Fur still reigns in Olympic host village Cortina

In the Olympic host village of Cortina d’Ampezzo, fur has never really gone out of style.

Cortina’s enduring love affair with fur resurfaces

When Snoop Dogg arrived for the Milan–Cortina Winter Games, he packed flamboyant outerwear: one jacket emblazoned with snowboarder Chloe Kim’s face, another honouring bobsledder Kaysha Love. Yet it was a purchase made locally — a fur hat from a boutique off Corso Italia — that allowed him to blend seamlessly into the town’s winter uniform.

Among the chic mountain resorts scattered across the Dolomites, fur has long been stitched into the cultural fabric. In the 1981 Bond film For Your Eyes Only, partly shot in Cortina, fur-trimmed jackets and head-to-toe pelts framed the Alpine glamour. Decades on, little appears to have changed. Along the pedestrianised main street, boutique windows still showcase fur in every shade and silhouette — from classic mink to candy-coloured statement pieces.

For seasonal regulars such as Paola De Leidi, 62, the Winter Games are secondary to a ritual she has observed for 25 years: visiting her trusted fur boutique. She keeps her collection in a designated “Cortina” wardrobe back home, reserved for the rarefied bubble of this resort, where wearing fur remains socially uncomplicated.

“I like to come here and buy strange things, like pink furs, or panther,” she says, shrugging off the wider scrutiny the industry faces. “Now, with all the green people and everything, I just feel safe going around here.”

Her shopkeeper, Marco Molinari, suggests the mountains offer a kind of freedom. “Here you’re truly free,” he says. “When you walk along the street, you don’t have the anxiety of being robbed.”

Inside his store — a branch of Italian fashion house Pajaro — walls are lined with mink, lynx, sable and wolf. One coat can cost up to €80,000. A carved bear serves as a hat stand for frothy pink fur caps; a decorative pug is wrapped in a kangaroo-skin jumper.

Elsewhere in Europe, the mood is shifting. According to the Fur Free Alliance, more than 1,600 retailers have pledged to stop selling fur. Major labels including Gucci, Chanel, Moncler, Michael Kors and Prada have announced moves away from the material. The European Commission is also considering proposals to restrict or ban fur farming and the sale of certain fur products across the bloc.

Yet in Cortina, resistance to change feels muted. On a recent afternoon, octogenarians Marina Bozzoli and Orietta Guarini stood outside the glitzy Cooperativa mall, wrapped in elaborate white furs as shoppers hunted for Team Italy jackets by Armani. The town, they say, has transformed from a quiet mountain retreat into a playground for the wealthy — but its winter wardrobe has remained consistent.

“Everything has changed,” Guarini observes, adjusting a navy baseball cap atop her white fur coat. “But the furs have always been here.”

Even amid Olympic fanfare and mounting environmental debate, Cortina’s pavements continue to rustle with pelts — heirlooms, investments and statements all at once.

For more updates, join/follow our WhatsApp, Telegram and YouTube channels