From Past to Present: Marc Kaufman Furs NY : “The Best Furs on Earth” since 1910

The world took notice for a variety of reasons. Reputable names such as Judy Garland, Bette Davis, Barbra Streisand and Lauren Bacall were featured in the fi rst year alone. The photographer was the renowned Richard Avedon. Bringing it all together was the straightforward and now immortal tagline “What Becomes a Legend Most?”“The effect was immediate and powerful,” wrote Erla Zwingle in Rogers’ book. Within two years, “Blackglama was considered the most prestigious black ranch mink in the world. Soon after the series began, stores like Bergdorf Goodman were selling garments that carried the Blackglama tag, and customers were asking for it by name.”From 1968 to 1994, when the campaign went on hiatus, the “Legends” included luminaries from Hollywood, Broadway, Motown, Las Vegas, La Scala, the Met and beyond. Legends had won Oscars, Emmys, Grammys and Tonys. One was a renowned magazine editor, another a celebrated playwright. Rogers called them “the most illustrious list of names ever brought together for commercial purposes.”No less than Advertising Age, “the bible of the ad world,” counted “What Becomes a Legend Most” among the Top 100 ad campaigns of the 20th century (number 73, to be exact). And no less an arbiter of the intersection of culture and celebrity than Andy Warhol found “What Becomes a Legend Most” so compelling that he featured the Judy Garland ad in a limited series of screen prints in 1985. Fast forward to 2001: At the time, American Legend was working tury (number 73, to be exact). And no less an arbiter of the intersection of culture and celebrity than Andy Warhol found “What Becomes a Legend Most” so compelling that he featured the Judy Garland ad in a limited series of screen prints in 1985.

Fast forward to 2001: At the time, American Legend was working with Laspato DeCaro, an ad agency known for its work in fashion. This relationship led to American Legend approaching the agency about reinventing the Blackglama campaign.

Without question, quality is the characteristic most often attributed to Blackglama. But who determines if a mink is worthy of the Blackglama label and what are the criteria?

Each and every pelt that arrives at American Legend is hand inspected by one of our exclusive graders. In order to qualify as Blackglama, the pelt must be free of any imperfections on both the fur and

“It is this shortnap characteristic that most defi nes the Blackglama mink in the garment form.”

leather side. Two types of fur are then examined; the base underfur must be deep in length, dark in color, and dense in fl ow. It supports the slightly longer and fi ner guardhair, which gives the pelt its soft, silky look and feel. It is this shortnap characteristic that most defi nes the Blackglama mink in the garment form.

With such tough criteria to pass, it is no wonder that less than 2% of the world’s ranch-raised mink production qualifi es as Blackglama mink and is awarded the coveted serialized labels by American Legend for garment placement.