By Kate Jansen

Before we spring into spring fashion, or at this rate, slide into spring fashion, I’d like to discuss one of winter’s most sought-after looks. Fur has again made a major statement this season in the fashion world. Designers have given us fur-lined hoods, headbands, earmuffs and gloves. My favorite fur look is the vest.

My first, dare I say, fashionable piece was a faux fur vest gone horribly wrong. For my 12th birthday, my mom bought me a white faux fur vest. It was a shag rug with armholes that was equipped with a faux leather tie. When I put it on, I thought I was Coco Chanel herself.

I thought it would be wise to pair the vest with a lime green polka dot shirt and a pair of pink corduroys. Yes, I also resembled a watermelon. I strutted into school the next day, expecting girls to whisper enviously about my ensemble. This was my first fashion faux pas.

My peers smirked as I pranced ito my first period math class. A boy sauntered over to my desk and, without waiting for me to acknowledge him, he said, “How many Yetis did you have to kill to make that vest?”

I suppose the moral of my story is to take fashion risks, but not the kind that leave you looking like a creature out of “The Wizard of Oz.” The other moral is that middle schoolers are cruel. Needless to say, I have recovered from that incident. I picked up a faux fur vest at Manhattan’s newest Aritzia over Christmas break and found that the piece could be paired with dark jeans and a long sleeved tee for a casual look, or layered over a mini dress for formal get-togethers.

If your closet lacks a fur piece, it would be wise to buy one now. Department stores are beginning to push out sweaters and jackets via final sale to make way for tanks and bikinis. This leaves us in the inevitable No Shopper’s Land, a phrase that I have just made up to describe the awkward in-between-winter-and-spring-phase that we face every year. Do we choose to buy short sleeves and sandals that we cannot wear until April? Or do we protest against designers for denying us our inalienable right to buy cashmere in the dead of February? That’s for you to decide.