Most of the year, thermometers in Hong Kong stay well above 20 degrees Celsius, or 68 Fahrenheit; in the summer it climbs to 35 degrees. Nature might make Hong Kong and a strong passion for fur an unlikely pairing, but beyond that, precious skins and the city are a perfect fit.
"For Hong Kong women, fur is like diamonds, something to aspire for. It is part of the fairy tale," says Louise Kou, a high-society lifestyle consultant and a fur collector. "Hong Kong ladies love to dress up and be on top of international fashion trends. Fur is a big statement that we love for winter."
Traditionally, the minute the temperature dips below 20 degrees, the ladies start showing up in fur coats and wraps in the Central business district. The unusually cold winter this year, with many weeks below 10 degrees Celsius, instead of just a few days, has prompted a public display of fur fashions not seen in a long time on some of the territory's most fashionable women.
In humid Hong Kong, 5 degrees feels a lot colder than in Europe. In subtropical southern China, homes and offices typically do not have central heating.
In the evenings, fur coats and accessories of all sorts have become de rigueur at Hong Kong charity fund-raising events and chic private dinners. "From chinchilla to minks, all the furs are coming out," says Kou, a former head of the luxury retailers Swank Shop and the Asia operations of Escada.
"All the ladies think, 'Oh my God, this is the only chance to make the fur coats breathe a little bit.' So, they are wearing them," Kou added.
Socialites take their fur fashions so seriously that the mansions of some big Hong Kong families include their own temperature-controlled vaults for furs, which need to be protected from the usually hot weather.
Others check their pelts into special facilities run by companies like the Siberian Fur Store, one of the oldest fur retailers in town, which has cold storage for as many as 5,000 items. Siberian, a venerable Hong Kong institution, charges up to 100 Hong Kong dollars, or $13, a month to keep a long coat of "ordinary" fur (mink and fox) and 120 dollars for "special" fur (sable, chinchilla).
While many Hong Kong women's choices of furs are influenced by the quality and rarity of the pelts, an increasing number buy to suit a mood. "Minks are always popular. Some love sable. But there are more who treat fur like another textile. They want 'fun furs,' " says Jennifer Fong, Siberian's designer and the company founder's granddaughter.
Fong says that most of Siberian's customers are Hong Kong residents and that pink and purple fur accessories have been selling well recently.
The conventional wisdom among retailers is that cropped, slim and babydoll styles are most appropriate for the Hong Kong market. The cuts work best on relatively petite Asian frames.
Hong Kong's love affair with fur is not some new fleeting fashion. Several of mainland China's top furriers, along with many of Shanghai and Guangdong Province's wealthiest families, moved to the city, then a British territory, after 1931, when the war with Japan caused political and economic instability in China. Siberian opened in 1935.
Recently, Hong Kong's stature in the fur industry has only increased with the emergence of China as a superpower in the business of treating skins and manufacturing. The former colony now ranks as the No. 2 fur garment exporter in the world, following China. Rounding out the top five are Greece, Italy and Turkey.
"For fine furs, Hong Kong is No. 1," says Brenda Fung of the Hong Kong Fur Federation, an industry group with more than three dozen retail members.
Since 1997, the fur trade has grown almost 40 percent, Fung says. Last year, Hong Kong fur exports totaled 2.5 billion Hong Kong dollars.
The federation estimates annual local retail sales to be around 125 million Hong Kong dollars, a fairly significant amount considering the relatively mild winters.
And when this unusual winter is over, Fung predicts that the weather will have bolstered domestic retail sales totals.
At the Hong Kong branch of the luxury department store Harvey Nichols, one of its first winter wear sales really set the tone for the season - even though it happened in early August, when the weather was still hot and humid.
Four days after the cold-weather styles arrived in the store, the trend-setting Hong Kong actress Carina Lau Ka-ling, a local paparazzi favorite, was one of the first to buy a silver Russian mink vest by Revillon, the French fur house.
The piece, which retails for 99,000 Hong Kong dollars, has been a best-seller for the store, with personal shoppers still receiving orders for the style.
