‘The speckled creature with its brown and black spots can camouflage into any background to hide from its prey – but to humans, leopard print is a bold statement bound to make you stand out,’ writes Leah Whittle.
From ‘tacky’ to classic, leopard print’s redemption arc is like no other. Suzanne Suthers is a colour analyst and personal stylist based across the whole of The Midlands – who just so happens to be a leopard print enthusiast.
She thinks the pattern should be in everybody’s wardrobe in at least one way. “Leopard print is for everybody,” she said.
“You can change it to fit any skin colour or body shape. For darker skin tones I tend to use more gold-tinted leopard print. For lighter skin, a cool tone is the best way to go.
“You can fit it into your wardrobe in any way – maybe a shirt, a nice pair of trousers, or even a coat. But if you want more subtle hints, maybe consider a pair of earrings or a belt.
“You can fit it in so many ways because it goes with many things.”
But like any fashion trend, the iconic leopard print doesn’t come without its own troubled past.
The leopard is a ferocious beast that can kill in seconds, its skin spotted with striking black and brown patches.
So, it shouldn’t come as a surprise that many people have decided to shroud themselves in this majestic print across hundreds of years – controversial or not.
In Ancient Africa and Asia, real leopard skin was a huge signifier of status and class. Only the top warriors or royalty would wear the print to show off their exoticism.
In recent years, leopard print has made its resurgence in the fashion world – but the print’s troubled past hasn’t gone away.
Platform spoke to Rose Davidson, a senior Fashion lecturer at Nottingham Trent University, about the speckled print’s past.
She said: “One of the earliest examples I can think of [leopard print] is a picture of a lady called Josephine Baker.
“She was a dancer from America from around the 1920s. But because she was African-American, she suffered a lot of racism in America, so she moved to France.
“There is a beautiful picture where she has got her pet cheetah, and she is wearing a cheetah print top. This is probably one of the earliest examples I know.”
But at this point in history, leopard print was not something that you could find in your local shopping centre.
Many people were cautious of the print. Rose continued: “It definitely was not mainstream. It was too close to natural forms.
“We had spent hundreds of years trying to extricate ourselves from nature. As human beings, we had been trying to prove that we are above nature in some way.
“So wearing the camouflage of an animal was almost unheard of. There is something about leopard print that is quite dangerous – obviously because leopards can kill us.
“And 200 years ago, they didn’t quite have the same medicine as we do now. So, covering your body with something so dangerous could have felt like you were tempting fate.”
There are many other famous leopard print pieces and even people who are known in their own right for their love of the pattern.
Some recent examples include Scary Spice, Amy Winehouse, and Kat Slater – but in the past, there is one piece that stands out from the crowd.
Former First Lady Jackie Kennedy’s infamous leopard coat brought so much attention to the print in the 1960s.
The coat remains a source of inspiration to many leopard print enthusiasts to this day, even though at the time this trend led to the slaughter of thousands of leopards.
While the pattern had been historically worn as a symbol of status and wealth, in the 80’s people brought a different meaning to leopard print.
Rose continued: “There was this idea of class when Bet Lynch (Julie Goodyear) wore it. It was seen as something almost common – a slightly working-class piece of clothing.
“It was also connected to the idea of women with loose morals. You know women would have to wear a fur coat because they were walking around the streets at night and needed to stay warm.
“There is an artist called Beryl Cook; she was around in the 1970’s. She was famous because of her paintings of working-class women on nights out, they wouldn’t be your typical paintings.
“They would be of women going into strip clubs, having too much to drink or often having a snog.
“And leopard print clothing would crop up in her paintings quite a lot. So rightly or wrongly, leopard print was connected with the idea of lower class, bad taste and dodgy morals for a couple of years.”
Then, in the 90’s, the riot grll movement took reclaimed leopard print, with many notable people at the time making the print their signature look.
“It was the fashion in the 90s to wear a baby doll slip dress, with a big fur coat over the top,” said Rose.
“It would be people like Courtney Love – she was a real style icon of the 90’s, a lot of other musicians were wearing 60’s and 70’s fashion in sort of an ironic way, such as Jarvis Cocker.”
Nowadays, leopard print is seen in a much more mainstream light, with many people even considering it a neutral staple in their wardrobes.
There has been a trend in people only buying the pattern when it is ‘in’ – but that comes at the cost of our planet.
Rose concluded: “Fast fashion is everywhere, you are always being encouraged to buy something new, even if it looks like something you already have.”
“If I woke up tomorrow, I could decide that I want a wardrobe full of leopard print I could go out and buy it – and it’s a scary idea that it would be so easy for me to do that.”