But cultural norms may be further ahead of the state’s legislature.
“Buying real fur is not part of the conversation, to be honest,” said Vanessa Shokrian, a wardrobe and editorial stylist in Los Angeles. “People are not dying for it. I think faux fur has become an industry because of it.”
Though, as the recent uproar over the Schiaparelli couture show — which prominently featured the fake heads of a snow leopard, wolf and lion adorned with silk pelts — demonstrated, even faux fur can prove controversial. (To complicate matters, fake fur is often made from plastics, making its status as “sustainable” a source of contention as well.)
Still, Ms. Pollard Bayme noted that some of her clients — many of whom are high profile — did own fur pieces, and they are still able to wear them under the current law. “But we’re advising our clients to not wear fur in L.A.,” she said.
And while California may not be Paris, St. Moritz or Moscow, where fur is de rigueur, the state still has its own connection with the fur trade. “People did used to wear them to the opera, at restaurants, movie premieres, tea parties, to the Oscars and, of course, in the movies,” said Kimberly Chrisman-Campbell, the author of “Worn on This Day: The Clothes That Made History.”
Popular California designers of Hollywood’s Golden Age, like Gilbert Adrian, who dressed Joan Crawford and Greta Garbo, and James Galanos, who outfitted Nancy Reagan and was popular among socialites, were known to use fur trimmings in their work. Mr. Galanos even had an entire licensed line, Galanos Furs.
“There was a lot of fur, but if you look closely, it’s often a fur stole or a coat with a fur collar because it really was too hot,” Ms. Chrisman-Campbell said.
