In 2004, rich girls "cleaned out Vivienne Westwood in Galliano gowns." Over two decades later, they don't need a head-to-toe designer wardrobe overhaul to look intimidatingly expensive—at least, that's what I took away from Fashion Month's first nascent accessories trend.
From the moment I touched down at Copenhagen Fashion Week in January, I noticed an update to the usually streamlined coats at minimalist labels like The Garment and Gestuz: Where a stark, minimal neckline would usually be fastened with a button, it was hidden beneath an exaggerated fur collar or stole. Sometimes, they were tied with ribbons over crepe and velvet blazers; others, they were detachable. I Slacked my fellow Marie Claire editors with a dispatch on what I have now started referring to as "rich bitch fur collars." Little did I know that, a few days later and several thousand miles later, New York Fashion Week's Fall 2026 runways seemed to have gotten same, not-so-stealth-wealth memo.
Ralph Lauren unofficially opened the week with leopard faux furs draped and belted over tweedy longline coats, like an exaggerated collar. Anna Sui's glamorous salon runway included black, fluffy stoles wrapped over animal print matching sets. Models at Michael Kors shrugged off their mini furs and carried them over a single arm. (The real luxury here was just having the option to wear it.) Meanwhile, outside the shows, street style overflowed with Penny Lane coats and rainbow-hued shearlings, echoing the textured flourishes trending in the autumn collections.
Each fur stole or collar feels like something a grown-up, real-life Samantha Parkington or Muffy Crosswire would wear on a February afternoon shopping at Bergdorf Goodman. Is there enough material to keep you substantially warm? Probably not. Do you have a full range of motion once the more tubular versions are pulled over a bomber jacket (as seen in Copenhagen) or a strong-shouldered blazer (à la New York City)? Definitely not. Do you look like you're a Chase Sapphire Reserve member with an Hermès sales associate on speed dial? One thousand percent.
A real rich bitch doesn't need to do all-over texture. Just a touch of fur over a more neutral coat says plenty about her tax bracket—and discerning taste. Besides, she's not standing outside her town car long enough for a chill to really set in.
It's too early to tell whether designers will actually produce these removable collars and color-coordinating stoles. But if they make it down-market, they're a styling hack that instantly upgrades any outfit. One tie of a ribbon or shimmying on of a stole, and the Aritzia coat I've been wearing for the last five winters suddenly looks a lot more luxurious.
Unlike the color trends and necktie styling taking over fashion month in the present, the window for testing a rich bitch collar is narrowing. By the time the runways wrap in Paris, it'll be warm enough for layering in nothing but a windbreaker. But somewhere out there, the denizens of RichStack and RichTok are making notes for their Fall 2026 outfits. So, if I was a rich girl, I'd see about tracking down my own take now.
