NEW YORK — Given the brisk temperatures on Sunday and Monday, any chic showgoer worth her fashion salt pulled her fur out of storage. Some went for just a hint on a collar or sleeve, such as Renée Rockefeller's Alexander McQueen or Olivia Chantecaille's Valentino at Oscar de la Renta on Monday, while others went the full monty, like Amanda Brooks in her double-breasted knee-length Tuleh coat on Sunday. The climate was certainly the issue for Los Angeleno Nicole Richie, who sat with her stylist Rachel Zoe in de la Renta's front row wearing a voluminous black coat by the designer. "It's freezing," Richie said, before Zoe, also in fur, pointed out the tiny starlet normally prefers faux.

Others, however, were just breaking out pieces that have been too bulky for the unseasonably warm winter so far. Serena Boardman got her ivory J.Mendel poncho in July as a pick-me-up when she stayed behind while all her friends jetted off to Saint-Tropez for a holiday. "I had to work on the sale of a town house. I was walking down Madison Avenue and I thought I would just stop in to see what they had. Needless to say, the sale of the town house didn't go through, but I got this," Boardman laughed.

While some may be getting kudos from their fellow fashion front-rowers, there were a few activists throwing insults outside the Bryant Park tents — but thankfully no red paint. "The PETA people yelled, 'Shame on you,' to me while holding up a dead animal," said Marjorie Raein, who donned a Dennis Basso broadtail- and sable-fur coat for the Tuleh show. "My question for them is, 'How did that animal get dead?'"