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Pretty in Mink

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https://static.tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jean_white_fur_coat.jpg
Jean Grey needed a new winter coat, so she and Scott decided to splurge for a fur.

"There is something so sensual about fur next to the skin, don't you think?"
— Delysia, Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day

In fiction, as in real life, many people wear fur garments just because it's luxurious and glamorous, whether worn for warmth or for style. If you see characters wear a stylish fur, it usually means they either have enough wealth to buy it (either on a whim or saving up for one), or they have found other ways to get one, because in many cultures these are status symbols.

Even when those not in the upper classes wear furs this way, it still indicates that the aggregate wealth of a society is higher than normal.

In Europe, certain furs were so prized that for a time there were Sumptuary Laws about who could wear what kind of fur. Ermine was among the most prized, used to trim and line royal robes and capes (hence the reason the trope Ermine Cape Effect is named so). While the poor also wore furs, it was for utility instead of decoration, so their clothes were made with common pelts like sheepskin and rabbit, and weren't stylized and tailored.

So this trope is also as old in fiction, but visual media like film is where it's clearly evident. It was used extensively in The Golden Age of Hollywood just for the visual splendor it brought. At one point furs were so common they didn't provide characterization the way they do today as Stock Costume Traits. The exceptions were very specific outfits, like the classic pimp coat. What fur was worn was generally chosen one of two ways. The first was reflecting whatever Conspicuous Consumption style trends were popular for a certain demographic. The second was whatever the designer felt like.

Also, fur can be a dual purpose luxury. When worn in cold weather, it's a utility luxury (as in the picture), and when worn otherwise, it's a sybaritic luxury.

These days furs are less common in media and now has competition from Fur and Loathing, where a woman in a fur coat is either the Rich Bitch, The Vamp or downright evil, although some savvy costumers can do both if the character is wearing real fur (and expect some commentary on either trope). Other characters who wear fur tend to do it for a single episode or two.

Fashion Magazines, in at least one issue in (usually) an Autumn month, will have a spread about fur fashion. Any ads for furs would count as Up Marketing, as would ads for other luxury products that also feature models wearing fur.

Now since this is about use of fur to pretty up a scene, it's not just any instance of wearing fur. Even if a fur is worn for warmth, it also has to be an excuse to have a nice fur in the scene to count for this trope. Thus an Inuit parka usually doesn't count; it would have to be a designer parka (even if made in Inuit style).

A Sub-Trope of Garnishing the Story.

A Super-Trope to:

A Sister Trope to: Everything's Sparkly with Jewelry, Fluffy Fashion Feathers, Gold Makes Everything Shiny (all involve materials to show off wealth in a glamorous way), Pelts of the Barbarian (furs and hides that are rough instead of luxurious), Hell-Bent for Leather.

Compare An Ice Suit, Sexy Coat Flashing, Happy Holidays Dress, Sexy Santa Dress (all of which have many examples with fur).

Contrast Fur and Loathing, Cruella to Animals.

Examples:

    open/close all folders 

    Advertising 
  • The A. E. Staley company manufactures starch products. In 1957 they held a contest for ladies to tell them why they liked using two of their laundry products, the starch or fabric softener (back then just called a rinse). The prizes included a full length mink as the grand prize, and over fifty mink wraps for the runners up.
  • American Legend Mink had a campaign in The '90s to show the appeal and allure of fur, where the slogan was "Fur: More Than Any Other Fabric". This was paired with pictures of models reveling in the luxury and feel of the coats they were wearing.
    • The company also had a contest in lat 1995, where people could win designer furs, and airline tickets (unknown what deals made that cross promotion). The contest was a spread of the furs being offered, but the first page had a model wearing a white mink coat◊, but it was not being offered as a prize. Instead the model was wearing the fur while holding a gift-wrapped box, and the caption was "Ooh, is that fur me?", implying the lady was going to get even more furs.
  • Blackglama Mink's "What Becomes A Legend Most?" ad campaign◊ used celebrities wearing the company's furs, in styles as varied as the celebrities.
  • Cadillac was far from the only luxury car company to have women in fancy furs in their ads, but they did have distinct patterns in some of their ads.
    • In the early 50s, print ads would have the car near the bottom, while the rest was taken up by models in fancy furs, in a form resembling a benevolent version of an Evil Overlooker.
    • Another campaign around the time was making an image for Cadillac being the car for the rich family man, so each print ad had a mother and daughter wearing matching fancy dresses. One ad had them both in red dresses, and the mother's dress had mink cuffs. Another ad had a redhead mother and daughter wearing matching fur coats.
    • A more common type of ad was showing people at parties◊, either attending, arriving, or leaving, just that these people were there, and looking their best in both their clothes and cars. This often involved fancy furs, such as a couple ads involving a debutante ball, one with a couple taking their daughter who is wearing a white fox wrap, and another where all the debs are wearing various furs as they leave with their escorts.
  • Chesterfield Cigarettes had an ad where Sonja Henie was wearing an almost too fancy skating dress that was trimmed with a lot of ermine◊.
  • When companies like Du Pont were trying to sell their artificial fabrics to upscale customers, or mainstream customers trying to look upscale, by not only making fancy outfits from these fabrics, but also having models wear fancy jewels and furs as part of the ensembles.
  • Emba Mink did a variation. Instead of stars wearing furs themselves, they would be snuggling up to pretty ladies wearing fur (might have been models, their wives, or girlfriends). The slogan was "Wrap Yourself In Something Special".
  • Hansen Glovesnote , selling of course High-Class Gloves, would make sure the models wore fancy ensembles, which the gloves would compliment. This often included furs, such as this lady wearing a sable cape over her day suit◊.
  • Maidenform Bra: A few models dreamed of wearing a fur over their underwear, to show they were still rich and stylish.
  • Actress Melissa Leo created a stir when she decided to make her own "For Your Consideration" ads to the Academy Award voters (normally people and companies use firms who specialize in this). At least two of the ads show her wearing a fur of some kind, a white full length coat in one, and a black fur jacket in another.
  • Palmolive, yes the soap company, would have ladies wearing furs in some ads, at least up to The '50s, to show that being clean was a sophisticated thing.
  • Pepsi had a few ads of ladies wearing furs, back in the days when such ads could still appeal to the mainstream youth.
  • Virginia Slims had a Smoking Is Glamorous style to their ads, which often features models wearing furs, such as Cheryl Tiegs in a red fox coat, and Carol Alt wearing a chinchilla jacket◊.

    Anime & Manga 

    Arts 
  • Both husband and wife in The Arnolfini Portrait sport furs on their persons as another indicator of their wealth.

    Comic Books 
  • Archie Comics: Heiress Veronica Lodge wears lots of furs. Betty has even worn a few, some given to her by Veronica.
  • In Batman Marth Wayne is sometimes shown wearing a fur coat on the night she gets shot.
  • Black Widow of the Marvel Universe occasionally wears fur. Her first appearance was wearing a brown mink wrap. In a mid 90s Iron Man comic, she met Tony on a trip to Russia and she wore a white mink coat and hat over a slinky purple dress.
  • The Snow Queen of Fables wears a fur boa◊. In her final scene she wears a white fur cape when she proposes to Winter, who herself is wearing a black cape trimmed with white fur.
  • In Danger Girl, Abigail wears a mink coat to infiltrate a party.
  • The skating dress worn by The Flash enemy Golden Glider has white fur cuffs.
  • The girls of Katy Keene have owned and modeled several furs. Once a guy proposed to Katy by promising her all the furs she would want if she married him.
  • Supergirl:
    • Lois Lane has worn some furs, such as a fur jacket she wore in winter during the early issues, or a full length mink she occasionally wore in the fifties.
    • In Starfire's Revenge, the eponymous Supergirl villain shows off her wealth by wearing a luxurious, fluffy, sleeveless, ermine coat the second time she is meeting up with her minion Derek.
  • Love Romances #99 shows a truck driver who's fallen for a redhead Uptown Girl wearing a white fur coat, while her father has caught them in the act. In the actual comic, she does not wear a fur in that scene... she instead wears the fur coat when they first meet.
  • The girls in Millie the Model have owned and modeled several furs. At least twice there was a joke where she was trying on a fur at a store, and the manager asked if she wanted a saleslady to model the garment. Another time she had to wear a full length white ermine coat in the middle of summer.
  • Patsy Walker has worn some furs, and one issue stated on the cover how excited she would be getting her first fur coat◊.
  • Carmen Hosanna of Sinister Dexter wears a long, white fur coat.
  • Squadron Supreme: Villain The Mink's costume is a fur coat and furry boots.
  • Thunderstrike: Marcy Masterson opens a health salon, and decides to dress to the nines for the opening. Her ensemble includes a white fur jacket, which is waist length to emphasize her hips. So her fur shows both glamour and Sex Sells.
  • The Ultimates: Wanda wears a fur-lined coat just before she is tragically shot.
  • X-Men:
    • Jean Grey wore a few furs.
      • In the 70s she has a blue winter coat trimmed with gray fur.
      • She wears a◊ white fur coat◊ in an issue of the first series of X-Factor. Since she lost her last coat in the previous issue, she and Scott do some shopping. As she walks outside, and is enraptured by how soft her new coat's fur is, she recalls that the salesman gave her a particular look when she told him she wanted to wear it right out of the store. That and Scott's "specialized needs" comment all hint (as much as the comics code allowed) that they were hoping to have Jean wear the fur in other ways. She later gets in a Snowball Fight with Scott while she wears the coat, calling herself "The Queen of the Icy North!".
      • Her mother, Elaine Grey, wore a brown mink coat when she and her husband first appeared.
    • Psylocke wore a fur-trimmed coat when on a date with Warren (aka Archangel).
    • In the first issue of the 1980s miniseries Kitty Pryde and Wolverine, Killy goes ice skating in a pink and black dress topped with a white fur pillbox hat.
    • In a joke issue, Kitty gets a number of wacky fashions, where a fur-trimmed skating dress is one of the more normal ones.
    • Sabretooth is a Rare Male Example: most of his outfits are trimmed in self–sourced, 100% genuine Wendigo fur.
  • Wonder Woman:
    • Wonder Woman has worn some furs, including a Christmas issue where her outfit was trimmed with white fur, making it effectively a Sexy Santa Dress.
    • Wonder Woman (1987): Myndi Meyer struts into Julia's office wearing a large ostentatious white fur coat that stands in stark contrast to Julia's utilitarian outfit and office.
    • Wonder Woman and the Star Riders: Purrsia's outfit includes a rich purple and blue cape trimmed in purple fur and a skirt trimmed in the same fur.
    • The Legend of Wonder Woman: Priscilla Rich manages to combine this with Fur and Loathing since she's a heartless murderer who gleefully colludes with the Nazis and is the only named character to noticeably wear furs, and those furs are glamorous well designed pieces that help her look very pretty.

    Comic Strips 
  • In The Perry Bible Fellowship a redheaded lady goes to point out a guy at a Police Lineup, and she wanted to look her best, as she wears a gray fur wrap when she arrives.
  • Muffy Ainsworth in the newspaper Spider-Man wears a white fur jacket in her flashback to when Spider-Man saved her from an (apparent) vampire who kidnaped and hypnotized her.

    Fan Works 

    Films - Animation 

    Literature 
  • The Age of Innocence: Archer's mother is described attending his wedding as, "sat weeping softly under her Chantilly veil, her hands in her grandmother's ermine muff".
    • In the movie, a fair number of furs are worn, like a fur-trimmed coat Ellen wears, and an ermine scarf May wears.
  • Anna Karenina mentions a few furs in its text, and most adaptations will include several stylish furs◊.
  • The Bobbsey Twins: In the early editions of the very first book (published 1904), Nan Bobbsey — at age eight — says that all she want for Christmas is "a set of furs ... a beautiful brown set, just like Mamma's." And she gets them.
  • Bride of the Rat God by Barbara Hambly:
    • The would-be bride is a movie star, Christine, who has a sable coat, and chinchilla coat, and a monkey-trimmed jacket. She gives her sister-in-law, Norah, the monkey fur coat, and Norah also gets to wear Christin's chinchilla few times (the clothing equivalent of loaning a Mercedes), which she actually is glad for when the nights get cold.
    • Christine also wears a fur wrap on two covers of the book. One has her wearing a chinchilla wrap, and the other has her wearing a white fur wrap.
  • One of the covers of But A Short Time To Live by James Hadley Chase shows a woman in a fox fur jacket worn over white stockings and garters.
    And if she is a cold blooded killer at least she is warm with that fur coat on.
  • In A Certain Magical Index Oriana wears a fut-trimmed coat over one of her outfits.
  • In a Charlie and Lola book, Lola's friend Lotta has a "very white fluffy coat", and she let's Lola borrow it after Lola keeps admiring it. Lola nearly loses the coat, so Lotta doesn't let Lola borrow her white fluffy pencil case.
  • In Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, bratty rich girl Veruca Salt wears a mink coat to the factory. This detail appears in the 1971 film adaptation Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory, in which she notes that "I have three others at home"; the actress's coat was specially made for her, since mink coats weren't commonly made in girls' sizes.note 
  • In Louisa May Alcott's short story A Christmas Dream, a rich girl named Effie has a dream where an angel makes a grand Christmas for poor children, including turning the show falling on her into a white fur cape and hood. When she tells her dream to her family, her mother decides to make that dream happen, right down to buying Effie a little white fur coat to wear, to look like the outfit the angel was wearing.
  • In C. S. Lewis's The Chronicles of Narnia:
    • The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe, the wardrobe contains fur coats, so the children conveniently take them for warmth. When spring comes, they shed them. At the end of the book, they feel obliged to explain to Professor Kirk what had happened to his coats.
    • The Silver Chair: At one point, Jill is given a red cape trimmed with white fur.
  • There is some debate over whether Cinderella originally had fur slippers instead of glass (due to linguistic changes as the story was passed down over the centuries and languagesnote . For more deliberate uses of this trope, some books and pictures show the Fairy Godmother makes Cinderella a dress trimmed with fur. In one book by Gordon Laite the godmother makes two dresses, the second after the slipper proves who Cinderella is. This second outfit is fit for the new princess, as it's a royal blue dress and cape each trimmed with ermine.
  • In A Cry in the Night, Erich buys Jenny a black mink coat as a wedding present. She's touched, as no one has ever bought her anything like this, while Erich insists she should have nothing but the best. Much later in the story, she finds it cut to ribbons inside her closet.
  • The Discworld books don't hide where fur comes from, but it accepts it as a part of life in this pseudo-medieval world. One of the most popular glamour furs is the white fur of the Vermine. There are a few digs about it for the sake of humor, such as the line, "the fur is highly prized, especially by the vermine itself", in Sourcery.
    • When one of the auditors disguises herself as a human in Thief of Time, she shows up "wearing an enormous and expensive white fur coat".
  • In The Firm by John Grisham, Mitch buys his wife a fox coat in their first Christmas after joining the law firm.
  • Example from Icerigger by Alan Dean Foster is unusual because the girl manages to be covered by skin-tight mink fur coat and still be naked. The natives of the planet Tran-ky-ky are described as "bats wearing mink coats". Most are tall and wide, except the petite (i.e. of human proportions) Rebellious Princess/Royal Brat Elfa. In the scene when she tries to seduce the protagonist Ethannote :
    Her outfit was done up like holiday packaging by a clumsy six-year-old. The fact that the skin beneath was covered with light gray fur made it appear no less naked. Excepting the feline head and broad feet, and those piercing vertical pupils, she might have passed for a tridee starlet clad in skin-tight mink.
  • In the Jack Ryan books, his wife Cathy wears her mink coat to some important parties.
  • In the third book of the Johnny Maxwell Trilogy, Kristy wears a fur coat as part of their getup to return back in time to World War II and save Wobbler. It's noted that she would mock old ladies for wearing fur, but the context was more her trolling them, as she wouldn't dare mock a biker for wearing leather.
  • The Joy Luck Club: Waverly's fiance giving her a mink coat.
  • Sara in A Little Princess wears a number of fut-trimmed coats, and even her doll has an ermine-lined cape.
  • In one scene in The Little Sister, Hollywood starlet Mavis Welds is wearing an expensive coat of marten fur. She tells Marlowe that it's worth forty thousand dollars, but also that it's only rented for her current film role, a reminder that her career has not yet taken off to the point where she can afford to own a coat like that outright.
  • In The Lives of Christopher Chant, high social rank among the inhabitants of Series Eleven is indicated by the amount of fur worn (as well as by lots of jewellery), playing up a Noble Savage image even though their society is actually hyper-advanced. Christopher tries to look the part by wearing a tiger-skin rug and all the jewellery he and his friends can find when he has to visit their dimension.
  • The Lord of the Rings books and films have nobility and royalty wearing fur occasionally.
  • In Neuromancer, furs are grown from tissue on a bed of collagen, because most animals have died out, making them relatively widespread for a dystopia.
  • The Snow Queen of the Hans Christian Andersen story dressed in furs, which is often the case with characters inspired by her. Gerda also gets a fur muff and fur-timmed coat on her journey.
  • In Spice and Wolf Holo is given a fox stole by a rival of Lawrence's. She sometimes pulls it out to play with, and a few times she pretends her tail is just a wolf fur she wears under her skirt.
  • In Noble House Venus Poon is a TV personality who is also the mistress of a married man. She keeps pestering him for a mink coat, accusing him of giving one to his wife instead. He does finally give her one, and she doesn't even lose it in the mudslide, as it was at the dry cleaners.
    • It's also mentioned that many of the women attending the horse race are wearing mink, though it's the middle of summer (since again this trope is about the glamor).
  • Red Harvest: The only time the narrator describes Dinah as pretty is when she's wearing a fur coat.
  • The Roald Dahl short story "Mrs. Bixby and the Colonel's Coat" is about an adulterous woman trying to keep the mink coat she got from her lover without raising her husband's suspicions. It was adapted into an episode of Alfred Hitchcock Presents.
  • The Snow Queen: The eponymous Winter Royal Lady wears a fur coat. Gerda gets a fur coat and muff on her journey, and most adaptations with show either Gerda or the Snow Queen wearing fur of some kind.
  • In A Song of Ice and Fire, the nobles and royals wear furs for glamor even before the coldest winter arrives.
    • A Clash of Kings downplays this with Ser Axell Florent who Maester Cressen noted "remained homely even in russet and fox fur".
  • A Golden Book of the carol The Twelve Days of Christmas showed a lady being given the mentioned gifts by her True Love. And each day they are wearing different outfits◊, some decorated with fur◊, usually ermine◊.
  • Leopold von Sacher-Masoch's Venus in Furs combines this trope with a heavy dose of domme and the title character's only duty as the narrator's Mistress being to swathe herself in sumptuous furs, regardless of the temperature. Played as a kink, but referencing the historical luxury and power overtones of wearing furs.
  • Whateley Universe example: Rich Bitch Solange in her custom-made furs in "Ayla and the Great Shoulder Angel Conspiracy". Kodiak even thinks about getting her to wear her fur and nothing else that evening...
  • The Widow of Desire is a Cold War spy thriller written in The '80s, about how a Russian furrier living in the US is murdered, and his American wife learns it was because he was involved in trying to bust apart a Soviet coup attempt. A white Russian Lynx coat even ends up being a MacGuffin.
  • In the pun-overdosed world of Xanth, there are fur trees instead of fir trees, and the pelts are periodically harvested.
    • In the thrid novel Centaur Isle, Princess Irene is given a silver-lined fur by the centaurs. She absolutely adores it, and Dor secretly likes how she looks wearing it.

    Magazines 
  • Budget Living: the 1st anniversary issue featured a model wearing a white rabbit jacket as part of her winter ensemble, in both a fashion spread and the cover. In keeping with the magazine's theme of affordable luxury (just in a tongue-in-cheek way), her fur, costing a few hundred dollars, was noted to be far more affordable than a modern art piece of a metal rabbit, costing thousands.
  • A 1999 issue of Harpers Bazaar had an article about Kirsten Dunst, and it started with a picture of her modeling a designer white rabbit dress◊.
  • Los Angeles magazine featured Shelly Hack from Charlie's Angels in the December 1979 issue, and her article put her in several furs, including a lynx coat on the cover.
  • LIFE on November 11, 1957, had a fashion article about dresses with fur. This included a black velvet blouse with a full length white ermine skirt◊ by Pierre Balmain.
  • The December '90 issue of Penthouse had the model wearing a white fox coat◊.
  • Movieline often featured actresses in furs. Some were even Naked in Mink, like Jennifer Lopez (in a white fox wrap) and Elizabeth Hurley (in a chinchilla stole) so they could be on the Fanservice Covers.
  • Many of the models in Playboy wear furs, some appearing on covers, like a sable coat◊ in the December '85 issue, and a white fox coat and hat◊ on the February '90 issue.
  • Santa Claus's iconic outfit is typically trimmed in white fur, as shaped by newspapers and magazines throughout the 19th and early 20th centuries.
  • Vanity Fair is partly about style, so fur is sometimes featured, and celebrities are also covered, so the two are sometimes combined.
  • Vogue, like many other high fashion publications, often has a spread about fur in at least one issue a year.
    • The US November 1994 issue had a spread called "Rethinking Mink", which featured a bunch of outfits supposedly being done in fresh styles. Even though the actual style most of the furs was reminiscent of The '50s, the rest of the clothes did try to give the impression of throwing off old styles (such as a Fun T-Shirt under a full length mink coat).
    • US November 1995: The spread called "After Effects" had a few furs noted to wear "apres-ski", and there was a spread some pages back for clothes to wear while skiing.
    • US September 1999 had at least two spreads with fur. "Glam Slam" had outfits in white and silver, which included a few furs, such as a rabbit jacket, fox jacket, and white ermine wrap. "The Class Menagerie" was all about fur, or animal prints. "Slouching Towards Bohemia" was an article instead of a fashion spread, but it did start with a double page picture of a couple of models laying down at a picnic, and one of the women was wearing a full-length rabbit skirt.
    • UK October 2002 had Gwyneth Paltrow on the cover, who modeled a white rabbit coat, though the picture was a close-up on the collar framing her face (and the top of her cleavage).
    • US September 2014 had three spreads in a row. "Playing It Cool" was about furs and fur-trimmed coats to try to look like you have a cool attitude. "City Swagger" had furs in 4 of the 6 outfits, all meant to make ladies look as fashionable as possible while waking down cosmopolitan streets. "Call of the Wild" noted that the furs features could be worn during a "polar vortex", referring to the sudden cold snap from earlier in the year.

    Music 
  • In ABBA, the girls wore some furs for some videos, including a fox coat in the video for "Money Money Money".
  • The girls in AKB48 wear fur-trimmed dresses in holiday videos, which include Sexy Santa Dresses. In the video for "Merry Christmas", the girls wear short Happy Holidays Dresses with red fur puffballs in the dancing scenes. In the street scenes, one of the girls wears a white fur jacket.
  • Anne Murray wears a silver fox coat for much of the video for her song "Now & Forever".
  • Ayumi Hamasaki has worn furs in some of her videos and concerts.
  • In the video for the Big Bang song "Forever With You", the girl wears a white fur jacket and hat, and the two guys wear fur-trimmed jackets.
  • Britney Spears wore some furs for her videos, and some for public appearances, such as a white fox wrap◊ over a white dress when at the 2000 Grammys, and a sable-trimmed dress◊ for a magazine shoot.
  • Christina Aguilera wore a white rabbit coat◊ in the video for rapper Nelly's "Tilt Ya Head Back".
  • Alison Mosshart of The Dead Weather wears a brown fur jacket.
  • The album cover and video Music/Enya's "On my way Home" have her wearing a fur-trimmed coat and an ermine hat.
  • Faith Hill has worn some fox wraps in her videos, such as a scarlet fur wrap as a movie star in "I Love The Way You Love Me" and a silver fox wrap in "There You'll Be".
  • Hello! Project: Iida Kaori wears a brown rabbit coat over her shoulders in the video for "I Wish". Some of the costumes in the PV for Renai Revolution 21 are also fur lined.
  • Idina Menzel: For a photo shoot in 2013 she wore a blue faux fur wrap◊, and for a 2014 holiday concert at Bloomingdale's, she wore a black fur jacket.
  • In the Jay-Z song "Jigga What, Jigga Who" Amil sings the chorus and she appears in the video wearing a white fox fur jacket.
  • Jennifer Lopez loves wearing furs in her red carpet appearances, and in the video for "Jenny From the Block" she wore a few furs, including bouncing around in a chinchilla coat.
  • The Jenny Lewis song "Rabbit Fur Coat" uses it as a metaphor when singing about her troubled past, but at the end does sing about the symbolic coat favorably.
  • In the Kesha for "Take It Off", she grabs a white fur coat from a car and wears it briefly.
  • Koda Kumi wears a hooded brown fur coat in the video for "Showgirl".
  • Lil' Kim is very fond of wearing fur, which can be seen in several of her videos, album covers, and public appearances.
  • Lou Reed and the Velvet Underground did the musical version of ''Venus in Furs", where masochism goes hand-in-glove with the right sort of fetish clothing:
    Downy sins of streetlight fancies
    Chose the costumes she shall wear;
    Ermine furs adorn the imperious,
    Severin, Severin, awaits you there
  • Madonna wore several fur in her videos an appearances.
    • She wore a white faux fur wrap in the "Material Girl" video.
    • A white mink jacket in the video for "Music".
    • She wore a long white fox wrap at the 1991 Academy Awards.
  • Mary J. Blige wore a white fur wrap for the cover of a Christmas album.
  • Monique Van Vooren had an album "Mink in Hi-Fi", and the cover was her in a white mink wrap, surrounded by a pile of other mink clothes.
  • Miley Cyrus wears a full length white and gray fox coat in the music video for "We Can't Stop", and has also worn it in several live performances since, such as her Jingle Ball performances in the winter of 2013.
  • Nouvelle Vague's video for their cover of "Eisbär" ("Polar Bear") features the singer laying on a polar bear rug. This is a song that goes something like "I'd like to be a polar bear, at the cold pole." Hmm...yes, so she says as she strokes the fur.
  • Pentatonix: Kirstie wore a white fur jacket on the album cover of "That's Christmas To Me".
  • Reba McEntire wore a white fox wrap in the video for "Does He Love You" and a white mink coat for the cover of her album "Merry Christmas to You".
  • "The Glamorous Life" by Sheila E. includes furs in both the lyrics and the video.
    She wears a long fur coat of mink
    Even in the summer time

    Pro Wrestling 
  • Alicia Fox often wears outfits with fur trim.
  • John Morrison and Melina, aka MNM, were known for wearing what Jim Ross described as roadkill and were very very pretty, if you could overlook the fake tans.
  • Trish Stratus sometimes liked to wear fur jackets, and fur hats◊ when she walks to the ring.

    Tabletop Games 

    Theater 
  • In Born Yesterday, Billie says all she ever wanted was a mink coat, and a radio that could fit in her purse. She thinks she's happy because she now has two. In The '90s remake, she says she's fine because her old coat was just rabbit fur.
  • In Cactus Flower, Julian presents Toni with a mink stole. She's stunned at the generosity of his gift, though she would have rather received black leather slacks. She decides to send the mink to "Mrs. Winston" along with the original card, whose only words are, "As ever, Julian." Stephanie is so taken with the stole that she buys an expensive evening gown to wear with it to the April in Paris Ball.
  • One act in Guys and Dolls starts with the number "Take Back Your Mink", which is the trope namer of Take Back Your Gift, as it's about a lady refusing to be a slut just for gifts like furs.
  • Gypsy: In most versions, there is a white rabbit coat and hat June wears for one of the acts, and a mink coat Gypsy wears that she lets her mother wear at the end. The first film version even had Gypsy wear a dress with a skirt covered entirely with white fox.
  • Rachel Felix was a successful French actress in the mid 19th century. There is a portrait of her in costume, an ermine-trimmed dress and cape◊.

    Theme Parks 
  • In Disney Theme Parks the women who play the Disney Princesses get warmer outfits in winter. The collars and cuffs are trimmed with white fur, and Belle wears a short white fur cape.

    Toys 
  • Samantha from the American Girls Collection has a skating dress trimmed with white fur, and in one of the books she has an outfit with a white fur hat and muff.
  • Anastasia had a doll of her in a skating dress (based on a Deleted Scene), and she's wearing a white fur hat and muff.
  • Many of Barbie's outfits have fur, from the white fur wrap on the "Enchanted Evening" outfit, to holiday dresses having fur trim◊.
  • Some of the Bratz outfits have fur trim.
  • Wany variants of the Disney Princesses' dresses have fur, in the merch, website, and magazines, such as a set of winter merchandise in 2005 and 2006 which showed the princesses in dresses trimmed with white fur, and carrying white fur muffs.

    Video Games 

    Webcomics 
  • 9th Elsewhere: In the first strip Carmen's latest foster mother is wearing a fur jacket as she tries to convince Carmen to come to her own welcome party.
  • Bound Adventures:
    • The series has most of the nobles and royals wearing fur trimmed capes.
    • Princess Irina has ermine trimming on most of her garments and accessories. She also has an ermine-lined Showgirl Skirt.
  • In Darken Jill wears a short fur cape when the group goes adventuring in the snowy mountains.
  • Dominic Deegan:
    • One of Amelia's dresses was trimmed with fur.
    • Miranda Deegan's mother had a fur muff, and she wore it in a way to show she was a Proper Lady.
  • Drowtales: Snadhya'rune loves wearing◊ outfits trimmed with white fur◊ (and damaging them is her Berserk Button). Even her sister wears such robes◊.
  • In El Goonish Shive, the stereotypical Femme Fatale in the Detective Block "storyline" in EGS:NP wears a fur lined coat.
  • Erstwhile: In the "Sweetheart Roland" comic, the title character at one point wears an ermine cape.
  • Fluffy Bunny Domination:
    • A toy wand she got had two white fur puff balls attached, making her imagine she could use it to turn into a Magical Girl, with a similar ball as a bunny tail.
    • She had an Imagine Spot of having a sugar daddy, and wearing a red dess and silver fox wrap. Unfortunately the context of that fantasy made it not appealing to her.
  • Girl Genius:
    • Agatha wears a sumptuous fur coat and matching hat when waiting for a Corbettite train at a desolate train station in the snow.
    • When Jenka shows up in Paris, she is wearing a rather impressive ensemble, which no longer covers her mouth and includes a fur stole. The fancy dress also makes her virtually unrecognizable to Agatha.
  • Karate Bears in this strip like to steal stoles.
  • Knights of Buena Vista is a Campaign Comic covering Frozen (2013), and during Elsa's coronation it turned out that her cape was supposed to be lined with ermine, which Elsa sold for loads of cash. She justifies it by claiming it was too warm in the year to wear all that, and Anna's player mentions that she likes to wear her furs in summer. Anna later re-buys the ermine from Oaken for lining her winter outfit, which includes an ermine petticoat under the skirt just to help her freezing lower half.
  • Lackadaisy: Mitzi often wears a fluffy fur stole, draped beneath her shoulders for an alluring appearance as the head of her deceased husbands failed but still hanging on criminal empire.
  • Benn'Joon of Looking for Group wears a Pimped-Out Cape that is trimmed with white fur. Later she gets a full length white fur coat for adventuring in the mountains.
  • Lore Olympus: In episode 7, Hades gives Persephone a white fur jacket to ward off the chill of the Underworld. He bought it for Hera, but she didn't like it, so he just held on to it, and fortunately it also fit Persephone.
  • Noblesse: Rozaria wears a black coat trimmed with white fur.
  • Poison Ivy Gulch: Played for laughs when young boy Ace gives saloon girl Lorraine a nice fur coat; he reveals the fur came from a local's dead mule!
  • In Sinfest, Sapphire is a succubus who liked to wear a mink coat when walking to and from her job at the strip club.

    Web Original 
  • This picture◊ by Anand Duncan is a winter princess in an outfit where not only is her Pimped-Out Dress decorated with white fur, but also her Parasol of Prettiness.
  • In Idiotsitter, Billie and Gene don oversized fur coats during "Happy Birthday", while they are also whacked out on peyote. The image of them in their coats and sunglasses, in-doors, is also a promo image for the series.
  • The short-lived series Mis-Directed starts with a brother and sister trying to film a Torture Porn, with the sister Julianna playing (sort of) the victim while wearing a purple rabbit fur jacket, which she seems to wear specifically to pretty herself up, given she acts like The Prima Donna.

    Western Animation 
  • The characters in Alvin and the Chipmunks often attend events where Socialites are wearing furs.
    • In a fantasy sequence, Alvin imagines his oldest fan to be a young adult woman (since the In-Universe fanbase is prepubescent girls) wearing a white fox wrap draped over her slinky dress. He is practically drooling over this mental image.
  • A few furs in American Dad!, notably Haley's online game avatar, which is a Chainmail Bikini with a white fur collar, two things not to be expected from a Granola Girl.
  • In Avatar: The Last Airbender some characters wear fur just for style, such as Mai's fur-trimmed robe, and Toph's fur puff balls on her headdress (the water tribes wear pelts as a cultural dress, not a luxury).
  • In The Legend of Korra the first First Lady of Republic City wears a white fur wrap with her formal dress.
  • Many of the rich ladies in Batman: The Animated Series, and a few in Batman Beyond, wore a fur-trimmed coat or fur wrap.
  • Beverly Hills Teens has some, usually as a fur rug draped over chairs.
    • Bianca's most common fur is a brown fox wrap with her party dress. She also wears a renaissance-era Pimped-Out Dress with a fur neckline when auditioning for a play.
    • Nicky has a white fur coat and a skating dress trimmed with white fur.
  • A few in The Cleveland Show, including a coat Donna wore in a Blaxploitation film she did years before, and Rallo got in trouble for wearing nothing but a mink coat and underwear for a school picture.
  • Daria: Quinn's Pimped-Out Dress for a school play was trimmed with white fur to fit the High Middle Ages look of the scene.
  • In the "Thronecoming" episode of Ever After High, Apple White wears a Pimped-Out Dress with white fur sleeves.
  • The Flintstones: In one episode Fred is having some sort of problem, making him almost completely lethargic. Wilma buys an expensive fur coat of "genuine Siberian mammoth", knowing the cost will make Fred freak out. Betty grabbed a "sabertooth tiger stole" at the same time.
  • Futurama:
    • When Bender gets a Gender Bender (no pun intended), he dates Calculon, who gives Bender a fur coat among many gifts. At other times Bender is no stranger to the pimp coat.
    • A white fur jacket is a gift from the head of the Robot Mafia to his wife in Into the Wild Green Yonder. She was seeing Bender at the time, and he just relished the chance to "nail a dame in a fur coat".
  • Galtar and the Golden Lance: Rava, the niece of the Evil Overlord wears a white fur mini dress◊.
  • Goldie Gold and Action Jack: Goldie Gold is "the world's richest girl" who loves to go on adventures, and her standard outfit for this included a white fur jacket. She also has a winter outfit with an ermine-trimmed parka.
  • In an episode of Goof Troop, Pete takes Peg to the movies as a date, and Peg puts on a pink jacket with a white fur collar.
  • In one episode of The Jetsons, George and Mr. Spacely were in a competition where the prize was a mink coat, which each man wanted to give to his wife. They ended up in a tie and had a tug-of-war with the coat itself, causing it to tear. This worked out, since one wife ended up with a mink jacket and the other used the bottom half as a mink stole.
  • In My Little Pony: Friendship Is Magic, Rarity the fashionista is often seen wearing a fur coat in winter. In the Distant Finale, she appears wearing a fur despite it being spring to show how successful she had been in the intervening years.
  • Princess Gwenevere and the Jewel Riders: The outfits Gwenevere and company wore in the snowy mountains were fancy dresses and capes trimmed with fur.
  • The main character of Princess Sissi has a white winter coat trimmed with fur.
  • In the holiday episode of Sofia the First, Sofia wears an ice blue Happy Holidays Dress, but keeps her Graceful Ladies Like Purple theme with a cape and hat trimmed with white ermine, while her mother and stepsister also wear fur-trimmed coats.
  • In Star Wars: Clone Wars, Amidala wears Stylish Protection Gear on an ice planet, with a fur cape.
  • Strawberry Shortcake's Berry Bitty Adventures: In the episode "On Ice", one of the girls was making pimped out dresses for a spring Fashion Show. When there was a cold snap, she made the dresses trimmed with white fur.
  • Raven in Teen Titans wears a fur-trimmed cape and tights when in extreme cold.
  • In Thunderbirds Lady Penelope has a long mink coat she sometimes wears.
  • The Tick: Fashion model Mindy Moleford has a fur-trimmed coat she wore in the episode where Mole King successfully wooed her.
  • Totally Spies!: Several outfits have fur trim, to the girls' parkas, to a cheerleading squad wearing fur-trimmed dresses.
  • Winx Club: Headmistress Faragonda's sleeping gown is lined with fur and the matching shoes have furballs on them. In the comics her winter coat has fur as well.

    Real Life 

Alternative Title(s): Fur Coat, Mink Coat, Everythings Better With Furs

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