Why Every Woman Needs a Fall Fest

I remember the first time I fell for a fur vest, which from here on out will be referred to as a fest. It was 2007, and I was living the life on a weeklong trip to Paris. A French woman walked past me on the street wearing a shaggy fest over a leather motorcycle jacket, and I was floored. I returned to suburban New Jersey dreaming of faux fur and pleather, and I immediately went to the mall and bought a tan fluffy fest at Urban Outfitters. #gold.

I wore my fest to my very public high school the next day, where both me and my new piece of outerwear were the objects of much scrutiny. My peers didn’t understand the fashion potential that could be borne out of my fest. They didn't get it--the fest wasn't just a trend piece, it was a wardrobe staple. Couldn’t they see that I had found the new classic? In any case, self-consciousness, paired with a bout of paranoia about ruining my faux fur, made me retire said fest after one wear. 

In came 2009. Fests were everywhere--in blogs, in magazines, on TV. I tore out every picture I saw of fur and collaged my collection into a fest moodboard of sorts. Some were real fur, some were fake, some were pink, some were blue, all were awesome. I debuted my fest to my college peers, but once again, it was scrutinized and paled in comparison to my preppy peers’ Patagonia fleeces. I decided my fest would do just fine in my closet; it would be one of those pieces that you buy solely for the way it will hang in your closet (shallow alert: I do that). 

In an entrepreneurial kick last winter, I attempted to start a small business that entailed me sewing custom-made fests. My plan would land me in the pages of Vogue. I forced a few of my friends onto the waiting list, but I quickly realized that my mom's 1980s Singer sewing machine was no match for yards of fake fur. Reality set in: self-employment wasn’t going to work out, and I wasn’t going to become fest empress.

So why buy a fest, after hearing of my trials and tribulations? Because they look good with everything. Try on everything in your closet without a fest, then with a fest, and you'll see what I'm talking about.

The best of the fests, those that warrant a bag of flour being thrown at you on the red carpet (Kim Kardashian, I'm looking at you), are upwards of $2,000. But go into Zara, close your eyes, put your hands into a rack at random, and chances are that you'll find a reasonably priced and looking fur vest in your hands. Cha-ching.  

Pictured: Rachel Zoe, the no. 1 fest advocate (Image via Google)