New York AW19 shows – Highly imaginative fur pieces

From the eccentric and whimsical to the fantastically opulent, the city’s designers went all out in their innovative approach to fur. Celebrating strength, diversity, black culture, all-out luxury and genderless style with incredibly uplifting catwalk spectacles, the New York AW19 shows really demonstrated that the city’s fashion landscape is brimming with unbridled creativity and a strong group of designers who adore working with fur. Many have worked closely with Saga Furs to realise their visions, resulting in statement pieces that made the rounds on Instagram straight away.

Early trends include metallic effects and candy shop colours, lots of full fur looks and new experiments with intarsia. It was also clear that designers favour fur in their genderless messages: it’s a material that’s naturally unisex and fur coats were shown on all genders on the runway. Here, we round up the week’s major fur looks and what they were all about.

Romeo Hunte AW19

If there’s any doubt now as to fur’s triumphant march onto the streets, Romeo Hunte cemented its new place as a youth ally: the show’s closing segment – dedicated fully to fur – had Saga® Fox applied to a denim jacket turning the piece into a tulip-shaped dress and intarsia graffiti proclaiming ‘swag’ and ‘dope’ on electric blue mink as well as mink elegantly emulating a brick wall.
Read WWD’s report on the show here

 AW19 fur trends by Romeo Hunte

LaQuan Smith AW19

The fur game at LaQuan Smith was full-on va-va-voom with killer curves trimmed in Saga® Mink, which is hardly surprising given that Beyoncé and Kylie Jenner are major fans of the designer’s work. Smith brings 90s/00s pop culture icon style to a new generation – case in point, a see-through leopard bodysuit with a Saga® Fox stole casually draped over the shoulder. A power shoulder green mink robe had a metallic sheen while sculpted Saga® Fox jackets seemed destined for Cardi B’s next major fashion moment.

Read Paper’s report on the show here

AW19 fur trends by LaQuan Smith 

Luar AW19

Designer Raul Lopez – who founded Hood by Air alongside Shayne Oliver before launching Luar – staged a gender-fluid show that referenced a late nineties-early 2000 aesthetic via Lil’ Kim, Celine Dion and deconstructed tailoring. Furs were appropriately larger than life and packed a fiercely energetic punch: a silver-effect Saga® Mink jacket had massive elongated black Saga® Blue Fox sleeves, plucked mink gauntlets were crafted from fantasy animal intarsia stripes and a caramel Saga® patchwork mink in caramel hues had Luar scrawled across the back in intarsia. A clingy dress with a Saga® Fox trim – peeping out from under an oversize pinstripe shirt – felt like a brilliant nod to gender-bending chest hair.

Read Paper’s report on the show here

AW19 fur trends by Luar 

Vivienne Hu AW19

From a red mink ladylike suit to a teenage dream hooded intarsia fox jacket, Vivienne Hu showed fur’s beautiful versatility on her AW19 runway. Saga® Fox and Mink were dyed in bubblegum hues and playful blue checks, sending a strong message of cheery colours and an innovative approach to fur for fall.

See the full collection at NowFashion here 

Vivienne Hu fur garments

Victor Glemaud AW19

The knitwear-centric label really hit its stride this season with an optimistic collection that showcased Glemaud’s craftsmanship techniques. Saga® Mink dyed in pretty sherbet hues was knitted into a long, ultra-soft cardigan that bridged elevated loungewear with statement outerwear.

Read WWD’s report on the presentation here

Victor Glemaud using fur by saga furs

Sally LaPointe AW19

By now, Sally LaPointe owns the fox-trimmed trophy sweater. The designer has made hyper-luxurious fur knitwear a signature piece but this season there was a virtual symphony of furry looks. A pistachio section wowed with a full green sumptuous Saga® Fox jacket over a tonal silk jumpsuit and the strict lines of a leather coat were contrasted with a delicate matching Saga® Fox collar, ending with a roll neck sweater adorned with Saga® Fox cuffs.

Read WWD’s report on the show here

Sally LaPointe using fur by Saga Furs

Christopher John Rogers AW19

There is something wonderfully madcap about Christopher John Rogers’ universe and his approach to fur: a black Saga® Fox coat with a white intarsia front framed by crayon-like lines of colour felt like the world’s coolest penguin ever, paired with couture mules and checkerboard hosiery. His sophomore show was a modern fashion fantasy where sorbet fox stoles were sprouting graceful feathers and an intarsia coat was pieced together from checks and chevrons to great effect.

Read US Vogue’s report on the show here

Christopher Josh Rogers using fur by Saga Furs

Burnett AW19

This was Emily Burnett’s debut show for her eponymous label but certainly not her first time at the fashion rodeo: she’s spent ten years as creative director of Dennis Basso, so she knows her way around fur as well. Diagonal lines of dyed mink were juxtaposed with Saga® Black Cross Mink on a luxe coat, creating an artistic play on nature’s patterns versus crafted stripes. Elsewhere she placed black intarsia grids across white mink with a hand-drawn feel, fashioned chevron sleeves from mink and Silver Fox.

Read Medium’s report on the show here

Fur garments by Burnett

Oscar de la Renta & THE ROW AW19

Oscar de la Renta’s creative directors Laura Kim and Fernando Garcia’s refined melting pot of global stylistic genres resulted in a stunning pastel mink sprinkled with crystal embellishment, giving the impression of a Moorish mosaic applied to a traditional western fur coat.

At The Row, Mary-Kate and Ashley Olsen showed the kind of fur that’s earned them legions of minimalist fans: a restrained cross mink, sheared to underscore the clean silhouette and constructed so the cross colouring stood out perfectly.

Read British Vogue’s report on Oscar de la Renta here
Read US Vogue’s report on The Row here
Fur by The Row and Oscar de la Renta

Bibhu Mohapatra AW19

For his 10th anniversary Bibhu Mohapatra showed a series of elegant re-imaginings of classic fur outerwear. The natural colourings of sapphire mink was used to craft sculptural lines on a jacket, while a full-length near-black mink coat had a contrasting light grey fox collar. Evening fur came in the shape of a lavender dyed fox gilet.

Read WWD’s report on the show here

Fur garments by Bibhu Mohapatra

Philipp Plein AW19

Incorporating a mix of new and vintage fur, Philipp Plein also made use of the metallic mink that has been all over New York. One intarsia coat had Wild West motifs, another a studded leather cowboy shirt insert, a third a massive leopard-print intarsia mink lapel. Elsewhere, a vintage palomino mink coat had been customised with a slick, embellished zipper.

Read US Vogue’s report on the show here

Fur garments by Philipp Plein

Check biggest fur trends from all AW19 shows here.