Chinchilla

A type of fur. There were those in Italy after World War II who thought of getting rich with the breeding of chinchillas, because a rumor had circulated — and it was a fraud — that it was a particularly simple thing to do. It was, in fact, very difficult, although very necessary, because this animal that lived in the wild was already in danger of extinction by the early 1900s. Native to the Andes, it was already known in earlier times among the natives who would protect themselves from the cold with its skins and would spin and weave its hair in order to make blankets and extremely soft clothing. The most accepted etymology, among several, says that the name derives from the tribe of the Chinchas. We know that Inca emperors and notables would wear it and that, at the time of the Spanish conquest, it was very widespread in Chile, Peru, Bolivia, and other areas of South America. Two species were common: the short tail (Chinchilla brevicaudata), to which belonged the real, and the long tail (Chinchilla lanigera). The conquistadores brought it to Europe, where it became the prerogative of kings, nobles, and the highest social classes. In the 1800s, hunters called “chinchilleros” were responsible for the slaughter of great numbers, so that by the second half of the century, when a ranking of the trendiest furs placed chinchilla next to sable, marten, and ermine, its numbers were considerably reduced. In 1930, the last chinchilla skins that appeared on the market went for 200 dollars each, but, spurred by the sophisticated and intellectual fashions of the 1910s and 1920s, it was realized that chinchilla can live in captivity. After the first tests in the U.S. (the pioneer is considered Mathias F. Chapman), and South America, they are today bred on almost every continent, particularly in North America and in Europe. With its changing colors that range from pearl grey, silver-white, grey-blue, and black to rosy-beige, and with its warm, soft, velvet fur swaying at every puff of wind and following every movement of the body, and illuminating the face of the person who wears it, chinchilla continues to represent the greatest luxury, and the voluptuousness of lightness. It is a marvel of high fashion in 2000 just as was in 1820, when the Corriere delle Dame published a fashion-plate with a very elegant witzchoura (a type of overcoat) “in clean velvet decorated with chinchilla.”