America! What an amazing, innovative country! This great land has been home to brilliant innovators including Thomas Edison, Sara Blakely (founder of Spanx, with a $1 billion net worth) and, now, Pamela Paquin.
Paquin, 39, is the founder of Petite Mort, a company that makes coats, stoles, arm warmers and other winter garments out of mangled roadkill.
The price for just one of these dead-animal duds is typically around $1,000, the Daily Mail reports.
Paquin has used furs including mink and fox in her creations, though pelts would appear to be available on a kind of catch-of-the-day basis.
“All our animals are wild and free, have died accidentally, and contribute to the local New England ecosystem as indigenous species,” the Petite Mort Facebook page explains.
“I’ve always loved animals and have always worked on a farm,” Paquin told the Mail.
She said she believes there is a market for roadkill fur among lovers of fur fashion who don’t like the idea of also killing animals for their skins.
“I knew the idea would be popular but I didn’t know when it would take off,” Paquin, who currently lives near Boston, also told the Mail. “They are a real statement piece.”
She also observed that “there’s a lot of roadkill in America.”
The process whereby dead animals on the road become $1,000 coats or fashion accessories is a complex one.
Paquin’s roadkill supplier are state departments of transportation and animal control. Once she receives a carcass, the trendy fashion designer has it skinned, frozen and delivered to a taxidermist for preparation.
The process for a single animal takes about 20 hours. And that’s just the beginning, as each fur must undergo an aging process of several weeks.
When Paquin eventually turns the dressed animal into a piece of clothing, she adds a certificate explaining where it met its demise.
Paquin already has her critics, she said. Fur haters and other PETA-like types are worried that her creations could cause an increase in the overall demand for toasty fur products.
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