Karl Lagerfeld Wants to Sell You This $1 Million Coat
Lagerfeld at Fendi’s Fall 2015 Couture show in Paris. Photo: Getty Images
Karl Lagerfeld’s latest news-worthy endeavor calls to mind the lyrics of a certain irritating mid-’90s Barenaked Ladies song.
If I had a million dollars / I’d buy you a fur coat / But not a real fur coat, that’s cruel.
Well… maybe scratch that last line. According to the Financial Times (via Four Pins), Fendi, the Italian luxury fashion house for which Lagerfeld designs, is now selling a fur coat from its all-fur fall 2015 couture collection for €1 million ($1,085,470). And it’s very real. Both the fur, and the price.
The cost of the garment is due partially to it being made from sable fur, a really cute critter belonging to the marten family that’s native to Russia and Asia, and looks like a cross between a ferret and a cat. In terms of fur as fashion, sable has been revered for centuries for being super smooth and soft. It takes approximately 60-70 sable skins to make a single fur coat. Henry VIII was apparently an avid fan of the material.
Fendi’s €1 million coat. Photo: Style.com
Lagerfeld, who’s celebrating 50 years with Fendi, told WWD that the cost of fur is rising because it’s availability is declining. “They’re rarer and rarer,” he said. “That means the activists don’t have to be too angry because there is less and less and it becomes more and more expensive. The sable coat today is expensive, like people pay less for a house than for a sable coat. It’s unbelievable!” (It’s worth noting that sable are not an endangered or threatened species.)
Also adding to the price is the fact that Fendi’s coat has been partially dyed with actual silver, which, as the house described it, gives “a unique and contemporary luminous metallic effect to the fur, while maintaining its softness.”
Also also adding to the price is the fact that it has a Fendi tag inside. That sh-t’s ‘spensive.
Kinda makes Prada’s mink and sable fur coat from fall 2013 , which rang in at $140,240, seem like a clearance item, doesn’t it?
As for who might actually purchase Fendi’s penthouse-priced outerwear? Our initial guess is Kanye West as a birthday present for Kim Kardashian, who’s turning 35 this October. If only ole’ Henry 8 were still alive today… (Or maybe not. He killed a lot of people, and, evidently, adorable animals.)
More from Yahoo Style:
Beat the Heat with Fendi Inspired Braids
Kohl’s Caught Selling Real Fur on Product Marketed as Faux
Is Your Fake Fur Really Fake?
