MINK STOLE

In the  1940’s it was fashionable to wear fur stoles (also called boas or collars) which appeared to be made up of entire small animals, or several entire small animal pelts, clipped together in various ways, worn over a suit jacket or coat. They were considered sophisticated, elegant and luxurious. As they were worn by famous public figures, actresses, socialites, models and royalty, it brought them great popularity and became more mainstream. 

These furs were not actually the entire animal. They are made from real fur, but the heads on the fur pieces are not the real. They are manufactured facsimile of animal heads, shaped by a furrier in a small press. The noses are made of a material such as plastic formed to look like an animal’s nose and the eyes are plastic or glass beads. What appears to be an animal’s mouth is a clip on a spring mechanism that functions something like a clothes pin, called a fur clip, often covered in crocheted fabric. The multiple animal stoles, were several fur pieces connected together with plastic rings in short chains and fur clips which could be used hold the individual animals together in different configurations for various styling options. You could also use the clip to fasten a stole to a coat or suit collar or lapel in order to hold it in place.

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