Monkey fur coat, c. 1938

 

Monkey fur inspires strong reactions. On my first encounter with a monkey fur coat, I was shocked by its smooth black locks, which were alarmingly similar to human hair. Among the FIDM Museum staff, we have differing reactions not only to monkey fur, but to fur in general. These differences in opinion arise during our frequent discussions about various aspects of fashion history, or when a new acquisition features fur elements. Despite any personal preferences, we all understand that fur has been an integral element of human dress for thousands of years and it is therefore important to both document and study examples of fur in fashion. Previously, we've written about our Ted Lapidus wolf and coyote fur coat and on issues arising from the use of feathers in fashion.

Monkey fur bolero
c. 1938
Gift of Steven Porterfield
S2008.897.1

Though Elsa Schiaparelli is closely associated with monkey fur, sources indicate that it was also used in the nineteenth century. An March 1867 article from Arthur's Home Magazine describes monkey fur as "well-known," prized specifically for the way it hangs gracefully over the hands when made into a muff. A 1892 cartoon from La Vie Parisienne features a monkey pointing at woman clad in a hat and coat clearly made from monkey fur. The caption reads, "When O Ladies, will you stop creating beauty for yourselves out of our ugliness?" Though the meaning of the caption is a bit unclear, it suggests that animal fur might be better left on animals, rather than made into fur coats. This juxtaposition of virtuous animal and ravenous human is often used in contemporary anti-fur campaigns.

Schiaparelli brought monkey fur into the center spotlight during the 1930s. In 1933, Schiaparelli presented the "shoulder tray coat," a wool coat with a ring of long black monkey fur encircling the coat at shoulder height. Later in the 1930s, Schiaparelli introduced a number of garments featuring monkey fur, including a pair of short boots with monkey fur spilling over the foot opening, and a sweater covered front and back with monkey fur. After Schiaparelli incorporated monkey fur into her haute couture creations, it quickly appeared on ready-made garments. In advertisements and fashion coverage, sleek and shiny monkey fur was often described as modern, daring and sophisticated. Though monkey fur had a particular cachet, fur of all types was frequently incorporated into 1930s fashionable dress, particularly outerwear. Our late 1930s monkey fur coat bears a tag reading Peyton's, Oklahoma City. Clearly, a desire for monkey fur spread far and wide from Schiaparelli's Paris salon!

S2008.897.1 Back view

The type of monkey fur used by Schiaparelli and the maker of our bolero comes from the colobus monkey. Native to Africa, the colobus is an arboreal monkey, meaning it spends most of its life in the tree canopy and rarely descends to solid ground. There are multiple types and colors of colobus monkeys, though the black and white variety was most commonly hunted for its distinctive, long fur and striking dark color. Though no longer sought after for use in western fashionable dress, the colobus is currently at risk from habitat loss due to deforestation.

 

Comments

[Karan Feder]

The Liberace costume collection has a few examples of monkey fur incorporated into stage costumes. Liberace asserted that the monkey fur had been re-purposed, although there is also a leopard skin tuxedo jacket in the collection....

[Hana - Marmota]

I noticed there's probably a mistake... you mention a cartoon from "1992" - I suppose that was to be 1892.
All historical, fashion and moral issues aside, I think I like the fur of colobus monkey much more when still atached to a live animal - I think that's a design no fashion can surpass. :-)

[Kara]

Out of all the things in costume we no longer use, monkey fur has always been the one that grossed me out the most.

[Rachel]

Hana-Thanks for catching the typo! I did mean to type 1892, and it's now fixed in the post.

Karan-It's possible that the monkey fur in Liberace's collection was actually repurposed from other garments. I've seen this done sometimes in historic garments, as fur is/was such an expensive item. This is particularly true for the exotic furs like monkey, big cat, as it's illegal to import/buy/sell. I think it is also illegal to buy or sell even vintage exotic furs without a permit, though I'd have to double-check on this.

Kara-Synthetic monkey fur is probably a convincing substitute!

[Diana Zlatanovski]

Wow! Oddly enough (or actually maybe not odd at all) the silhouette of the jacket is slightly gorilla-esque.

Any chance they were just catching and shaving the monkeys? I'm going to convince myself that's how they acquired all of this fur...

[Terri]

I was told that shooting monkeys for this purpose was outlawed in 1928...thus considered an endangered species and illegal to sell since 1970.
http://www.furs.com/old_fur/intro.html
I have a knee length one.

[Louise]

Fur is murder. How dare you use the excuse that it's been worn for thousands of years. YES to keep warm when we didn't have cotton, polyester, nylon etc. How dare you use that as an excuse to murder innocent animals who are used for NOTHING other than to make you look good, you don't eat the organs for survival, you just skin and wear. This is vulgar, wrong and anyone who wears a fur of any type should be skinned too and worn as a trophy, see how they might like it!

[James]

Fur is murder...to clean. This is a fascinating article about a fur I didn't know was used. I don't think however it would have been too popular up here in the north. We'll stick to our seal and wolf.