White Stole has written about our embrace of Yves Saint Laurent as a Couturier celebrated for his invitation to women to ‘dress to express herself through clothing.’ 

Without question, Saint Laurent liberated our sense of style and invented a modern look that suited contemporary women’s status in society then…and now.  But what is most treasured by White Stole’s Curators of Stole Style is his embrace of the Stole, Shawl, Scarf, Cape and Bolero Accessory,

A critical moment in Yves Saint Laurent’s career was his first evening dress design at the beginning of the Autumn-Winter 1955 collection for the Couture House of Dior.  This design of a black dress, draped with a white scarf worn by a woman astride two elephants in the now-iconic photograph by Richard Avedon, Dovima with Elephants, caused the sensation that would launch Saint Laurent to his iconic status we recognize today. 

Later, his Paris pink silk satin draped bodice with large bow atop black velvet skirt, created in 1983, paid homage to his ability to add the kind of design focal point that made him beloved the world over.

After discovering Morocco in 1966, Saint Laurent expanded his palette into what became a strong element of his style with the explosion of intense colors and the varied hues of traditional garments worn in the Medina.  From black, which he considered a real color, to the exploration of a broad colorful palate, and particular love of pink and blue, Saint Laurent’s sensitivity to color is noticeable in every aspect of his style.

As lovers of Couture, we applaud Saint Laurent’s use of costume jewelry, which was the most inventive in the history of fashion and followed the themes of each of his collections.  The importance granted to the Accessory - the Stole, Cape, Bolero, Shawl, Scarf and Jewelry - established the Saint Laurent look and prefigured the contemporary era. 
White Stole especially admires how Saint Laurent advised women without means to wear a very beautiful accessory over a simple skirt, a black sweater, and boots. 

Together, we are swept into a full embrace of Saint Laurent’s praise of Stoles, Capes and Bolero Wraps in the video footage of the 1998 World Cup soccer finals that contributed to the creation of Saint Laurent’s mythic persona.  This outsized retrospective fashion show at the Stade de France offered him the opportunity to present haute couture to a truly global audience as stunned fans and viewers from all over the world watched three hundred models walk the runway on the floor of the stadium to the music of Ravel’s Bolero. 

In the photos White Stole has carefully curated from the retrospective of that runway show preserved by the Fondation Pierre Berge – Yves Saint Laurent, The Perfection of Style, we witness that Saint Laurent avoided the over-designed approach of many traditional haute couture garments.  Instead, Saint Laurent focused attention on the beauty of the cut rather than superficial ornamentation – proving that the simplest dress can be more spectacular when brought to life with the perfect “Accessory.”  

White Stole celebrates the Stole, Shawl, Cape and Bolero heritage created in all fabrics, materials and textures for us by Saint Laurent, and hopes you enjoy our favorite photos posted here for your pleasure.

View White Stole’s entire collection for size and color ranges of Stoles, Stole Wraps, Vintage Stoles, Stole Capes, Shawls, Foulard Scaves and Veiled Bridal Hair Accessories for purchase, or rental, on our website.

In life, there just simply are certain garments we want to wear in the most beautiful moments of our lives.  And in the world of Formal Wear, Valentino is a brand that follows both elegance and practicality…thanks to its secret ingredients that have maintained touch with the trends that influence Gala Fashion all over the world.  Season after season each collection is more amazing than the last.  At the same time, it’s evident that designs by Valentino always follow traditional style and taste, which will always rise to the top.

The polished elegance of Stoles, Capes, Shawls and Bolero Wraps that dominate Valentino's Runway at every Fashion Week prove to all of us that in every season, and in every fabric, whether lace, fringe, fur or sheer silk, Valentino's designers celebrate the flawless in women's true nature.  The extraordinary House of Valentino breathes inspiration from all women across the globe.  Whether shy, extroverted or romantic, Valentino designs are famous for creating gowns and accessories of elegance for everyone to dress their own personality without ever neglecting refinement and originality.

Either a sheer, black Embroidered Lace or Fur-Trimmed Lace Valentino Gown, or an ivory Lace-Caped Valentino Gown, such as the ones pictured here, exude pure elegance.  White Stole sees starlight when we look through the lace peep-holes in these gowns!  Equally elegant is the embroidered detailing and accents that present in the double-sided, luxurious "Sophisticated Lace Dream" Silk Twill Shawl Wrap by Valentino in the White Stole Collection, giving it the Ultra Luxe vibe you are seeking for any Wedding, making it easy to pair with a chic evening gown, glamorous heels or a beaded clutch.  For extra bonus, move the tie to a front shoulder, so your collarbone will definitely get noticed!

Simply choose from one of our favorite Valentino or Leonard Paris Silk Satin Stole Wrap Collections. These iconic brands’ graphic collections feature rich embroidery and color blocking to add superb styling to timeless essentials, all with a decidedly cool downtown flare!  Whether buying for yourself or for someone in your wedding party, wrap-up these luxe classics for a very stylish holiday season.

View White Stole’s entire collection for size and color ranges of Stoles, Stole Wraps, Vintage Stoles, Stole Capes and Shawls for purchase, or rental, on our website.

The elegant inspiration of a flowing Stole as a formal wrap of expensive fabric wrapped around the shoulders over a long dress or ballgown, created from silk or natural fabric, and of a length long enough to be draped across either shoulders, or around arms or neck has survived in all cultures throughout the ages. 

A Stole Wrap is typically narrower than a Shawl, and of simpler construction than a Stole Cape, and is typically worn loosely around the shoulders. Lighter materials such as silk and chiffon are simply finished or cropped, hemmed and bound.  Heavier materials such as fur and brocade are typically lined.  A Silk Stole is essentially a small version of a ladies’ Stole, made of silk. Though these garments or accessories aren’t always made of silk, they are typically manufactured with similar quality fabrics.

A Stole can also mean a fur or set of furs.  For formal wear, a finished length of fur using pelts from more than one animal is worn over a suit, dress or gown.  In this case, the word Stole stands alone or is used in combination: Fur Stole, Mink Stole.  A Stole is typically narrower than a Cape or Wrap.  The Fur Stole is kept fastened and held together at the front of the collar. Unlike a Silk Stole or Shawl, which is wrapped loosely around a lady’s shoulders and occasionally the neck, a Fur Stole is manufactured to fit the body more snugly

Similar to a Shawl, the Stole Cape typically uses more material length and covers more of the upper body. Also occasionally referred to as a Stole Wrap, the Stole Cape is likely to be found in a wide array of materials and colors, but the most common type of Stole Cape is typically made of fur.  Some popular dressy styles of Stole Capes might include ostrich feathers, marabou, or other material. The feathers can come in various colors, although black, brown and white are generally the most commonly seen.

In addition to making an elegant fashion statement, all types of Stoles have been used to show respect while in a church or in a formal setting, such as for a Wedding, where it might be inappropriate to display bare shoulders or a low-cut gown.

Historically, Stoles were considered ceremonial dress worn for special occasions or at formal events such as weddings, coronations, graduations, parades, religious rites and galas.  Besides the Wedding Dress, throughout history the formal dress code of ceremonial dress has included the Ermine-lined Cloak, Crown and Septer of a King or Queen, Tribal Dress, Suit of Armor, Military Dress, Liturgical Robe, Graduation Gown, and Robe and Wig worn by British judges.  The Stole as an ecclesiastical vestment consisted of a narrow strip of silk or other material worn over the shoulders or, by deacons, over the left shoulder only, and arranged to hang down in front to the knee or below.  The Stole as a long robe was worn by the matrons of Ancient Rome. 

The lithograph plate posted here showing a variety of ways of wearing shawls in early 19th-century France (ca. 1802-1814), is redrawn from various early 19th-century sources by Durin for Albert Charles Auguste Racinet's Le Costume Historique (1888), and shows the myriad, exquisite ways the Silk Stole Wrap has been worn over the ages.

View White Stole's entire collection of Stoles, Silk Stole Wraps, Vintage Stoles, Stole Capes and Shawls for purchase, or rental, on our website.

Folk-art, irony, youth culture and Rock and Roll all affected fur wrap fashion in the second half of the 60’s, bringing about an almost infinite amount of unpredictability in outerwear design.  Fur trimmings were an important factor in fashion for ladies in the Sixties, as the Createurs added refined details and fringe to collars, cuffs, borders, skirt hems, hats and scarves on every luxurious design presented.  Side-by-side with these details came an explosion of artistic follies that turned into a powerful trend.

Pellegrini presented a “gaucho” outfit in Persian lamb inset with zebra, Nina Ricci presented leopard "trousers," while Yves Saint Laurent added fringes of tails at cuffs and borders to an ermine "cape" of black and white squares.  This change in style brought to the streets “ponchos” that came in every fur type with great fringes in chamois or contrasting fur worn over mink "trouser-skirts", zebra "coats" made of a whole skin and decorated with lapels, collar and cuffs of silver fox, as well as mink “mini top-coats” in mink or champagne-colored Persian lamb that came down to the edge of a long stretch of boots with cuffs, collars and hems in opossum. 

Simultaneously, a search for the “Folk-art” look exploded onto the scene with a leopard and zebra "bikini" and "beach-wrap" by Sergio Soldano, the young, unrestrained furrier from Genova, Italy, whose profusion of colors captured the adoration of everyone from Gina Lollobrigida to Raquel Welch.  Revolutionary and eclectic, from the end of the Sixties onward, Soldano’s production of spectacular designs included the inspiration of the “squaw coat" and “savage” furs, to nostalgia for the 20’s in Al Capone-style "sports coats" in monkey fur and mink "mini-skirts," along with great "ponchos" of goatskin or long, "floor-length coats".  His spectacular creations spurred continual research into new methods of working with fur alongside creation of the vivid color palettes he favored – from different shades or green and twill, wheat, red lacquer and white, ruby red, ochre and lime green, pale blues, pinkish terracotta, parchment, China blue and more.

This was a time when the imagination in fur design knew no bounds.

View White Stole’s entire collection for size color ranges of Stoles, Stole Wraps, Vintage Stoles, Stole Capes and Shawls for purchase, or rental, on our website.

In the process of demystifying
fur fashion in the 60’s, it was almost natural to turn to sport.  The formula from the middle of the decade onwards was for more and more tailor-mades, coats, jackets, tunics, skirts and trousers of fur typically in sporting garments. 

Yves Saint Laurent took the drama out of leopard-skin by presenting a pullover with sleeves and collar of ribbed knitting.  Fur combined with leather, as well as leather coats lined and belted in white fur were seen on the streets.  Most notably, the coupling of knitwear and fur that had precedents in the Fifties proved itself by the Sixties to be a trend that would last for atleast twenty years.

The Frankfurt Fair in 1968 celebrated the creations of Jole Veneziani, the godmother of the show, alongside creations by the most renowned names in Italian fur fashion:  Melloni, Parodi, Pellegrini, Rossini & Porro, and Viscardi. Fur Fashion Luminaries now created the first tennis outfit with a short skirt of white mink, Pucci designed a bush-jacket in black Persian lamb with white knitted borders, others created trousers, tunics and boots, ski-suits, anoraks and gaiters for winter sports, hooded jackets or cardigans and pullovers bordered or braided with multi-colored knitting worked in furrier’s point, giving it the elegant effect that created it’s rage. 

View White Stole’s entire collection for size color ranges of Stoles, Stole Wraps, Vintage Stoles, Stole Capes and Shawls for purchase, or rental, on our website.

As the 60’s ushered in the first man in space, the Kennedy assassination and the collapse of the Berlin Wall, so did prosperity grow.  Young women no longer squeezed themselves into latex to imitate Mom, and in response, adults caught the infection of youthful fashion. The Mini Skirt soon became the Maxi.  Fashion changed rapidly into 2 realms:  one the informal, and the other, the formal.  Chanel launched her typical tailor-made suits, and Emilio Pucci enclosed his suits in little bags while ladies went to parties in Pajama Suits.  Nevertheless, the novelty of the 60’s was its use of expensive, natural furs for edging and cowl necks on refined garments that transfigured the usual lines of sports clothes into something very elegant. 

1966 was a year of romanticism in fashion – of a return to femininity.  That year, the Fendis held a show in Rome which became an event of major importance to the fur fashion world.  The regal style of fur for evening seemed to get younger.  “Short” became the new password.   Shirt-blouses, head kerchiefs, little jackets, sleeveless jackets and waistcoats debuted.  From their collaboration with Karl Lagerfeld, a fur revolution was born that attempted to use fur as cloth to create a true fur-fashion.  They banished the rule of the “lining,” and colored the pelts in completely new ways, dropping an idea as soon as it took root, which became key to their success.

From their debut in 1966, the Fendis illuminated the catwalks with precious furs dyed apricot or lemon yellow, and amazed people with furs for the whole family until 1970.  In 1966, Fendi released their Bride’s fur of Majestic White Canadian Mink, and two more Wedding Furs in white breitschwantz and white SAGA Mink worked horizontally with satin buttons that swept away the wedding industry with what everyone said was “half mad.”  Rather, the Fendi repertory was limitless, and to do justice to this couture house would take a whole book...not just a blogpost!

View White Stole’s entire collection for size color ranges of Stoles, Stole Wraps, Vintage Stoles, Stole Capes and Shawls for purchase, or rental, on our website.

Presenting his first collection in 1937, Jacques Fath was a self-taught designer who learned his craft from studying museum exhibitions and books about fashion.  A popular and innovative designer known for dressing "the chic young Parisienne," Fath famously utilized such materials as hemp sacking and sequins made of walnut and almond shells.  His 1950 collection was called Lily, and its skirts were shaped to resemble flowers.  For eveningwear, he advocated velvet gowns.  Fath often draped the fabric directly onto his models rather than sketch his designs. 

During World War II, Jacques Fath became known for "wide fluttering skirts" which, The New York Times explained, "he conceived for the benefit of women forced to ride bicycles during gasoline rationing". His clients included Ava Gardner, Greta Garbo, and Rita Hayworth, who wore a Fath dress for her wedding to Prince Aly Khan.  Fath designed a wedding gown for his wife that today is one of his most notable designs.  Among his models was Lucie Daouphars (1921 or 1922–1963), a.k.a. Lucky, a former welder who eventually became the top house model for Christian Dior.

Jacques Fath hired a number of young designers as assistants and apprentices, some of which later went on to form their own Couture houses, including Hubert de Givenchy, Guy Laroche and Valentino Garavani.   

View White Stole’s entire collection for size color ranges of Stoles, Stole Wraps, Vintage Stoles, Stole Capes and Shawls for purchase, or rental, on our website.

Maggy Rouff is known for her beliefs that a truly elegant woman is in harmony with her environment and herself.  Addressing a basic longing she sensed in women as early as the 1940’s, Rouff wooed patrons to her salon with her belief that novelty and even surprise were good for fashion, yet only novelty allied with taste yielded chic.

As a result, Rouff rarely created a design that was considered "eccentric."  She took care to establish a focal point in every design, always enhancing the underlying sense of femininity of the lines.  An evening gown in which the skirt was trimmed with a crossover hip wrap and little side puffs had simply-cut sleeves and bodice.  She had a fondness for draped details, whether it had the sarong-like side drape of a skirt panel or soft cowl folds at the neckline.  Rouff often highlighted the upper body, drawing attention toward the face with a few favorite elements such as wrapped and tied surplice fronts, unusual necklines, and dramatic sleeves.

Accents such as wide belts and sashes, bold buttons, and silk flowers as well as contrasts of color, texture, or luster were also used with the same sense of balance.  She enriched some surfaces with shirring, quilting, or trapunto, as in her 1936 "plus four" playsuit and in her 1938 button-quilted evening dress, but very lush fabrics and furs were handled in accordance with her “less-is-more” philosophy.

While Paris was occupied by German troops, Maggy Rouff, who had already lived through one world war, wrote La Philosophie de L'Elégance. Her justification for what might have been considered under such circumstances a frivolous topic, was her belief that even in darkest times there must be faith in the future. Rouff’s book is seen as an affirmation of the value and substance which the Art of Elegance had given to her life and her success. 

View White Stole’s entire collection for size color ranges of Stoles, Stole Wraps, Vintage Stoles, Stole Capes and Shawls for purchase, or rental, on our website.

Since 1954, the House of Schiaparelli  has been known to be one of the most potent in all of Haute Couture.  During that time, Elsa Schiaparelli, was well-known as a Creator rather than a Couturier who had no formal training in the Art of Couture.  She approached design with bravery because she was free from the dictates of any specific skillset.  

Born to an aristrocratic Italian family of scholars in 1890, she fled the confines of her childhood home in Rome for a fuller life in London, New York and lastly, Paris.  In true post-war elegance, the playful, excessive, erudite and willful spirit that imbued each of Elsa’s designs swept-away the fashion world in 1927 - whether the design was her great pagoda-like mink collars mounted ontop black woolen coats,  or her bow-tied sweaters that exuded all of the surrealism and artistic fury of the 20’s and 30’s.  

Her provocative Ballgowns of the time, some with draping, feathered or embroidered Stoles were legendary, as were the seductive little jackets decorated with embroidery in a profusion of creativity.  Schiaparelli invented the idea of Ready-to-Wear, the concept of the “Boutique,” Mix-and-Match separates, Shirtwaist Dresses, Culottes, Wedge Heels, Designer Sunglasses, Overalls, and the color “Shocking Pink.”  Elsa Schiaparelli even designed a version of the “Jumpsuit” favored by sportsmen and skydivers during WWII for chic women to wear in bomb shelters!  No one had previously inspired artists, and hired them to decorate her clothes and her salon.  For those who loved her, Schiaparelli’s couture designs created the Heritage of her design house that was both bold and smart, with a flair that allowed any woman to stand out in a most exquisite way.

Like Schiaparelli, the Brides and Bridesmaids who come to the White Stole Collection follow their own path.  They are talented, creative women who embrace the eclectic and collaborative motifs brought forward by the most important artists of our time in order for us to become sophisticated women who understand their message of openness and tolerance in our lifetimes.

View White Stole’s entire collection for size color ranges of Stoles, Stole Wraps, Vintage Stoles, Stole Capes and Shawls for purchase, or rental, on our website.

All you have to do today is look at any fashion magazine or runway to witness that the future of fashion has arrived….and it’s all about dreaming of the past.  Fashion’s tendency to sample and recycle is certainly nothing new.  This truth can be seen as early as Dior’s famous hourglass New Look silhouette, which was hailed as a watershed moment for post-WWII fashion, but it wasn’t altogether original.  

Afterall, Dior’s fanciful design was inspired by the corsets and petticoats of his own Belle Epoque childhood.  What made his designs wildly resonate for so many, however, was that they contrasted sharply with the long war-years of frugality.  Dior wrote in his autobiography in 1956: “It happened that my own inclinations coincided with the spirit or sensibilities of the times.”  And as the world turns, the attraction of timeless couture is proof that it never goes out of style.

Historically, natural fur marked certain stages in the lives of a girl of good family: at eighteen, Daddy would buy her a beaver and a mink jacket or coat for her marriage.   In 1962, Time magazine was asking: “After mink, what?”  In 1964, Valentino began to think about Evening Wear and in that year presented a short natural jacket with kimono sleeves over a long gown.  In fact, the reign of natural fur was to be a long one that also revisited us in its many evolutions.

This 1946 vintage photo by Gjon Mili of Evelyn, Sunny and Dovima in pure White Mink Stoles over evening gowns brings forth the vision of pretty beauty that brought the era under Dior’s hourglass influence.   White Stole calls this inspiration Quintessential!

View White Stole’s entire collection for size color ranges of Stoles, Stole Wraps, Vintage Stoles, Stole Capes and Shawls for purchase, or rental, on our website.

In New York, Maximilian, as well as David of New York, who worked with Capucci during the time this Italian received the American Fashion Oscar in 1958, brought the love of Stoles to the American market even as it remained highly influenced by European Couturiers and Creatures.  The Americans tried to widen their market by banking on simple models, in tone with the fashion of the times: shoulders became rounder, collars less deep, and large buttons appeared on Stoles by the end of the decade.

With Capucci’s influence, garment borders formed romantic knots, a little Cape turned in cones that culminated at the shoulder, and a circular Stole hid a Bolero inside it.  Jackets and full-length Stoles became a single mantle, and other ensembles had detachable skirts.  These garments began to point to the move from the Fifties to the Sixties, confirming luxurious foreshadowing of the demystification of natural fur. 

After the end of the war, the most beautiful women in the world from Gina Lollobrigida to Audrey Hepburn were seen in natural Stoles.  Like the rest of fashion, natural Stoles ran along a double track for several seasons then their style would change - yet some constant features from the previous season always remained.  

View White Stole’s entire collection for size color ranges of Stoles, Stole Wraps, Vintage Stoles, Stole Capes and Shawls for purchase, or rental, on our website.

A Couturier, by definition, is “a person who designs, makes and sells fashionable clothes for women.”  Other sources define a Couturier as “one who designs for, or owns, a couture establishment.”  Thus, the word Couturier has led to the use of the word Creature to define the clothes or fashion designer him or herself. 

From 1847 Italy onward, the founding fathers of the fur industry read like cases of fine wine:  Matti, Viscardi, Carinato, Chiovato, Pellegrini, Melloni, Bolzano and many others.  Jole Veneziani moved ahead with her progressive designs alongside Rivella and Schettini.  The trend increased as Rossini, Porro and Naldoni brought Stoles into both sporting as well as elegant realms for the public.  Giovanni Battista Giorgini’s shows at Villa Torregiani in Florence in 1951 helped launch the glory years of Haute Couture.   By 1958, the leading Couturier names of Capucci, Fabiani, Fendi and Valentino spelled Stole elegance into the 60’s and beyond.

Regardless of the name reference, the beginning Italian history of the enthusiasm for women’s Stole fashion began with a few leading men and women, though none so famous as Rivella, who founded his fur fashion house in 1868 and put a personal touch to the endless designs of Cape Stoles of the period – whether having a special collar, or a braided effect like that of a knitted pullover.  In 1958 he created a wedding dress so perfect that the fur blended into the fabric, giving it a Mikado effect.  Rivella became a leading name in the new Made in Italy label.

In Paris, the French fashion houses held fast during WWII with Fourrures Max, the most important pre-war furrier, and shortly after liberation Revillon, Freres, Fath, Molyneux, Chanel, Rouff and Schiaparelli continued with fur fashion that never entirely went away during the war, though it was confined to a very select public.  By 1947 Dior, Balmain and Balenciaga propelled fur fashions to the strata that ensured they were due to last.

View White Stole’s entire collection for size color ranges of Stoles, Stole Wraps, Vintage Stoles, Stole Capes and Shawls for purchase, or rental, on our website.

Stoles began to be fashioned from every material type with exotic names ranging from Azurene to Silverblu, all of which added to their attraction.  In these years of anticipation of the boom, bodices became the target for all designers’ creative talents, and the designs were carried out in every material that happened to be the rage from one season to the other.  This expression of elegance in luxurious outerwear shaped to the body became subject for a thousand variations in its meticulous details. 

Stoles, Boleros, Jackets, Capes and Cloaks were, from the 1950's into the 1960's, essential to the elegant woman’s wardrobe.  The Stole had made its definitive entrance into women’s fashion as the par excellence elegant female status symbol alongside Haute Couture.

View White Stole’s entire collection for size color ranges of Stoles, Stole Wraps, Vintage Stoles, Stole Capes and Shawls for purchase, or rental, on our website.

The year 1948 had introduced the “Little Cape” in which the contrasting little tails imitated the fastening, short Capes with peplums, along with floor-length Capes sporting little Volant sleeves or large cuffs.  Rivella’s Stole Cape was almost as big as a Cloak.  Pellegrini invented a sort of allusion to a double collar with all the fullness to the back.  Revillon brightened up the Stole with cloth inserts, as well as inserting folds of muslin into the fur. 

Boleros, Jackets, Capes and Cloaks were produced in every possible variation and color, and lived for 12 months of the year.  Aeolian, Tourmaline, Royal Pastel and Autumn Haze were the taupe-coloured, light beige and natural brown mutations of the EMBA mink, and chosen for the majority of the designs.  Little Jackets and Boleros could be short and square, fastening at the edge, could have fullness at the back or front, could do away with the collar or make it huge. 

In 1954, Dior presented a silver fox Muff in an attempt to bring back this classic accessory.  The Fur Boa also had its adherents.

View White Stole’s entire collection for size color ranges of Stoles, Stole Wraps, Vintage Stoles, Stole Capes and Shawls for purchase, or rental, on our website.

It was only a short step from the Stole to the Bolero and its derivatives, and the 50’s were proof to this fact.  Many of these Boleros and little jackets hardly came down to the waistline.  The design-house Revillon made a shell-shaped Capelet Bolero in Royal Pastel mink, while other designers used the famous Autumn Haze EMBA mink.    Maximilian studied the Stole Bolero in Royal Pastel where the shoulders and neck remained free as a frame for a pretty face. 

The designer Fath launched a blousy Bolero in beaver.  Rossini and Porro were making them with an oriental flair.  Many were in mink, others in Persian lamb or with “crater” collars which moved their image from a sporting to an elegant look.  Jole Veneziani went beyond to a short jacket Bolero of zebra, with fringe that would later be called a T-shirt shape.

There were Vest-Jackets and little Shawls with fur puffs at the ends, and the ultra-famous Stoles consisting of four pelts that intertwined forming a knot. Many women became able to afford an Evening Stole. 

The stimulating minimum effect of the small Stole for the average woman became a fashion statement that was due to last.

View White Stole’s entire collection for size color ranges of Stoles, Stole Wraps, Vintage Stoles, Stole Capes and Shawls for purchase, or rental, on our website.

Even for those who do not delight in fashion, the idea of the Fifties evokes the Fur Stole.  It was not by chance that, in 1950 itself, the advertisements of the American firms of Ben Mendel and Bergdorf Goodman were based on the Stole, which, in those days, had few rivals in the fur trade as regards to quantity.  American artisans, looking for wider markets, made every attempt to vary and update the classic Stole in every possible way in an attempt to make it affordable to all women.

There was the small, cropped model, which followed the Empire period line, which was often fastened with two bows beneath the bust, and another on one shoulder and grew wider on the other side, or which knotted behind into a butterfly effect. 

Others were double collared or built with multi-tiered rows of natural fur. Collars were wide and often swelled into shawls. They were square, flat, stole-shaped or molded in the form of high-knotted scarves with lines that followed those of the dressmaker.

This rectangle of fur, which constitutes a luxury embrace, was subject to a thousand variations.  

View White Stole’s entire collection for size color ranges of Stoles, Stole Wraps, Vintage Stoles, Stole Capes and Shawls for purchase, or rental, on our website.

Alongside Jole Veneziani and Maggy Rouff, a Balenciaga model in 1954 pictured a clean-cut, elegantly tailored woman in a broad-collared black fox.  At the same time, a young Valentino designed for “Desses” a slim ensemble with a leopard-skin belt and Stole.  There was great fascination by this time in the creations coming from the great Paris fashion-houses and the Sala Bianca of the Pitti Palace in Florence became the place where furs came to the runway.

By 1949, Ferdinando Schettini, the son of a Neapolitan wholesale furrier, who was already creating for Revillon, Freres, Moilyneux, Chanel and Shiaparelli in Paris, moved on to Milan to create furs for French and Italian society-women.  His extravagant evening wear became known for moveable shoulders that could be worn over a coat or a tailor-made jacket, along with fur gloves, hats and muffs.  Before fur breeding began to take hold of the industry, he is said to have gone to Turkey in search of perfect-matching chinchilla skins.

This was the time when furs were cleverly mounted on a tailor’s base of tulle, and when the importance was attached to luxurious linings bearing the client’s initials embroidered in gold thread.  

View White Stole’s entire collection for size color ranges of Stoles, Stole Wraps, Vintage Stoles, Stole Capes and Shawls for purchase, or rental, on our website.

“I was a madwoman who opened a workshop in Via Narone while the bombs were falling…I had inspiration, fancies, the will to do something.  Was I to put it all off until after? I am obstinate; I never wait until after!”  ~ Jole Veneziani.

While the bombs kept dropping during WWII, Jole Veneziani went on creating sumptuous, colorful and opulent designs that fulfilled her sense of verve, irony, and joy in treating furs as though they were materials.  It was Veneziani’s insistence that the color of her furs be in harmony with the color of the dress that compelled one of the best-known Italian fashion journalists, Maria Pezzi, to dub her the “Velvet Paw.”  Others called Veneziani “Venus in Furs” or the “Toulouse Lautrec of fashion.” 

In 1946, Jole produced a little jacket of moleskin dyed violet; the next year she overlaid a straight skirt with another skirt of rust-colored ermine, making the dress into a frock coat.  In 1950, she experimented with unusual mixtures marrying tulle with spotted fur, and by 1956 produced her famous pink, blue and ruby-red fox furs the exact shade of the dress, declaring “color is life, is youth.”  In 1957, she continued her chromatic color explorations with a cocoa-colored Persian lamb, ultimately ending the decade with collections including natural-colored furs side-by-side with lilac or melon-yellow mink.

Jole Veneziani was present in Florence when Italian fashion was born there in 1951.  Her concentration on bringing *"romantic clothes, full of poetry” to foreign markets cultivated 245 foreign customers for her creations, and led her to become a pioneer in reversing the trend of Haute Couture towards the ready-to-wear market…and ultimately to be considered the “Mother of the Italian Fur Business.”

*quote by the Swiss review Die Frau und ihre welt, 1961:  ‘In 1951 already, the American review Vogue stated that Europe had finally discovered that what America lacked was romantic clothes, full of poetry….since then, the Faustian double soul lives in Jole’s bosom:  the one that sketches furs and the other that designs clothes.”

View White Stole’s entire collection for size color ranges of Stoles, Stole Wraps, Vintage Stoles, Stole Capes and Shawls for purchase, or rental, on our website.

Fur that had been worn so becomingly at the turn-of-the century continued and proliferated after WWI and throughout the 50’s.  Fur hats endured an inconstant popularity, but made a strong return between 1957 and 1958 coming in all kinds of shapes:  berets, caps, turbans and cloches.  Fur trimmings, borders, and details became characteristic of the decade for outlining a hem or creating pockets, flowers or bows.  Nearly always fur was used for tailor-made collars or necklines of close-fitting evening dresses.

For the wedding of the Shah of Persia in 1951, Soroya wore a princess gown with marabou feathers while bridesmaids held the train of her ermine cloak.  At the marriage of Maria Pia of Savoy, the ex-queen wore a long, lace gown trimmed in mink.  Audrey Hepburn posed in the Piazza di Spagna in a long cloak edged in mink when filming Roman Holiday in 1953.  In the final scene of her 1954 movie A Star is Born, Judy Garland wore a Stole with sable cuffs.  Sophia Loren was seen in a Revillon Freres Stole that almost enveloped her with rows of fur in 1959.  By mid-century, the magazine Novita spoke of the growing vogue of fur trimmings of all kinds.

View White Stole’s entire collection for size color ranges of Stoles, Stole Wraps, Vintage Stoles, Stole Capes and Shawls for purchase, or rental, on our website.