Believe It or Not, It’s Time to Think Furs

For many of us, it’s too hot to think about draping our bodies in animal hides. But for those with a fur in their future, it’s time to start looking.

As with other garments, the new styles are on the racks, beckoning to buyers who want an early start on the season. For those who want a custom-made coat, August is the time to place the order.

Among those taking the orders is Rik Kiszely, a fur designer for Neiman Marcus for eight years before opening his custom fur salon in Newport Beach last October.

Fur has always been Kiszely’s passion. A fourth-generation furrier from a family originally from Tiszafured, Hungary, Kiszely knows all about choosing the skins, fitting the customer and sewing the pieces together. He loves the feel of the fur and the way it moves in a garment.

But what he really wants to do is make something he can sit on.

For the last few years, he has been designing and creating handcrafted throw pillows, beds, chairs and ottomans out of sheared mink, beaver and other furs. The prices for the pieces, from about $12,500 to $25,000 (for an oversized ottoman in sheared champagne mink), keep them well out of reach for most buyers. In fact, he has sold only two.

So Kiszely makes coats.

Hanging in his Exclusifurs shop on Westcliff Drive are about two dozen styles he has been creating for the new season: several full-length, champagne-colored mink coats, a pale sheared mink short men’s jacket and a dusty rose jacket made out of French rabbit.

These are not the kinds of coats mama wore. They are high-styled wraps with leather trims, wild silk floral linings and rich, daring colors. Kiszely describes his collection as high fashion yet classical. He says this season’s fur styles are unconstructed, untailored and versatile.

“The look in fur now is a very easy look,” says the 39-year-old Laguna Hills resident. “They’re comfortable, loose and generously cut. Five to 10 years ago it was more streamlined and tailored. The new look is wide and fluid.”

Many of the styles are designed to be worn either with blue jeans or formal wear, appealing to the young, diamonds-with-denim set. The coats are short (knee-length is the most popular) and casual, like the new breed of fur buyer.

The buying age for fur is getting younger and younger, according to Kiszely, who says he recently designed a mink for a 2-year-old. “Part of it is just the way that fashion goes, and right now it’s fashionable. . . . I’m carrying some designs for teen-agers, and for them, you can’t charge a lot, so I’ll do leather and fur combinations and have some for $1,500.”

Another big look this year is shearling--lambskin--often in brilliant colors. This short-napped fur is cropping up in collars, sleeves and linings and is a hot look for the young and fashion-conscious, says Kiszely.

But throughout the seasons, natural-colored dark mink in a traditionally styled coat is always the biggest seller. Kiszely’s mink prices range from about $3,000 to $21,000 and take from four to six weeks to order if custom-made.

Kiszely, who hails from Washington state, where his family is still in the fur business, says Southern California is one of the best markets for furs.

“Mostly because there are so many people in the high-income bracket,” he says. “But also because they are very well traveled. They go to Europe and New York every winter, and they need furs as just a practicality. And also because there are so many fashion-conscious people here.”

He says many of his customers have more than one fur.

“They’re not satisfied with having one mink coat,” he says, “so they buy a jacket or a fun fur, something out of fox.”

Kiszely says he is not greatly disturbed by the protests of animal-rights activists, who think that wearing animal skins is cruel and immoral.

“I think, for the most part, they are misinformed,” he says. “I mean, they think raising silkworms is cruel. . . . But some of the activists have brought about good changes in the industry. Animals are trapped more humanely than they used to be; they are killed more quickly. And they have called attention to the use of endangered species (by the fur industry) in other countries, which is also a good thing.”

But Kiszely says many animal-rights groups don’t realize that United States furriers do not use endangered species.

“There are a plentiful number of animals out there, and if they weren’t cultivated, they would overpopulate and wreak more havoc,” he says.

Kiszely says his interest in making furniture out of fur, which he calls fur niture, is a natural extension of his love for animal skins.

“I just think fur, especially mink, is such a wonderful fabric. Why not bring it into the home? Why limit it to something you wear?”

He says that if he could afford to, he would have fur pieces in his own home. “Why not put it someplace you can see it and feel it all the time?”