Life cover

Life Magazine

November 6, 1964

Grown-up U.S. Fur Fan Barbra Streisand

Photos by Howell Conant

When she was a schoolgirl, Barbra Streisand wore wool and dreamed of fur. Now 22 and famous as the star of Funny Girl, she can well afford a menagerie of it. Below, amid pelts and leopard pillows, she is trying on a mink jacket. All in all she has 10 fur outfits and eight hats, and not one of them is all-purpose. She buys her furs with a definite use in mind — some for entertaining at home, some for lunching out, some for making grand entrances. "It's like a whole new world," she says, "and besides it keeps me warm."

Streisand on animal patterns

(Below, left): For lunching in town Barbra wears a fitted coat-dress of American broadtail from Bonwit Teller with a matching schoolgirl's hat.

(Below, right): To wear when entertaining at home, Barbra likes a full length skunk from Saks Fifth Avenue with separate sleeves (her idea) that can be snapped on and off.

(Below, left): For grand entrances Barbra is partial to this full-length cape of seal bordered with silver fox, designed by Jacque Kaplan, which she wears with her silver fox hat. She feels this outfit captures "the elegance of the '30s," a period she also searches out in thrift shops, prefers it to the more traditional glamor of miles of mink.

(Below, right): A jaguar suit, tailored like a man's business suit with hat to match, made for Barbra by Reiss & Fabrizio, is one of her own designs. She ordered the shirt from her husband's shirtmaker. "I have begun to like that neat look. Actually I love either a messed up or a neat look. There is no sense in being in between."

Seal and jaguar coats

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