La. nutria fur could make an appearance at N.Y. Fashion Week

For the past three years, designer Cree McCree has been shouting the praises of the plush, velvety by-product of Louisiana’s most pesky invasive species, staging fashion shows using nutria fur in ways that range from chic (a fur-trimmed jacket) to silly (a fur-trimmed bikini), The Times-Picayune reports. Now, with the help of some clever Loyola University graphic design students, McCree is poised to get nutria onto the big stage of New York Fashion Week, which kicks off its fall/winter 2012 shows on Thursday. Press kits from McCree’s company, Righteous Fur—designed as part of a Loyola class project—recently landed on the desks of several high-profile designers. Each kit contained a nutria pelt wrapped around a tiny dress form and packaged in a foldout box that collapsed into a quick-hit presentation filled with nutria facts. About the size of a shoebox with a carrying handle, the kit—sent to Marc Jacobs, Cynthia Rowley, Rag & Bone, Anna Sui, Michael Kors, Joseph Altuzarra and Billy Reid, among others—was hard to ignore, and a few designers apparently didn’t. Check out the full story here.