With this wintry weather, it’s the perfect season for slipping on a fur. But which one? ARTINFO France spoke with Serge Ghnassia, head of the Milady label, about which furs suit which women, how styles have evolved over the years, and the most unusual special order he has seen.

Your family has worked with fur for three generations. How has the profession evolved?

We went from a profession where the men worked all day long in the workshop making long pieces to produce pretty coats that were very heavy and very warm, to a profession where we try to produce the lightest coats possible, even piercing the hides with lasers or combining them with other hides or satin. Basically this profession has evolved the way racecars have, becoming lighter and lighter and more and more beautiful.

What are your first memories of fur?

Like all sons of furriers, I hung around in the workshops smelling the fur and watching the work of cutting the pieces and then the assembly of the skins on the serger [a specialized sewing machine], seeing how from a small, wide hide you produce a long hide that is fine, narrow, and supple.

How do you define the concept of haute fourrure?

Haute fourrure is the accomplishment of an art through a very beautiful material, handled with the highest skill level in a resolutely original direction.

What techniques of treating fur do you use?

Milady only works with the most noble furs such as mink, chinchilla from Astrakhan in Russia, Russian sable, or lynx. All these very precious materials are handled with the greatest care and we keep only the most noble part of the hide in order to have a suppleness and as a result are flawless. This means more waste but it’s the price we have to pay for the perfect result we seek.

What defines Milady?

The permanent search for the best quality and the best hides on the global market in order to create exceptional pieces. We only work with the most beautiful sables, the most beautiful chinchillas, and the most beautiful minks, and above all we don’t accept any flaws.

Which pieces have forged your DNA?

Undoubtedly the mastery that we have today over the rarest and most expensive Barguzin Russian sables in the world.

Where do you buy your fur?

As for the sables, everything happens at Saint Petersburg auctions. For mink, the sales take place in different countries including Scandinavia and the U.S.

What is the most unusual or far-fetched piece that you have been asked to make?

Each special order is a challenge and a new adventure but the one that comes to mind right away is the one we did for a Russian client, Barguzin sable covers for a dogsled as well as sable coats for his wife and his two daughters.

Does each type of fur have particular qualities?

Mink is a flat fur and very easy to wear. Sable is the queen of furs and the fur of queens, as they say. Chinchilla is men’s favorite fur because they love to caress their wife’s shoulders when she is bundled up in the softness of chinchilla.

Which fur is right for which woman?

Active women wear mink, precious women wear chinchilla, glamorous women wear sable.

What small piece or accessory would you recommend for a woman who is just discovering fur?

A chinchilla scarf, to discover the softness and sensual pleasure of fur.

What are you working on for winter 2013?

Very glamorous pieces in very exclusive furs like sable or lynx but also a “Parisienne” collection to respond to the many requests from our clients who are active women and want furs that fit their lives — that is, furs that you can roll up, fold, and wear wherever you are, either in an airplane or at a party.

What is Milady’s future?

Later this month we’re opening a new store at 76 Avenue Raymond Poincaré in the 16^th arrondissement of Paris to be even closer to the Parisian fashionistas. And also a limited special “Red Carpet” collection for Cannes.