DIY: Stuffed Fur Stole

Having worked in the fashion industry for several years now, prices rarely surprise me. Clothes are expensive these days, but accessories take the cake for several months worth of rent. I still roll my eyes at a pair of shoes well over 1K and find the price of a Birkin bag to be ridiculous, but I normally know what to expect upon walking into a store like Barney’s. However, I was slapped in the face by a price tag a few days ago and I’m not sure I’ll ever recover.

I saw the above photo of the unstuffed animal stole on style.com during Paris Fashion Week and began a feverish online hunt to track one down. Countless Etsy sites offered up similar faux stoles, but I wanted that one. I decided to put the fuzzy friend on the back burner, certain that its online presence would turn up eventually. Well turn up it did but at a price that not even I, lover of all things stuffed animal, could justify.

The stoles are by Vika Gazinskaya and can currently be purchased on Moda Operandi for the hefty sum of $2,000. That’s right, the lemur stuffed animal — which they call a raccoon — that looks so much like the fuzzy friends you snuggled with on a nightly basis as a kid costs as much as a nice studio apartment in NYC.

So what does one do when they can’t afford the real deal? They DIY. Behold three options below that cost next to nothing.

First, we have our stuffed animal hat. Though I have yet to figure out how to secure such an accoutrement on my head, I’m positive that this look will have me street style snapped in no time. Tommy Ton, meet me in 10?

Then we have the Teddy Bear stole; a personal favorite of mine. Notice how my well-worn teddy balances gracefully on my shoulder? She looks like she’s having a much better time than that $2K plush racoon/lemur. Plus she’s versatile and can double as a snuggle buddy and/or pillow.

And last, but certainly not least, we have the real animal. Finn’s longer body wrapped perfectly around my shoulders and his legs even dangled like the fox scarf pictured above. If you don’t have your own dog or cat at home, I fully support you borrowing one off the street that goes well with your outfit.