Thank you Suz. You are so kind, and have such empathy! You are so correct, regarding fur here. There is a wave of rebellion and outrage at using real fur though, but I think it's not as maintream, and people wouldn'T give themselves the right to abuse someone because they wear it. I wonder if it's also because it's en extraverted cutlure too, where insulted people will talk back easily.
Yes, it was quite a culture shock for me when I moved out west. In my upbringing, animal skin had been something precious and important. I mean, leather pants appeared like the summum of chic; my own mother spent thousands of dollars on a mink coat, her pized possession. Mind you the best topper for her 1980's Louis Feraud shoulder padded suits - she must have been the queen of power suits, bright red ones in particular. My mother was of this generation of literally superwomen who took it all on, 8hr shifts + household chores + cooking + kids + career, fur coat included when it came by. A long, ankle length nicely cut fur coat was a feminine essential in Quebec for decades. Even today, with the advances in material engineering, as you mention, nothing beats a fur lined hoodie to keep your cheeks from freezing.
OK, here's an example if anyone wants one.
My aunt lives two blocks away from the movie theater. In the dead of winter one evening, I don't know what came over her to do this, (she's the sweetest thing), she ventured out in dead freezing temperatures to walk over to the movies where she watched a romance flick, this only a few months after her crushing divorce with my mother's brother. Anyway, don't do this. Especially if your nearsighted. My poor aunt came home after the 8 minutes walk from the theatre to find that because she had been crying on the way back, her glasses were now FROZEN onto her cheeks. Yet thankfully the rest of her body was intact partly due to the fur lining here and there. That's what - 40 celsius will do to you. This is no joke! When it's there, you don't care anymore, you just don't want frostbites. (BTW her kitchen pipes also burst, but in that case no amount of fur will help).
Another memory: back from the hockey rink (somewhere like 1976). Neighbor Frédérick (the tough good looking one on the block) couldn't feel his feet from a 30 min walk in full gear. I'm in the playroom with Frédérick's sister and other kids, while Frédérick's upstairs his mom giving him a luke warm bath. His screams. His horrible, heart renching shriek from pain. Yikes, you never want to experience frostbites after you hear this. I still remember the look of dismay on his little sister's face.
But I realize these very Québécois experiences are not the norm eslewhere and there is indeed an indignation at the idea of using animal skin for body wear.
