Fashion Month’s Unofficial Uniform? A Giant Faux Fur Coat

Marie Claire editors left our first meeting of fashion month with a unanimous personal style decree: We all wanted to spend the chilly February runway season bundled up in our best faux fur coats. Street style at Copenhagen Fashion Week this week had the exact same idea.

The first wave of street style out of the Danish fashion capital overflowed with outfits proving this type of coat’s worth. Neutral or colorful, cropped or grazing the sidewalk, the best faux fur coats balance deep winter wearability and better than any other outerwear. Taking in the runways, I was also reminded that faux fur coats have more wardrobe endurance than a -core aesthetic TikTok trend. (Though some versions are undeniably mob wife-adjacent.) The first fall/winter 2024 collections out of Copenhagen featured every form of faux fur coat, from fluffy-all-over wraps to leather trench coats punctuated with faux fur sleeves. These styles weren’t too dissimilar from the ones guests wore in the front row, meaning that they’re eternally on-trend.

Two women at Copenhagen Fashion Week walk through a parking lot wearing faux fur coats — All five days of Copenhagen Fashion Week, guests attended shows bundled up in faux fur coats of every color, length, and texture.

While the four biggest fashion weeks—New York, London, Milan, and Paris—have yet to start, there’s a strong chance other insiders will show up in their finest artificial furs…and see even more on the runway. No other style makes an occasion out of winter outerwear quite like them.

“It’s like a perfect go-to-fashion-week coat,” writer and street style photographer Verona Farrell, wrapped in her own floor length faux fur by Stand Studio, said of the style’s appeal between the shows in Copenhagen. “It’s warm, and it speaks for the outfit—but it’s also neutral.”

Ahead, shop four variations of the best faux fur coats taking over street style for the fall/winter 2024 season, to wear for the rest of the season (and every winter that follows). As fashion month rolls on, this post will be continually updated with more winter outerwear inspiration.

Neutral Faux Fur Coats

a woman walks down the street at Copenhagen Fashion Week wearing a brown faux fur coat and dark pants — The most commonly spotted coats at the first fashion week of the year: midi- and maxi-length faux furs in shades of black, rich brown, and creamy white.

In Copenhagen Fashion Week street style, a neutrally toned faux fur coat functioned as guests’ preferred wardrobe basic of the season. They were as common as a black cashmere sweater or straight-leg jeans in everyday winter wardrobing. But the comparison comes from their popularity, not their styling potential. Fashion week guests chose extra-oversize versions with shaggy textures to break up with a colorful handbag or equally exaggerated scrunchie; they wrapped up in robe-like teddy coats with hints of Technicolor knitwear or tights strategically showing beneath. These coats are as versatile as a black puffer jacket, but much more visually interesting.

With their goes-with-anything palette, neutral faux fur coats are wardrobe-friendly way outside the fashion month circuit. (The cream COS coat I wore to the first and last days of Copenhagen Fashion Week is also my favorite for casual weekends at home.) Version available to wear now are right on track with early outerwear trends for the year ahead: At some of the first shows of the season, designers sent models down their fall 2024 runways in plush white shearling coats slung over lace dresses (at Gestuz), in ankle-length, deep brown faux furs with ladylike kitten heels peeking out from underneath (at The Garment) and in hybrid form, contrasting an across-the-shoulder stripe of brown faux fur with weatherproof quilting (at OpéraSport).

Stand Studio Tinley Belted Faux Fur Coat

Shrimps Brandy Faux Fur Coat

Coperni Belted Faux-Shearling Coat

Colorful Faux Fur Coats

Two women stand at Copenhagen Fashion Week wearing a blue faux fur coat and a brown faux fur coat — Some front row attendees beat the gloomy weather with faux furs that popped against the gray skies, from the sweet baby blue above to red, blush pink, and forest green.

Some of the best faux fur coats already cropping up throughout fashion month served as a punctuation mark against dark skies and snow flurries, arriving in every shade but the neutrals listed above. For every photo snapped of a Copenhagen Fashion Week guest in ivory or black, there was another who layered up in baby blue, blush pink, or fire engine red. The rich colors enhanced the shaggy texture of shearling and the smooth, even fluff of a traditional faux fur alike. They were also a blaring signal from blocks away that the women wearing them weren’t afraid to get playful with their styling, proven up close outside the shows with accessories in a matching palette or wildly contrasting colorblocked layers. (That blue faux fur coat, pink leather short combination above? It looked even more striking—and cheerful—in person.)

If the smiles of fashion editors in colorful faux fur coats seem bigger and brighter, it might not be a coincidence or a well-timed snap of the camera’s shutter. Some psychology studies say colorful clothing has a mood-boosting effect—ready to cure late-winter blues whether they’re worn at the remainder of fashion month or not.

Mansur Gavriel Milly Vegan Fur Coat

Unreal Fur Faux Fur Jacket

Proenza Schouler White Label Belted Faux Fur Coat

Coats with Faux Fur Cuffs

Two women walk down the street at copenhagen fashion week wearing contrasting faux fur coats — Coats with exaggerated fur collars (and coordinating cuffs) brought all the warmth—and all the drama.

Some outerwear styles call themselves statement coats; leather, suede, and wool coats with faux fur-trimmed lapels and sleeves deserve the moniker. Modern Penny Lane coats popped up in street style with belted waists, larger-than-life faux fur collars, and a hint of attitude.

Guests at Copenhagen Fashion Week styled theirs like winter-ready dresses with nothing but colorful tights and Prada slingback kitten heels underneath; for the coldest days of the week, they layered on leather pants or wide-leg denim. (A few attendees coordinated their outerwear with the Saks Potts coats shown on the fall/winter 2024 runway, wearing versions from past seasons in green, electric blue, and olive shades.) From look to look, these coats were effectively a high-glamour confidence boost for whoever wore them: “When I wear this coat,” one editor told me, “I feel like a rich b–tch.”

Saks Potts Foxy Coat

Zara Faux Fur Collar Coat

Maje Belted Coat

Faux Fur Aviator Jackets

a woman stands on the street in Copenhagen wearing a shearling coat and skirt — Low-key and vintage-leaning, shearling and faux fur aviator jackets kept street style from feeling too serious.

I think of faux fur- and shearling-lined aviator jackets as the distant cousins of the fur-cuffed coats above. These jackets also play with contrasting textures, exaggerated shapes, and a touch of nostalgia, but the overall aura is much more relaxed. With soft materials relegated to the inside and durable leather on the outside, they’re also more amenable to wearing outside in the elements (crucial for editors shivering in line before the shows).

These jackets’ intentionally oversize proportions are invitation to experiment with some juxtaposition—as fashion month’s first crop of street style already has. I attended shows on Copenhagen Fashion Week’s second day wearing a faux shearling-lined bomber with a cable knit sweater, pleated midi skirt, and knee-high lug-sole boots, the jacket toughening up my somewhat girly outfit. Other editors I spotted threw theirs over metallic jeans and pointed-toe boots, or printed maxi dresses and studded flats. The final effect was nonchalantly cool in every instance.