Let us say you desire a real vintage Persian Lamb Fur MCM evening jacket to wear for the upcoming fall and winter holiday season and beyond. You begin to look online and there are a lot of jackets listed and you are not very experienced buying fur. It can be quite overwhelming. You come across an ad such as this one in my shop on Etsy and read the description. It looks like it would fit you. Here is what the listing says:
Vintage 1960s Dayton’s Black Persian Lamb Short Fur Evening Coat w/ Brown Mink Collar. Size Medium. Measures: 22″ Pit to Pit. 25.5″ Length, 17″ Across shoulders. Sleeves can be worn 2 ways: with cuffs rolled up as shown in photos for bracelet length or cuffs down for wrist length. Has pockets which are beautifully made, w/ felt on inside & black velvet edging. Side seams have 5″ slits for styling. Closures: 2 silk covered fur hooks w/ rings, Wide beautifully shaped light brown mink collar in Autumn Haze color mink (light brown) which was very popular in the early 60s. Lined in heavy satin embossed with black on black maple leaves and printed with smaller maple leaves in white on diagonal lines. The lining is very pretty. It is monogrammed w/ original owners initials of HMK & has original Silk Dayton’s Store Label in the neckline. These initials can be covered by a tailor if you prefer. They sew a piece of black silk over former owners initials and replace them with your own. This lovely coat is in excellent like new condition and very clean. No flaws. It may never have been worn. It was kept in cold storage. The style is a classic short boxy jacket. It has a charming & feminine vintage look but is also contemporary. It looks good over skirts, pants & dresses and can be styled in both casual and dressy looks making it very practical and versatile.
Dayton’s was an elegant Minneapolis Department Store founded in 1902 – it was in its fashion heyday when this coat came out! Daytons enjoyed over 100 yrs as the Midwest’s Premier Department Store and eventually morphed into what is now the Target Corporation.
This darling jacket is in exceptionally good NOS condition – it looks brand new! NOS means New Old Stock which means not previously worn. Sometimes NOS has age related issues just because of how old it is, but most of the time is means the item is in brand new condition just from a vintage time period. This coat has no flaws that I could find.
Note: These jackets came out at the same time as Elsa Schiaparelli’s real Persian Lamb Fur Jackets of very similar design. See ad photo which I have have included for styling inspiration and historical reference. They were a variation on a theme and were extremely popular in Europe during the 1950s and 60s. Personally I love the styling of the jackets during that period. Both the fur and the similarly styled handmade soutache ribbon jackets were high end fashion of this time period in cities like Paris, London, Milan, and New York City. It is easy to see why looking at the ensembles on the two models in the photograph! I’d like to see this look come back. I think it is timelessly attractive.
You could easily recreate their outfits as shown or wear the jacket with slim black pants or a pencil skirt and black heels today. Either way the look would be charming. I do have a Black Soutache Ribbon Embroidered Jacket with a Beautiful Black Mink Collar in this type of style in the shop today as well if you are interested in looking at it too. ”
The listing you found looks like what you want, the seller sounds knowledgeable but you want to be sure the jacket is real fur not faux fur. You want to be sure you are looking at the real thing so I have written a guideline below to help you learn more about identifying true Persian Lamb Fur.
You might be interested in knowing that there was a lot of faux Persian Lamb Fur manufactured during this mid century period and made into copies of these jackets. At first glance, without experience, it is hard to tell the difference between the real and the imitation Persian Lamb Fur if you are not experienced looking at it. There are several things to look for:
1) The real fur is leather hide on the back side. If you can lift up the lining and look at the wrong side of the fur itself you can check to find out if the back of the fur is a real leather hide. The Faux Persian Lamb has a black woven cloth backing. You can also look at the fur under a strong light and part the curls with your fingers, If you see a black woven fabric between the curls it is definitely faux fur.
Lifting up the lining to examine the back side does not always work because most of these coats have the lining sewn down over the edge of the fur making it difficult to get inside and under the fur to look at the backing. There are other tell tale signs. For example, the curl pattern on a faux fur will appear to be too uniform, indicating it to be machine-made, while real fur has a much more random pattern of curls.
2) Sometimes the faux fur is labeled as such which is a good thing, but many times it is not because it was advantageous not to label the fur as imitation so that consumers would think it was the real thing.
Incidentally vintage Faux Persian Lamb fur has to be cleaned via the furrier method in the same way as real fur! So maintenance is equally costly for both types – real and faux. So you don’t save any money there!
3) Faux Persian Lamb Fur is considerably lighter in weight than real Persian Lamb Fur – thus, if you had two coats of the same or similar style and size the faux coat would weigh considerably less than the real one. Real Persian Lamb Fur coats weigh more because they are leather hides underneath the soft fur that you see and feel. That, of course, is the animal’s skin. The faux coats are synthetic fabric through and through therefore weigh a lot less!
4) Real Persian Lamb Fur Coats were initially costlier and should still be much more expensive than the faux version. This is as it should be because there is a huge difference in the character, composition and quality of the two items and they are completely different products. There is a lot of misconception out there so you should educate yourself or find a trustworthy knowledgeable person to help you shop so you find the real thing. A knowledgable and responsible seller will know the difference and guide you correctly as well.
Unfortunately there are a lot of vintage sellers out in the world selling fur who do not know enough about fur and either knowingly or unwittingly misidentify it. Faux Persian Lamb is notorious for being passed off as real. So you have to be very careful to be sure you are getting the real thing. The curl pattern on a faux fur will appear to be too regular and uniform, indicating it to be machine-made, while real fur has a more random curl pattern . It sometimes has patterns in the fur that look like cowlicks in human hair. These are characteristics of the real fur that help identify it, like slubs in raw silk. They are not considered flaws – they add to the beauty of the real thing.
Beware if a seller claims a used Persian Lamb garment has no flaws at all. This is unlikely if a vintage coat has been worn. Only if it is new old stock is it likely to be perfect. If it has been used it will usually show a bit of edge wear at the back of the neck, the cuffs, the pocket edges, the front edges and around fasteners. The wear will appear to be ivory or grayish hide showing where the fur hairs have worn off. There will usually be small areas where curls have split from the hide, showing light colored skin in little spots. You can repair these by dabbing the hide with black leather dye.
5) Be Warned when shopping for a vintage Persian Lamb Coat or Jacket. Many vintage sellers actually do not know the difference between the real and the faux version of Persian Lamb fur. I have seen many of these coats incorrectly identified in vintage stores and online shops by sellers who truly did not know the difference and did not know what they really had. Sometimes real Persian Lamb jackets and coats are underpriced as a result of this and vice versa, sometimes faux Persian Lamb coats are over priced, as a result. Often the sellers do not realize they are misidentifying the real and faux furs, they are just naive as to the differences and have not taken the time to learn enough about the products they are selling to identify them correctly. This is a particularly prevalent problem in the world of marketing pre-owned fur garments. The best way to avoid such an experience is to buy from a reputable seller who knows his or her fur products and stands behind their accurate identification of them. And, of course, to learn enough about fur yourself so you can accurately identify it.
Personally, I have invested years into learning about fur and I also work with a professional 3rd generation Swiss furrier who formerly owned the fur salons in both the Nordstroms Flagship Store and I. Magnin & Co. Store in Seattle, WA.
I also know other online sellers who are highly reputable and responsible and identify their fur products correctly. If I do not carry something you are looking for I will be happy to refer you to another reliable seller I know who may have it.
You should also understand that sellers are constantly moving merchandise in and out and creating new listings to post online is a lot of work, therefore, if you are shopping online, they are likely to have several vintage furs in stock that have not yet been photographed and listed. So please ask! If you don’t see what you want in an online shop but wonder if I or another seller have a particular fur item you are looking for. We just might have that rare and unusual special item safely tucked away in cold fur storage.
Sometimes you will see a coat with tiny nubby loops or curls and the seller has labeled it and priced it as “Persian Lamb.” It is not fur, not even faux fur. It is a wool fabric called “boucle ” and often called ” Poodle Cloth” that was very popular in the 1950s. It is often confused with Persian Lamb.
Faux Persian Lamb coats are sometimes accented with rabbit fur collars, while the real one are usually made with mink collars, but this is not always the case. Some upper level department stores used actual real mink collars on faux Persian Lamb Coats. This can further confuse inexperienced buyers.
The names “Safari,” “Sportowne,” “Brogana” and “Miracurl” are a few of the widely-known names of manufacturers and designers of faux fur garments. There were many Faux Persian Lamb jackets produced with the label, “A Winter Product.” These products often have labels that state, “Clean by Furrier Method Only, no Steam,” which is true; this is how to treat a faux Persian Lamb product. But it does not make it a genuine Persian Lamb. You will never find the label “Clean by furrier Method Only, no Steam,” in a real fur ! Yet, many people misunderstand this label and think the words “Furrier Method” means it’s real, while it actually means that the faux fur should be treated as if it were real.
Following are some of the more common labels of faux Persian Lamb manufacturers.
The black fur cape below and its label A Winter Product above is a notorious Faux Persian Lamb example from the 1950s.
There were some well known designers of Faux Persian Lamb Coats and Jackets. Some of then were Susan Lynn, Russel Taylor and Ed Millstein. They only designed faux fur coats, but some of them at first glance look very real. If you can familiarize yourself with their names you will know if coats and jackets designed by them are faux or real Persian Lamb fur. They are always faux. Sportowne exclusively manufactured faux fur coats of many types. They made one of a type of velvet that mimicked Persian Lamb called Borella.
Another clue is buttons and buttonholes versus fur hooks and rings. Real furs usually have furrier hooks and rings to fasten the coats closed. If you see a Persian Lamb coat with buttons and functioning buttonholes look carefully. Are the buttonholes made via a sewing machine with 2 lines of stitching side by side and tacking at each end, then sliced open with a special knife or buttonhole scissors? ( This is the way machine made buttonholes are made in fabric.) If so, these buttonholes are made in woven cloth! You cannot make a buttonhole this way in thick leather hide covered with fur! I have been able to identify many faux Persian Lamb coats on line by noting how the buttonholes were made. Upon closer examination, that is inspection, of the fur backing to determine if it was cloth or leather hide, it turned out to be faux Persian Lamb fabric every time!
Now about owning Faux Fur – there is nothing wrong with faux fur or owning a faux fur coat. It is just a different kind of coat and the products you are considering buying should be correctly identified so that you can make an informed choice whether to buy and own them or not. Sometimes faux fur is the correct choice for various reasons: It is lighter weight, it is cozy but not as warm, you do not have to put it in cold storage during hot weather, you can get it wet in the rain, or you might have ethical reasons not to want to wear real fur. All these are legitimate reasons why faux fur is sometimes a preferred choice.
A buyer should be equally unhappy if either real fur or faux fur is incorrectly identified
If a seller gets defensive or angry with you for asking too many questions about an item before buying it that is a really bad sign. Do not buy anything from someone like that! Run the other way and find the item you want from a seller who wants to help you. Good sellers welcome questions and are always happy to interact with customers who want to learn about what they are selling. They will welcome the opportunity to teach you the difference between real and faux Persian Lamb fur and any other kind of real fur you want to know about. So feel free to ask away and do not feel embarrassed to be asking too many questions! Inquiring about things is a great way to learn about them.
I hope I have answered your questions about Persian Lamb fur. If you have more questions do not hesitate to ask me. I will be happy to respond! I too am learning more and more all the time and I am grateful to the sellers who have had the patience to answer my questions in the past. I have learned a lot about many things from these people and I am happy to reciprocate by passing on what I know.
The Real Daytons Persian Lamb Fur Evening Jacket Shown Above is Available in my Online Etsy shop.
I also have a cute faux Persian Lamb jacket from the 1950s or 60s in my shop. This one came without a label. It is however, a very nice example of a faux Persian Lamb garment. Here are some pictures of it . It is described in complete detail in the shop listing but for purposes of this blog post I will point out a few key items: This little jacket is made of faux Persian Lamb fabric. It has a real rabbit fur collar dyed a shade of dark brown to emulate mink. It has a quilted backing under the collar, velvet buttons and interfacing inside the coat and is lined in black shiny satin fabric probably acetate. It has machine made buttonholes as I describe above. It is fairly lightweight. If you look at the closeup picture of the faux fur fabric under the collar below you can clearly see the regularity of the curls that I also describe above.
This coat is missing labels of any kind. It belonged to my mother and she sometimes removed labels in her clothing if they irritated her skin. It is a very nice example of a faux Persian Lamb MCM jacket and it looks very nice for a faux Persian Lamb. The lining on this coat is sewn down really well so it cannot be lifted up to see the underside of the faux fur – however you can separate the curls with your fingers to look at the black woven cloth backing. It is definitely a faux fur albeit a very good one that will fool the majority of people looking at it. People will absolutely assume it is real when they see it worn only a furrier of a fur expert will be able to tell you are wearing a faux fur jacket.
It might interest people to how that this type of faux fur is actually quite expensive! It now costs $56 per yard and is 56″ wide. It has nap so you have to lay pattern pieces out facing the same direction in order to cut them if you are going to sew with it. The composition of the fabric is 74% acetate, 14″ polyester, and 12% nylon. I sometimes see faux Persian Lamb coats advertised as lambs wool – this is deceptive marketing and the fabric is in no way wool or any other part of a real sheep. Synthetic fabrics really came into their own after WWII and synthetic fur had been around long before that.
Here is a wonderful article about The History of Fake Fur and its development from Smithsonian magazine written by journalist Alice Hines and initially published January 22, 2015. She does a great job explaining the development of faux fur:
//www.smithsonianmag.com/history/history-faux-fur-180953984/
Something else important came to my attention today. I read a post from another vintage seller today – a reputable one who knows her furs – who sold a customer a lovely Russian Princess coat clearly listed as Velvet and Faux Persian Lamb Fur from the 1970s. The coat was really pretty, but the buyer was absolutely furious because she felt she had been scammed, taken advantage of and bamboozled – she used all those words – and sold a fake fur coat when she thought she was buying a real Persian Lamb fur coat. This problem came about because the buyer did not know that the term faux meant fake! Faux fur is a commonly understood accurate term for fake fur. Faux is the French word for Fake. The seller in this instance was completely accurate in describing what she was selling. The buyer just did not understand the term. Therefore this vintage seller was letting the rest of us know what happened to her and suggesting we explain that faux means fake in our listings! Incidentally the buyer of the Russian Princess coat under discussion is from the US and is a native English speaker. Just because we know a term in a foreign language and it is commonly used in our industry we cannot assume all other people are familiar with its meaning. I speak French and have worked in fashion and the professional Ballet worlds all my life – both of which use a lot of French terms on a regular basis. I actually have to explain and carefully spell out the meaning of French words I use fairly often and when I write them they pop up on spellcheck as misspellings. So, as odd as it sounds, I can picture an unfortunate incident like this one happening.
WARMTH: Another important thing I need to mention is that real fur is warm. It will keep you warm like it keeps an animal warm in cold weather. That is initially why human beings started to wear fur. Faux fur can be cozy and soft but it is not as warm as the real thing. In the case of faux Persian Lamb that is a blend of acetate, polyester and nylon – a coat or jacket made of this material is not ever going to be as warm or luxurious as the real fur. It is unrealistic to expect such a fabric to keep you as warm asa real Persian Lamb fur jacket or coat will.
If I think of more important points to add about the differences between Real and Faux Persian Lamb Fur I will add them to this post. I hope you enjoyed reading it and learned some interesting things.
Fin for now! Fin means finished in French, by the way, and is always used at the end of a French Folm or novel to indicate that the writer has finished telling the story.
Rare and beautiful historic clothing and accessories and vintage fragrances are for sale in my online shops. If you see something on this blog that you are interested in buying, but do not find it for sale in my shops message me on Etsy or Ebay and I will get back to you about availability. I check messages daily and can always prepare a special listing for you if you do not find it already listed in the shops. Some perfumes and vintage furs and fur trimmed items are currently listed for sale in my shops and others will be listed as they are ready to sell. Items are always in process of being readied for listing so all inventory is not already listed and photographed. Feel free to message me on Ebay or Etsy if you are seeking something in particular as I may have it or be able to find it for you. There are contact seller buttons on all listings in the stores which allow you to write me messages.
FashionConservatory: Lady Violette Boutique
The real and faux Persian Lamb jackets used in this post have been identified and confirmed as real and faux by the professional furrier Rene’ Vogel.
I use Swiss furrier Rene’ Vogel for all my fur related needs. He does identification of furs and mystery furs, alterations, cleaning, remodeling and appraisals. I highly recommend his work.
You can reach professional Swiss Furrier Rene Vogel via email Rene’ Vogel <rdcvogel@msn.com> or by phone at (425)322-9638 to schedule appointments for all your fur related needs.
I want to make it clear to my readers that I chose to write about Rene’ Vogel to share information I have learned from him about furs and to provide them access to him as a reliable professional furrier should they wish to find one. Rene’ is not paying me to write about him.
I showed some Persian Lamb items in my previous post on Persian Lamb ( right before this one) from “Barb the Fur Lady ” . Therefore, I also want to thank Barbara Koich AKA, Barb ” The Fur Lady” on Etsy, for letting me write about her furs and sharing her photos and information on the beautiful fur items listed in her Etsy Shop. She carries high quality hand picked vintage real and faux furs of all kinds and can be trusted for the exceptional quality of her pieces and her excellent customer service. I regularly shop there for furs myself because I know they will be high quality. Check out her shop!
