Fashion Update: Animal instincts

WAS IT real and, if so, is it back in vogue? That was the burning question after Anna Wintour's appearance at the YSL show in Paris last week. The editor of US Vogue was sporting what appeared to be a real fur coat and many of the sartorially correct were seriously surprised.

OK, so there are still a handful of die-hard couture customers who turn out bristling from top to toe in mink or sable, but fur has become almost extinct on the backs of high-profile editors, who prefer to fake it.

So, too, do supermodels, who have grown beyond mere models to become opinion formers. That they are fiercely anti-fur is demonstrated by a new set of advertisements for People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals for which Christy Turlington, Naomi Campbell, Tatjana Patitz and a clutch of other models, are now baring all under the slogans 'Rather skin than fur' and 'We'd rather go naked than wear fur'.

Meanwhile, Ms Wintour's New York office - stormed last year by anti-fur protesters - has remained strangely silent on the 'Is it real, is it fake?' question.

(Photograph omitted)