Fur (noun, often attributive): 1: a piece of the dressed pelt of an animal used to make, trim, or line wearing apparel
2: an article of clothing made of or with fur
3: the hairy coat of a mammal especially when fine, soft, and thickalso : such a coat with the skin
4: a coating resembling fur: such as
a: a coat of epithelial debris on the tongue
b: the thick pile of a fabric (such as chenille)
In Elizabethan times, The Crown wanted to keep business and wealth within England. In “The rise and fall of sumptuary laws: Rules for dressing in Shakespeare’s England,” Karen Lyon tells us that “the consumption of foreign goods such as silk and furs ensured that its subjects would ‘buy local.’” It was frowned upon to overindulge in foreign goods, so it makes sense that clothing could be revelatory of “small vices.”
“The Fabric’s The Thing: Literal and Figurative References to Textiles in Selected Plays of William Shakespeare“ by Nancy J. Owens and Alan C. Harris provides us with a snapshot of fur’s role in Shakespeare’s time: “The common people in the Elizabethan period typically wore mittens trimmed, if at all, with inexpensive furs such as cat or badger skins. The gentry often wore leather gloves and other items of clothing trimmed with expensive furs such as ermine or sable. In the second quotation the reasons given to the king’s son, Helenus, by his brother, Troilus, for not going to battle come in the form of a two-fold compliment: Not only are you of nobler birth and aspiration but you have more intelligence than to go out to war.”
In Clothing in Elizabethan England, Liza Picard writes about the way that furs got caught up in England’s clothing laws: “Furs in bewildering variety were similarly controlled. Elizabeth and her favourite the Earl of Leicester enjoyed the softness of sables. She had hers from an unexpected source – Ivan the Terrible, Tsar of Russia, who sent them, as well as two ermine gowns, with a proposal of marriage. She kept the furs but refused the proposal.”
In “Cultures of Clothing in Later Medieval and Early Modern Europe,” Margaret F. Rosenthal writes, “While one can argue that all people needed to be clothed, it also must be remembered that only very few men and women had the ability to acquire great lengths of fabric, adorn their garments with gold and silver thread, with laces and ribbons, or to line their cloaks, doublets, and capes with silk or fur.” We see here that like silk and velvet, fur is associated with nobility and the elite. Rosenthal expands on this, explaining that “The very rich who sat for portraits wore sleeves or trains created with billows of silks and satins. Fans were inlaid with gold, silver, and ivory; decorative jewels were abundant, either sewn onto the fabric in clusters of pearls or draped over the bodice or doublet to enhance the colors of the fabric underneath.”
In Venus and Furs: The Cultural Politics of Fur, author J. Emberley, “aims to ‘trace the discursive and non-discursive practices that institutionalize, subvert and transgress the meanings of fur – as articles of trade, sexual fetish, commodity, sign of wealth, protective clothing – in order to understand the contest over meanings and values of fur as a struggle between people.’” Fur was a signifier of wealth and protection, and could even have sexual connotations.
Today, activists are protesting the use of fur in fashion. In “Anti-fur protests set to fly as activists target London fashion week,” Jess Cartner-Morley writes about protests taking place in present-day London, specifically at Fashion Week. She writes, “Boosted by the vogue for veganism, animal rights activists plan to target London fashion week…with the largest fur protests seen at the event in a decade. Ed Winters, the co-director of Surge, which orchestrated anti-fur demonstrations that attracted more than 250 people in September, a rise from 120 the previous catwalk season and 25 in September 2016, said ‘we expect those numbers to continually rise.’”
“FUR” APPEARS IN THE FOLLOWING TEXTS:
TROLIUS AND CRESSIDA
You are for dreams and slumbers, brother priest;
You fur your gloves with reason. Here are
your reasons:
You know an enemy intends you harm;
You know a sword employ'd is perilous,
And reason flies the object of all harm:
Who marvels then, when Helenus beholds
A Grecian and his sword, if he do set
The very wings of reason to his heels
And fly like chidden Mercury from Jove,
Or like a star disorb'd? Nay, if we talk of reason,
Let's shut our gates and sleep: manhood and honour
Should have hare-hearts, would they but fat
their thoughts
With this cramm'd reason: reason and respect
Make livers pale and lustihood deject.
HENRY VI, PART II
[Aside] But now of late, notable to travel with her
furred pack, she washes bucks here at home.
KING LEAR
Contending with the fretful elements;
Bids the wind blow the earth into the sea,
Or swell the curled waters 'bove the main,
That things might change or cease; tears his white hair,
Which the impetuous blasts, with eyeless rage,
Catch in their fury and make nothing of;
Strives in his little world of man to outscorn
The to-and-fro-conflicting wind and rain.
This night, wherein the cub-drawn bear would couch,
The lion and the belly-pinched wolf
Keep their fur dry, unbonneted he runs,
And bids what will take all.
MEASURE FOR MEASURE
'Twas never merry world since, of two usuries, the
merriest was put down, and the worser allowed by
order of law a furred gown to keep him warm; and
furred with fox and lamb-skins too, to signify, that
craft, being richer than innocency, stands for the facing.