oiran: cherry blossom (Default)
oiran ([personal profile] oiran) wrote2004-12-27 10:37 pm

measure twice, cut once / aztec camera / fur

Today, I have sewn sequins onto bra cups, and have padded an already-padded bra for maximum boobage. I have burned my fingers with hot glue while reassembling a set of huge ostrich feather fans. I have spray-painted sandals metallic gold (they need at least one more coat). I have knelt behind a woman dressed in fishnets and gold panties and tried not to stick pins in her ass while attaching beaded fringe. It is 10:30 and I am tired.

If anyone has tracks (besides Oblivious) from Aztec Camera's High Land, Hard Rain to share, I would appreciate them ever so much. We've been listening to the vinyl obsessively, and I want to be able to keep up the fixation in the car, as well. Oh, and Roddy Frame (Mr. Aztec Camera) is Scottish. More proof that the Scots do everything perfectly.

I have a bunch of old fur pieces (some with heads!) which came from my grandmother. Many of them are gorgeous and in good condition. I used to wear the fox wraps in the winter, but times have changed and I don't want to have paint thrown on me. I realize I'm in Nashville, not in Seattle (where strangers might feel perfectly justified in lecturing me about wearing fur), but I'm having West Coast fur guilt. So, tell me...

[Poll #409396]

[identity profile] amandajane5.livejournal.com 2004-12-28 04:51 am (UTC)(link)
My cousin showed up at Christmas lunch wearing my aunt's old fur coat from the 80s, and I found it very cute. I dunno, whatever it was, it be *very* ded now!

[identity profile] velvetglove.livejournal.com 2004-12-28 05:17 am (UTC)(link)
Oh dear. Stuff from the 80s is vintage, isn't it?

*feels old*

[identity profile] pepperjackcandy.livejournal.com 2004-12-28 05:02 am (UTC)(link)
I guess it depends on the animal, though. I mean, I've never seen a Galapagos-Island-Tortoise-shell comb, or an evening gown trimmed with amazon parrot feathers or anything, but they have 50 year+ lifespans, so when I say "probably dead by then," I mean, you know, most of the things that furs are made from -- foxes, minks, etc.

I have a purely-synthetic faux lynx coat that looks and almost feels like the real thing. I love that coat. I carried the tag around in my pocket for a long time, because it said that it was a fake fur on it and I wanted to be able to prove the coat's lack of authenticity, should anyone ask me about it.

[identity profile] velvetglove.livejournal.com 2004-12-28 05:22 am (UTC)(link)
I've got fox, beaver, bear, mink, Persian lamb and some kind of cat. The cat looks like lynx, but I can't be sure. It's a big, 1940s collar that I'm going to take apart and make a scarf from. The fox wraps *were* the kind with heads and feet, but only one is intact. The other was determined to be an enemy by a pet cat and lost its head and three of four legs. Since it's now basically a scarf, so I'll probably be taking that apart, as well.

I would have trouble with tortoiseshell - the whole idea really upsets me - but I'm okay with the (old) fur. I have no idea why - it seems quite hypocritical.

[identity profile] meret.livejournal.com 2004-12-28 05:45 am (UTC)(link)
I'm a vegetarian and anti-fur. To me, it would be like wearing a corpse.

[identity profile] velvetglove.livejournal.com 2004-12-28 05:53 am (UTC)(link)
I don't disagree with you re: corpseness, actually. I'm aware when I'm touching the fur pieces that they are dead things, and if they were new, I wouldn't be interested in wearing them at all. Perhaps I'm just excusing my vanity by focusing on the number of years since these items were, well, killed.

[identity profile] pickinguproses.livejournal.com 2004-12-28 06:51 am (UTC)(link)
Hmm...I'm a vegan and am anti-fur/leather, so I'm not the most objective person to comment. Even from a non-AR viewpoint I find fur really, very gross. It squicks me to even touch it.

However, I'd say that there would be nothing wrong with wearing vintage fur. It's not like you're supporting the fur market by purchasing it, which I think is the main concern. But, wearing any fur is pretty much a statement that you condone it, and that's what people will see. I guess it depends whether or not you want people to have the correct impression of you.

[identity profile] velvetglove.livejournal.com 2004-12-28 06:18 pm (UTC)(link)
I run into a moral quagmire pretty quickly with fur, leather, and meat. I was a strict vegetarian for about 15 years (though I still wore leather and the vintage fur pieces). I am more opposed to modern farming practices than to the slaughter of animals. I feel okay about eating beef that has lived a cow-type of life (i.e., free-range), but not beef that has been raised in a tiny stall, standing in its own shit. However, to be really pure in my feelings regarding the whole meat/food cycle, I'd have to kill my food myself, and I'm not prepared to do that.

Yet, while I'm debating whether to wear my fur (which, obviously, I want to do, and likely will do), I still am taken aback at seeing people in full-length fur coats - they're perverse, basically, and give me the creeps.

So, I don't know what the correct impression would be, at this point, but I appreciate the opportunity to try to pick it apart ;)

[identity profile] yammerskooner.livejournal.com 2004-12-28 06:54 am (UTC)(link)
i just saying it's more of a sin to let beautiful fur
fall into the wrong, unappreciative hands

the right hands

[identity profile] velvetglove.livejournal.com 2004-12-28 06:21 pm (UTC)(link)
I do appreciate the perversity of beautiful fur. It brings out the Elizabeth Bathory in me.

Re: the right hands

[identity profile] yammerskooner.livejournal.com 2004-12-28 06:25 pm (UTC)(link)


Tetillas Masculinas con Cabello [Detail]
Nicola Costantino

[identity profile] velvetglove.livejournal.com 2004-12-28 07:12 pm (UTC)(link)
Dang. That was my next one. I got nothin'. Except a different angle.

[identity profile] yammerskooner.livejournal.com 2004-12-28 07:44 pm (UTC)(link)
yes, but yours is so much more . . . open.

[identity profile] fleegull.livejournal.com 2004-12-28 03:10 pm (UTC)(link)
The only fur that I'm against is the fur from clearly endangered animals. Other than that, since I find nothing cute or endearing about minks and rabbits, I say go ahead and do whatever you want. Hell, I just got a pair of fur boots, I'd be a huge hypocrite if I stood up and told anyone what she should do about fur.

[identity profile] velvetglove.livejournal.com 2004-12-28 06:23 pm (UTC)(link)
Those boots must look so cute on you. What color did you get?

You have such great clothes. You should have a website of your closet with a little Fleeg dress-up doll to play mix-and-match with.

[identity profile] tubenerd.livejournal.com 2004-12-28 03:45 pm (UTC)(link)
You should at least run around the house nude.

[identity profile] velvetglove.livejournal.com 2004-12-28 06:24 pm (UTC)(link)
And this has to do with fur because...?

Oh. You just wanted to see me run around naked.

[identity profile] rhiannonhero.livejournal.com 2004-12-28 05:36 pm (UTC)(link)
You're in Nashville. It's the South. They don't care. Hell, they HUNT. Wear the fur.

[identity profile] velvetglove.livejournal.com 2004-12-28 06:26 pm (UTC)(link)
Well, people hunt in the Northwest, but they're evil. However, I've seen so many mink coats in the past week that all the karmic guilt allotted for the Southeast has likely been doled out already, and I'll be able to slip under the radar with my little fur collars.