Vintage 1980s tulip cuff Couture Helene faux fur Minnie Mouse Bows coat not Apparence Disney similar glossy black red Art School slouch
 
How gorgeous is this? 
It's NOT the Apparence Minnie Mouse Disney bows one, but very similar with the bows, from Couture Helene, who stood with AFP Paris
as purveyors of the finest faux fur.
There is an armpit interior repair stitch, but the outside is as glossy and soft as when it was made. Rare for these slouch styles because they got a lot of wear 
at the time; a favourite for indie girls to dance in letting the fur slip off their shoulders as they did! So they are hard to find in good condition - seen so many 
that have been washed, thus ruined: please don't do this with faux furs they can't take much rain let alone a wash! All faux furs should be dry cleaned only.
Fortunately as I say, this one is immaculate, and barely worn.
This is a UK size 12, but could be worn by a smaller size I am a 6-8 and could get away with it, but would also fit up to size 16 comfortably.
The fur they mimic is sheared beaver, which was dyed a lot as it lends itself to dying in bright colours often stitched in mosaic, led by Canadian designers.
So the faux mimics often did similar but with bold colourful prints . 99% of faux fur is rubbish these days, but back in the 1980s they were very high quality densely 
weaved thread count; which made them expensive of course, slightly more resistant to rain, and these faux 'super beaver' as they were called, the fabrics produced in France
 & Belgium, were the best faux fur gets; their luxurious gloss , density & softness this piece a great example of.
They were resultingly far more expensive than the pale imitations nowadays, of miserable quality some of it as I am sure you will agree. A coat from Apparence, Daville,
or Couture Helene would have set you back £300-£700. And yes, working class girls would graft and save for them, or hijack their mum's.
'You never wear this mum..."
"I was saving it for special occasi..."
and before the sentence was finished daughter would be out of the door with the faux fur round her with doc martens or thigh boots on and on their way to some dive
with great music pockets full of confetti!
In the pocket of this one was a little confetti! So maybe worn for a winter wedding; but, thinking of the style that the Art & Fashion school girls wore then
that cutesy sweet Lolita look, it made me think of some of the bands of the time, that used confetti at their gigs particularly The Wedding Present and 
The Darling Buds. Such sweet voice surfed along the jangling power guitars and sang of bitter romances. As was near Valentines Day when I did the video, 
I chose to use period music references as a theme, hence the lyric to The Darling Buds song  Valentine & You've Got to Choose. Then thought about the other girl fronted 
indie bands at the time like The Primitives, then a little later early 1990s Echobelly & Daisy Lowe's mum's band Powder. All the girls had bob hair btw, which were very effective 
with this reinvention of a 1920s style, with slouch bum hug and batwing sleeves. Then a few other memorable bands such as Pop Will It Itself...who were on Patrol for 
your sheared beaver! Ha ha...well....
take or leave us, only please believe us
We ain't never gonna be respectable! 
as they also said sampling Mel & Kim's 1987 classic.
The Darling Buds 'Burst' on to the scene in Newport, South Wales and played legendary venue T.J.s a lot. This was also the site of a famous rock and roll romance
as in December 1991 Courtney Love, fronting the band Hole, was proposed to by Kurt Cobain...as legend has it!
I like to put the vintage pieces in to context as clothes nowadays are often purely utilitarian, but back in the day they had cultural meaning by those who designed,
& wore, often appropriated by youth subcultures as resistance & celebration of who they were, and often strongly associated with music. I'm a bit old to be doing cutesy 
indie girl these days of course but I was there at the time of my first visits to the UK.  
You can see the extended video on my Instagram. 
Anyway enjoy the musical references and please look them up if you don't know them! They are due a deserved renaissance of rediscovery by a new generation....as are the clothes.