“Furs for Any Purse"

“Substitutes for expensive furs have become so popular that in many instances they have shed their inferiority complex. “Hudson seal,” for example, which everyone knows is just dyed muskrat and which none shrinks from at all, has ceased to feel shy and is accepted for its own sake in excellent society.”

“Whenever a fur becomes fashionable,” said a fur expert, “the trade hunts for a substitute, because the girl in Sixth Avenue wants to look like the fashionable women in Fifth, and we must help her find the way. That is not so often true in foreign countries. There the lines of class distinction are too closely drawn for pretense to be worthwhile.” [. . .]

“Common Furs in Masquerade”

“Yes, there are plenty of substitutes for rich furs. Ever get on a crowded train on a warm and rainy day? You smell a lot of things—all the cheap fur coats, collars and chokers do their bit; cat, dog, dyed goat, rabbit, coney, masquerading under various names. Cat and dog furs dressed up to look like seal—they call it sealine, near seal, French seal, a dozen other names. Dyed goat answers for monkey fur, rabbit and coney for ermine and moleskin, Chinese kid for caracul. People who haven’t the money to buy good furs have to buy something in their place.”

[New York Times, February 17, 1924, p.xx2]