她笑着说，“从前我特别喜欢一些华丽无比的外套。但有天我突然认识到，这简直是疯了，我本就是动物爱好者，而我穿着跟我的道德标准不符的东西。”

But finding stylish alternatives proved tricky so, fresh from a luxury background, Canter decided to make her own: “House of Fluff is about faking something you’d respond to as rock ‘n’ roll.” Her coats – slinky leopard print trenches, soft ‘Mongolian lamb’ boleros, ‘Teddy’ bombers – are impossibly luxurious, about as far away from scratchy high street shagpiles as you can get. Think Anita Pallenberg in her heyday – without the cruelty.

然而，寻找时尚的替代品可不容易。离开奢侈品行业不久的坎特决定自己动手：“House of Fluff的人造皮草是会让你看到为之亢奋的那种。”品牌设计的外套比如紧身豹纹风衣、质地柔软的”蒙古羔羊“短外套、”泰迪“飞行员夹克等简直是难以想象的极致奢华，比那些粗糙的高街长毛绒皮草品质高出不少。设计风格甚至几乎可媲美巅峰时期的经典时尚缪斯帕里博格（Anita Pallenberg）的穿着，只不过不再有"残忍"二字。

Ethical luxury
符合道德的奢华

For Hannah Weiland, founder of British-based technicolour faux-fur label Shrimps, the standard of new faux is the key to its longevity. “When I launched in 2013, there weren’t any high-quality options,” she remembers. “As soon as people felt our faux, they were impressed. And that makes the argument for real fur much harder.” Plus, this is fashion made to last. “These are coats you’re going to wear for multiple seasons, even pass down,” says Canter. “They’re luxe products.”

韦兰（Hannah Weiland）是总部位于英国的彩色人造皮草品牌Shrimps的创始人。她认为，新式人造皮草的高标准是其经久耐用的关键所在。

Indeed they are. All those newly fur-free luxury houses are embracing faux with a passion, elevating both design standards and materials. MM6 Maison Margiela's oversized shaggy coat in a rich teal is a keeper; as is McCartney’s autumn/winter 2018 textured beige wrap. And no one is going to forget Cara Delevingne marching down the runway in Burberry’s faux fur rainbow cape, outgoing creative director Christopher Bailey’s swansong on February’s autumn/winter catwalk.

事实的确如此。反皮草阵营中的时尚奢侈品牌纷纷转向人造皮草，并不断提升人造皮草的设计与面料标准。譬如， Maison Margiela Paris的副线品牌 MM6出品的超大尺寸的富茶色粗毛外套品质上乘，而麦卡特尼（McCartney）2018秋冬新款的米色外套也超有质感。巴宝莉（Burberry）18年2月秋冬秀场上英国模特迪瓦伊（Cara Delevingne）穿着的那件走秀款披风也同样令人印象深刻。这款彩虹色人造皮草披风是巴宝莉前品牌设计总监贝利（Christopher Bailey）的告别之作。

But campaigners can’t rest on their laurels just yet. For all its animal-friendly credentials, most faux is made from modacrylic, a derivative of oil and synthetics. This means that, like other petroleum-based products, it pollutes during production, releases microfibres on washing and won’t biodegrade. The pro-fur lobby, which is big and powerful, take great joy in going on about this, citing fur as the only genuinely sustainable option.

然而，目前仍不乏不满足于现状的反对者。尽管人造皮草对动物不再残忍，但大部分的人造皮草由变性腈纶（modacrylic）制成，这是一种从化石燃料中提取的物质合成的化学品。这也意味着，它同其他石油制品一样，在制造过程中会产生污染。而人造皮草在清洗时会释放出微纤维且无法生物降解。那些支持动物皮草的势力对此则喜闻乐见，他们称动物皮草才是唯一真正可持续的选择。

Meanwhile, consumers keen to do the right thing are left at a loss: go faux for the animals – or go real for the planet? No contest, says Higgins. “All materials we use in fashion have some kind of eco-footprint – including fur,” she points out. “And the impact of fur production can't be overstated, from CO2 emissions and manure runoff on fur farms, to the cocktail of chemicals used in fur dressing and dyeing. Fur is far from earth-friendly.”

与此同时，消费者会陷入迷茫，在”保护动物选择人造皮草“与”保护地球选择动物皮草“这两个选项面前，不知究竟选哪个。希金斯说则介绍说，”没什么好争辩的。时尚业很多材料的使用都有生态足迹——皮草也不例外。动物皮草生产对生态的影响也不容小觑，如皮草动物农场的二氧化碳排放及肥料，毛皮加工处理及染色过程中消耗的各种化学物质等等。动物皮草也不环保。“

“Don’t get distracted,” adds Canter. “There are loads of studies showing that real fur is actually much more harmful to the environment than faux. The fur industry has a billion dollars to spend on advertising. They’re smart, they’re worried and they have a lot of people crafting [its] message. So far, it’s been extremely effective.”

坎特补充道：”消费者根本没必要纠结。有大量研究表明动物皮草比人造皮草对环境的危害更大。动物皮草行业投入广告费超过10亿美元。这群人相当聪明，他们担忧自身前景，大量炮制信息并传播。目前为止，效果非常显著。“

At the same time, today’s best faux-fur designers are making real efforts to help the planet. Canter’s brand works with organic and sustainable materials wherever possible, and makes everything locally; its edgy flagship in New York’s Bowery is built from upcycled materials. Reusable fabric garment bags are made from by a women’s cooperative in El Salvador. Ditto Stella McCartney, whose offices and factories consider all aspects of environmental impact.

当今许多优秀的设计师正在努力使人造皮草减少对环境的影响。坎特创立的人造皮草品牌旗下的产品就尽可能地使用有机和可持续的材料，并且几乎都是本地生产，以减少污染。House of Fluff在美国纽约鲍厄里（Bowery）的旗舰店风格前卫，建筑材料全部是再生材料。店内使用的购物袋也是可重复使用的编织袋，出品于中美洲国家萨尔瓦多的一家妇女合作社。而麦卡特尼品牌也是如此，从办公室到工厂，是家彻头彻尾的环保主义公司，各方各面都考虑到环境的影响。

For those still twitchy about faux’s eco-credentials, however, options are emerging. For autumn/winter 2018, sustainable Brit pioneers Vin & Omi finished their show with a big, bouncy coat made from the combed-out raw fleeces of 10 pet llamas who are still gambolling about their smallholdings today. “We wanted to include raw fleece as it has an incredible softness,” says OmI. “And we wanted the audience to appreciate that high-end fashion can be eco and wearable.”

那些对人造皮草的环保性存疑的消费者目前也有一些其他的选择。在2018年秋冬秀场上，英国可持续发展先锋品牌Vin & Omi展示的压轴作品是一件用十头宠物羊驼梳下的原毛制成的宽松而柔软的大衣。这些羊驼现在还在他们生活的小农场里活蹦乱跳呢！设计师奥米（Omi）说：”我们想在面料里添加原毛成分，这样质感会超级柔软。同时我们希望观众能意识到，高端时尚品可以既环保又好穿。“

And there’s biotech, increasingly being used to find lab-friendly alternatives to animals in food, fashion and beyond, says Mina Jugovic at the Centre for Sustainable Fashion. She cites as examples the living-moss collars by London College of Fashion student Tara Baoth Mooney – “Her moss pelts promote the concept of ‘symbiotic biomimicry” ­– and Ashleigh Chambers, who is currently working on a biodegradable faux fur with a new cellulose fibre created from rose bushes.

来自可持续发展时尚中心（Centre for Sustainable fashion）的朱戈维奇（Mina Jugovic）指出，生物技术越来越多地被用在食品、时尚和其他领域，以寻找动物的替代品。她介绍道伦敦时装学院有一名叫穆尼（Tara Baoth Mooney）的学生研发了一种"活苔藓领结"——”这种苔藓材料推动了'共生仿生学'概念在时尚界的应用“。而另一名叫钱伯斯（Ashleigh Chambers）的同学目前在研制一种用蔷薇灌木制成新型纤维以生产一种可生物降解的人工皮草。

Meanwhile, designer Ingvar Helgason at BioFur’s lab-grown pelts are created from stem-cells while, at the Faux Fur Institute, founded by Arnaud Brunois in retort to claims by the International Fur Federation, researchers are developing a fibre made from 40 per cent plant-based ingredients, to reduce faux’s dependency on petroleum-based product, as well as safe methods to recycle faux fur and ways to turn synthetics into energy.

来自生物皮草（BioFur）公司的设计师赫尔加森（Ingvar Helgason）也在做此类的尝试，他利用实验室里的干细胞制造皮草。人造皮草协会（Faux Fur Institute）的创办者布吕努瓦（Arnaud Brunois）公然反对国际皮草协会（International Fur Federation）提出的观点。他们实验室的研究员正在研发一种包含超过40%植物成分的人造皮草原料，从而减少人造纤维对石油产品的依赖。同时，他们也在研发一种更为安全的人造皮草回收方法，从而把人工合成材料转化成能源。

In New York, Canter is working with chemists to create an “even more Earth-friendly faux fur”. “At the level of the threads and the textile,” she says, eagerly. “We want to have that ready to come to market in a year. We’re super committed to this. Faux can be made from plant-friendly, animal-friendly ingredients – and we’re working on it.”

身在纽约的坎特正联合一批化学家共同研发一种“更加环保的人造皮草”。她恳切地说道，“这种材料在织线和面料上都会更环保。现在我们正全力以赴，争取让它一年内面世。我们努力的方向是让人造皮草成分是既是动物友好型也是生态友好型。”