Living: Why Wait for a Man to Buy One?

More and younger women are spoiling themselves with furs

A mink, advised Amy Vanderbilt 25 years ago, must be "treated with respect and worn on appropriate occasions only." This ruled out sporting one on the subway, at the fish market, over sweat pants or before 6 p.m. Tradition further dictated that unless she was a starlet or worse, a woman waited for her husband to present her with a coat on her 50th birthday, to mark her arrival as a Matron.

This week, as shoppers descend upon furriers for the annual winter sales, those maxims appear all but extinct. A typical buyer is more likely to be female than male,...

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