The Legend of Ermine & Vair

L’Hermine (Ermine) and le Vair are two emblematic furs steeped in European myth. Ermine, celebrated by the motto of the Duchy of Brittany (“Potius mori quam foedari” — Rather death than dishonor), stands for untarnished integrity because the stoat supposedly chose death over dirtying its pristine winter coat.

Le Vair, the delicate blue-grey and white pelt of the northern squirrel, was woven into literary history through Charles Perrault’s original fairytale, where Cinderella wore slippers of genuine vair—a luxurious fur fitting for a queen before later transcriptions transformed it into glass.