// December 2021 //
“I made a beeline up to The Fur Salon on the 3rd Floor of Saks Fifth Avenue like my love for fashion depended on it.
All the glitz and exuberant festive sparkle that sprang from designer displays on route caught my eye – but I didn’t stop. I knew I needed to check out the furs to feel like I really was “shopping in Saks on Fifth”
My first Saks experience did not disappoint. I walked in to see a lady sitting down at an antique wooden desk, surrounded by hundreds of immaculate furs of all textures, colours and lengths.
The salon felt so regal and full of history. How did they all get here?. How were there so many variations of a fur? The glass-encased salon signified money, importance, entitlement.
Oh boy. Here I was!
I wanted to try a black and white spotted Cruella Devil-esque piece as soon as I laid my eyes on it. So I did. Labelled on sale at $25,000 – don’t mind if I do. A part of me walked out with it on my back in that moment. What a coat – what a feeling!
Next I went for what I deemed as ‘the full Kanye’ – the top to toe length Chinchilla- labelled on sale at $75,000. An assistant kindly helped me with it, gently advising me I was “only allowed to try it on because I was Welsh”
I joked with him and felt welcome, as I took it all in with my eyes lit up in awe.
Speaking to the lady – she told me she had “A duplex full of clothes and two cats that wreck my furniture so my best sofa is in storage” – “But no boyfriend” – “It’s just me. Look at me. Shopping again! Who would want me?”
I was all “To me – you’re buying fur coats in Saks, you don’t need a boyfriend in this moment – I think you got this for yourself!”
Behind us was another lady, who I estimate was in her 70’s. She was all glammed up and trying on a short, day-wear kinda dark navy fur whilst telling her assistant loudly “I’ll be dead by the time I get enough wear out of this”
Is the Saks on Fifth Fur Salon the place wealthy ladies go to cloak their feelings in animal finery from around the globe? That’s how it felt to me.
I didn’t realise until I was leaving that the Cruella piece I had boldly put on on arrival was on the first lady’s purchase rack! Since there were so many coats on one rail I thought it was part of the store – as I tottered out, she was putting her payment through for four coats. Loudly saying what card she wanted to use and not giving two hoots who heard her mid-haul.
I loved the fact that she didn’t tell me not to try that fur on. I saw us as two women bonding from different worlds, over a print that would turn heads no matter where you took it.
One can only imagine what the staff at Saks hear on the daily. I was fascinated by these two ladies; their outfits, their carefully coiffured hair and their choices from the rails that offered glorified new ways to present yourself in life”
@LaraLain
