Laura Jacobs thought she would never wear animal fur, having witnessed years of protests over its use in clothing – until suddenly she started spotting it all over New York.

Jacobs fished out the long mink her grandmother left her years ago and took it to a Manhattan furrier to give it a second act.

Fur “was stigmatised for so long”, Jacobs says, posing before a full-length mirror and assessing a potential crop.

But the return of real fur “fits with everything that’s going on with recycling and bringing back vintage”, she says.

“I never would have bought a fur coat,” Jacobs says, adding that the thought of “killing animals like that” gave her pause. But “this felt like I was recycling it”, she says.

New York is thawing out after a particularly cruel winter that has included debates over fur’s revival as influencers push the look and retail sites report a jump in searches for vintage pieces.