Are you a lover of leopard print? It’s your season in the sunshine
byFaroque Sarkar-
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Approach animal prints with attention to detail. Bag and dress, £1,280 each, soniarykiel.com, from May
Hattie Crisell
thetimes
We are women; hear us roar. It’s the mantra of our era, with its pussy hats, women’s marches and new crop of feminist heroes. And I don’t want to get too literal, but I can’t help but think it’s appropriate that during last week’s heatwave all the best-dressed women I saw were wearing leopard print.
[post_ads]It’s always good to see a fashion zeitgeist emerge without too much fanfare; it means it has happened not because it has been foisted on us by the industry, but because women genuinely love wearing it. Thus it is with animal print, a look first made properly cool by Azzedine Alaïa in the early 1990s, with plenty of support from Gianni Versace, Dolce & Gabbana and Roberto Cavalli. It has survived as a stylish shorthand for feminine assertiveness and sexuality, never exactly on or off trend; it feels far too personal for that. You either love those prints to your very bones or you don’t.
From left: dress, £69, & Other Stories; Giovanna Battaglia Engelbert; Kristin Scott Thomas; Hilary Rhoda
I’m among those with a soft spot for the spots. It’s why I’ve spent the past week trying to chase down the leopard-print Ganni skirt that sold out while I was still deliberating over the expenditure. I lost out on a similarly lovely one at & Other Stories, and a friend here at The Times tells me that she has been trying in vain to get hold of a fantastic Topshop blouse. I can only extrapolate from this that leopardophiles all over the country are suffering the same disappointments as the good pieces are snapped up, so I’ve set out to find all the fantastic animal print you can still buy right now (don’t procrastinate).
You can dress the prints down, as with this shirt, £88, and mules, £158, both jcrew.com
Let’s start, though, with how to wear it. Animal prints have a flashy, trashy image, so approach if not with caution, then at least with attention to detail. There are various ways to wear them. First, you can make like the Scandinavians and dress them down. A glamorous dress can be worn over a T-shirt or polo neck, and you could also add a bomber jacket or sporty trainers. To some (including me), this is refreshingly counterintuitive; to others, it’s just a hodge-podge.
Mix prints as the actress Alicia Vikander doesPASCAL LE SEGRETAIN/ GETTY IMAGES
Second, you could follow in the paw-steps of Giovanna Battaglia Engelbert, the more-is-more Italian fashion editor who recently went out in a cheetah-print dress with leopard-print shoes and handbag. I don’t recommend this unless you feel confident that you can carry it off with aplomb. Italians seem better equipped for theatrical high glamour, but the mix-and-match look risks being costumey. We’re not making an am-dram production of The Jungle Book here.
Third, you could stick with the old-fashioned wisdom that one animal-print piece at a time is enough and keep the rest quite simple. Denim still works, as does black (see Kate Moss), but to be very 2018 I’d try pairing it with white, which in shoes, jeans and accessories is undoubtedly the colour of the year. If you’re concerned about the mutton-dressed-as-leopard effect, take a leaf out of Kristin Scott Thomas’s book: she recently wore an ankle-length printed skirt with a crisp white shirt, black sandals and red lipstick. Not groundbreaking, but entirely, inarguably chic.
Or keep the rest of the outfit simple, as with this T-shirt, £59, baukjen.com
Now to the hunt. Although I missed out on Ganni’s beautiful skirt, the Danish brand does have a range of luxury leopard pieces in stock, including a long silk shirtdress (£430), a V-neck georgette blouse with a ruffled collar (£105) and a long-sleeved minidress (£120, all ganni.com), which is not too mini — on the (tall) model on the website it’s a few inches above the knee.
[post_ads]The selection at & Other Stories is more purse-friendly, from the leopard-print tapered trousers (£69; only a plain T-shirt required) to the zebra-striped blouse (£45, both stories.com). I’m impressed with Finery’s zebra-printed jumpsuit (£99, finery.com), which has various wearer-friendly touches: adjustable, wide shoulder straps so that you can wear a good bra underneath, and a detachable belt. (Why does it feel like a special occasion when a high street brand thinks about what women might find useful?)
Lily and Lionel’s Ashley shirt is perfect if you’re looking for something slinky, £180, lilyandlionel.com
Looking for something slinky? Try Lily and Lionel’s Frankie Big Cat blouse (£145) or short-sleeved Ashley shirt (£180, both lilyandlionel.com), or Zara’s zebra-print camisole dress (£19.99, zara.com). For maximum wearage this summer, pick up Topshop’s belted leopard-print coat (£69, topshop.com); alas it’s polyester, so won’t provide much warmth come winter, but that’s what you get these days for under 70 quid.
Should conventional animal prints be too classic, too predictable for your tastes, this season a couple of brands have used them as a jumping-off point for weird and wonderful tweaks. The Copenhagen brand Baum und Pferdgarten is selling (alongside the very nice Jefri leopard pencil skirt, £69) pink twists on the print in the form of the Jasbir frilled T-shirt (£59) and the stretched-out Casta sweater (£169, all baumundpferdgarten.com). Essentiel Antwerp has developed a cheerful multicoloured leopard-print silk that you’ll find in a bell-sleeved minidress (£305), a ruffle-bib shirt (£185), a T-shirt (£175) or a pleated skirt (£230, all essentiel-antwerp.com).
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Finally, don’t be shy with it; make yourself known. Add a bit of a tan if that’s your thing, and tousled hair that suggests you approach life with wild abandon (even if, like me, you absolutely don’t). When you don’t feel fierce, you can fake it. Thank goodness for fashion.
Instagram @hattiecrisell
