My Favorite Color
In 1962, then First Lady Jackie Kennedy wore a coat of authentic leopard fur. Personal opinions on Jackie O may vary, but she was something of a trendsetter in her time and boy did she push the explosion of leopard print in fashion. During the 1960s, as many as a quarter of a million leopards were killed for their skins. Bob Dylan wrote a song about Edie Sedgwick’s love for leopard print, and the population dwindled. Something had to be done and in 1973, the Endangered Species Act was passed, providing significant protections to leopards and other exotic mammals. Luckily for the consumer, the 1970s was the decade of polyester, and companies were quick to create faux alternatives. If anything, the rise of faux-fur was beneficial to sales— polyester furs were much more accessible and if anything this further increased the popularity of leopard print. Everything was leopard print, from dresses to bikinis. And everyone was wearing it, from Debbie Harry to Gwyneth Paltrow to Kate Moss. There are few women’s items that are as gaudy as leopard while still maintaining a degree of timelessness.
It’s easy to look at examples of famous women wearing leopard print, a storied list which even includes the prestigious likes of Queen Elizabeth II. For men, the story is different, with such a list being occupied With the less elegant (but more royal?) likes of Sid Vicious and Kurt Cobain. Men who, unpleasant deaths notwithstanding, hold a “bad boy” status in pop culture. Though iconic, they are rarely viewed as worth emulating. You ask the average man to take a mental rorschach test concerning leopard print and their first thoughts will likely be a pimp coat. This racey connotation carries over to the average man’s image for women, more likely to associate leopard print with Emily Ratajkowski in a skimpy bikini than the JTTB patron saint, Sofia Coppola in a reserved coat.
But recently, I’ve been increasingly hearing the dissenting opinion that leopard is “washed,” that it’s going out of style. This feels so foreign to me, perhaps because I’ve constructed my wardrobe regardless of trends— what I wear now is merely an elevation and evolution of what I wore when I first began my love affair with fashion four years ago. It also seems odd to me because we typically stereotype womenswear as a sphere dominated by trends, yet leopard has had its moments in every decade of womenswear since the ‘50s. But in menswear, we act like leopard is some temporary symptom of scumbro style and camp collar sleaze. Men’s brands certainly don’t help this image— Goodhood featuring it alongside cigarettes and empty beer bottles and Supreme pairing it with sweatpants in lookbooks, cementing the print is a streetwear flight of fancy more than an actually chic pattern.
None of that was on my mind on New Year’s Eve 2017 when I put in my bid on a Wacko Maria jacket in brown corduroy with a leopard print lining. At the time I was merely looking for a second Wacko jacket in the same style and cut as my first; the faux fur lining was merely an interesting addition. What I definitely didn’t plan was that it would become an obsession. Next it was a belt from Undercover, then Supreme underwear, then a Gitman Bros. camp collar, then Kapital socks, then Noah shorts, and finally a Noah beret. Who knows what’s next? Maybe a bucket hat from the Supreme x Barbour collaboration in two days, maybe a fleece from Kapital, maybe a coat, maybe some sort of footwear. The only thing that is guaranteed is my love affair with the big cat will continue.
I love leopard because it’s fun. It makes those who dress more conservatively double take from confusion, and those who care about this sort of thing do the same out of appreciation. It matches with just about everything. I don’t think of leopard as a passing menswear trend. Most women think of leopard print as merely a timeless, fun detail. Why can’t we?
