Fur is back on the catwalks and we are being warned it will be on the High Street for Autumn.

Many of the models who said in the 90s they would rather go bare than wear fur have suddenly lost their social conscience.

While it was cool a decade ago to shun animal fur, top designers are now saying it's good to be seen with a pelt on your back.

I have never owned any real fur and despite being a dedicated follower of fashion I will continue to be fur-free.

I like animals but am in no way an activist. I try to buy make-up that isn't tested on animals but eat meat and wear leather without a second thought (in my mind it's a by-product of the meat trade).

My problem with fur as fashion is that it is pure vanity.

Why kill an animal to make ourselves look better? I am a firm believer that a fur coat looks better on the animal than it ever could on me.

In recent years there has been a huge rival in fur-look products as retro chic became the big thing.

But all those cushion covers, throws and even coats had one thing in common -they were fake and in most cases obviously so.

At first these fakes were very synthetic but looking at some of the faux fur on sale now you would be hard pushed to tell where it came from.

Even the snob value has been removed from the pelt trade with some fake fur costing more than the real thing.

The fashion world is renowned for trying to shock - models have shimmied down the catwalk with their faces painted blue, their hair standing on end and even their boobs hanging out.

We haven't followed these trends so why should the latest shock tactic of wearing fur be any different?

Just because top models and designers have no conscience it does not mean we have to follow like lemmings and abandon our principals?

Naomi Campbell's people have said if she is seen in fur it will be 'farmed' - so that's OK is it? Where does she think most fur comes from? Very few shrugs will be made from the pelts of animals shot in the wild by rangers!

Farmed animals are bred simply to be killed to make a coat - that hardly seems something to brag about.

Wayne Rooney's lass Coleen is reported to have said she did not know that the rabbits used to make her new high fashion boots were killed to get their fur?

What did she think happened? That someone followed Flopsey around picking up the fluff it shed naturally? Or maybe Thumper gave his coat to the nice boot maker and then hopped off to find a new one?

Ignorance is not attractive and is made even less so when animals suffer unnecessarily.

Meanwhile J-Lo stepped out in fur at a premiere and Kate Moss has been seen in a vintage fur coat - OK the animals were killed years ago but wearing it simply fuels the idea that fur is a good look.

I only hope the top high street chains will ignore the calls of the fashion types who claim only real fur will do.

Retailers like Top Shop have a huge sway in the market with many celebrities now happy to show off the down-town label on their up-town clothes.

If these chains refuse to take on board the fur trend then hopefully it will wither away and the designers will get back to the drawing board leaving animals where they long - in the wild