Ingrid Newkirk's worst nightmare, Basso is a furrier and QVC pitchman. He's also a fixture at society events around town.

Basso started off in the fur business in the early '80s as one of the founders of a company called Pellicce BasCardi. During their early days, Basso showed furs to Nassau and Bergen County yentas out of the trunk of a rented Town Car. In the early '90s, he went off on his own and set up a business selling floor-length pelts to socialites at solo or group fur shows. In 2003, he made a splashy transition to retail when he opened a baroquely-decorated 3,000-square-foot flagship on Madison and 66th with a selection of unshaved shearling, stenciled mink, lynx, chinchilla, sable, grebe and marten coats that cost as much as $150,000. He's since attracted the sort of following you'd expect—Russian plutocrats, Park Avenue biddies, and heavily-preserved celebs like Barbara Walters, Joan Rivers, Patti LaBelle, Ivana Trump, and Star Jones (and PETA protestors, natch). In addition to his thriving high-end fur business, Basso profits downmarket, too. He's a regular on QVC where, in his cigarette-tinged, Harvey Fierstein-reminiscent baritone, he promises Missourian housewives that they'll look absolutely gorgeous in his pelted faux sable coat with convertible collar for just $124.99. [Image via Getty]