Faux Fur, Faux Leather, Faux Snakeskin, Fo Sho.

I have been a lover of faux fur (and a rabid hater of real fur) since forever.  When I spotted this red faux fur coat in Mango on THE hottest day of the summer in London, I let out a scream of glee.  Not only is it as soft as a unicorn’s eyelashes, it is my favourite colour, AND it also has a sparkly crystal top button (very Miu Miu).  There was NO WAY this coat was not coming home with me, in spite of the searing heat.  I took a photo and sent it to my bishes in the Over 40 Collective who confirmed it was as perfect as I knew it was. Together, the salesgirl and I wrestled this faux fur beast into the largest paper shopping bag they have at Mango, and I tried my best not to sing and dance my way out of the shopping centre.  I honestly wanted to stop strangers on the way to my car and say, “Isn’t this the most amazing coat you’ve ever SEEN?”

One of my first style memories comes from a red faux fur coat.  When I was six, I chose a dark red faux fur coat from the Sears catalog. When I put the coat on, I felt powerful.  Stylish.  Like a diva.  Because I was a good reader, I went to reading classes with seven and eight year olds several times a week.  We sat at a big blue horseshoe-shaped table with the teacher in the middle and had to read out loud to the other children.  I can remember walking into the classroom, taking my seat at the horseshoe, and the older children laughing and making fun of my new coat.  I didn’t feel sad or upset for even one second.  Instead, I clearly remember that I felt sorry for them, because even though they were older than I was, they still did not understand the sheer fabulousness of my coat (see below: on this occasion, a two-tone faux fur coat with a hood was obviously not enough; it needed an argyle baker boy cap as well, right?).

Let’s move to the present though…  Today on a gloriously sunny cool day, I had some free time and went to soak up some atmosphere in Notting Hill and Golborne Road.  Notting Hill is fancy fabulous, and Golborne Road is gritty fabulous.  I happen to like both equally and this coat suits both locations.

It works really well with jeans and colourful boots (which are everywhere this year), over a sheath dress, over a sparkly maxi skirt… pretty much over anything that can take a bit of furry fabulousness on top.  Today, I thought I’d style it simply, so the coat could take centre stage.  I like contrasting textures, so I’m wearing faux leather jeans and a shiny faux snakeskin clutch with the fluffy coat.

Since I did a lot of walking, I’m wearing these comfortable shoes which I’ve had for almost 15 years.  I used to wear these embroidered shoes with work suits when I was a banker, can you believe.

Twinning with a pillar box

Details
Coat- Mango
Jeans- previous season H&M
Sweater- Winser London
Ring- Solange Azagury Partridge
Clutch- previous season River Island
Heels- similar
Sunglasses- ZeroUV

If you love this coat as much as I do and order it from Mango, please be advised that it runs very, very large.  I’m 5′ 8″ and a size 8 US/12 UK, and I’m wearing size XXS-XS (US) and XS-S (UK).   The XS is still plenty roomy.  Colours keep coming and going.  Right now, it is only available in a cheerful yellow, but the red or brown may come back in stock.

I love this particular red faux fur coat as much as I did my first one at six years old.  It reminds me that our taste and style may change a bit as we get older, but some parts of us never change.  The things that thrilled me at six STILL thrill me today. For a look at my other recent adventures in faux fur, see this one which I adore, and this one, which I sent back.  I feel diva-fabulous in this coat, and hope you have a coat (or five) in your closet that make you feel like that too.  Life is too short to wear boring coats.  Winter is long and grey, but your coat needn’t be!

Linking to:  stylesplash, notdeadyetstyle, notdressedaslamb

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSaveSaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave

SaveSave