Fursonas are in fashion

Earlier this month, Doja Cat stole the Met Gala when she rolled up to the red carpet dressed as Karl Lagerfeld’s beloved fluffy white companion Choupette. She wasn’t the only attendee who paid homage to the cat — actor Jared Leto also came as Choupette — but Doja’s look stood apart for its realistic prosthetics, which transformed the singer’s features into that of a fairly lifelike, Fancy Feast-enjoying feline. While Leto’s giant Choupette suit was in the same breed as a cartoonish and kid-friendly mascot costume, Doja’s prosthetics edged closer to the anthropomorphic aesthetics of the furry fandom. 

And Doja isn’t the only one to meld furry energy and high fashion lately. During New York Fashion Week in February, models in designer Collina Strada’s show went viral for their lifelike animal prosthetics, ranging from pig snouts and ears to a scaly lizard head. And animalistic elements are trending on TikTok, too — from the viral wolf cut, which takes cues from beasts of the wild, to Myspace-era raccoon hair making a comeback following scene culture’s return on TikTok. Even without snout-shaping prosthetics or explicit references to fur, allusions to the animal kingdom are trending on a broader scale — the anthro-grunge aesthetic, which centres around naturalistic colour palette and rugged post-apocalyptic textures, allows bones to be reworked as accessories.

The aestheticisation of furry culture, which holds a connection to kink, is similar to what we've already seen happen with BDSM fashion — with styles key to the subculture, like latex and chokers, finding their way into mainstream fashion. And from fursonas on the runway and red carpet to subtler nods to the animal world, the trend can be seen as a reaction to the reign of Y2K, which tends to priortise a level of artifice — think bedazzled everything and plastic butterfly clips — and turns technology, like flip phone and digital cameras, into accessories. After a few years of reliving the hot-girl-glitz and tech-optimism of Y2K, it tracks that we’re hungry for something wild and woolly.

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