Rockin' the Jungle: The Return of Leopard Print - A Remix on an Old Classic
Classic charisma revival: The resurgence of the Leo aesthetic - reasons explained - The iconic Leo style resurfaces: a re evaluation of its popularity.
Step out onto city streets or stroll through a supermarket, and you might find yourself in a wild tapestry of leopard print: on shirts, pants, dresses, coats, shoes, you name it. Animal prints are back in style, baby! While the term "leopard" might be thrown around loosely, it could just as easily be a cheetah, jaguar, ocelot, tiger, or even a zebra or giraffe.
But let's not get too technical about the definition of prints. This trend encompasses more than just the printed fabric: woven patterns, knitted textures, or painted designs all count. This wardrobe safari stretches from the First Lady at a gala to a Berlin erotic model, from Hollywood stars to a North German groom at his wedding, and even to the attendees of a "Leopard Party" in a Berlin rooftop club.
Animal prints have made their way onto accessories, too, such as bags, cushions, and tableware. Not too long ago, these items were considered distasteful due to their association with colonial hunting trophies.
Anna Sophie Müller, a textiles and fashion lecturer at the Europa University Flensburg, views the leopard print look with ambivalence. "Leopard prints have never completely vanished from the fashion scene. Animals have always been fascinating. But the symbols, or the meanings behind them, can change drastically," Müller states.
"I never thought I'd rock the leopard look"
"A year ago, I thought to myself: The leopard look is totally trendy these days, I need to get in on this," says a woman in her mid-60s in Berlin. "So I bought a blouse and a rain jacket. I never thought the leopard look was my style. And the blouse? That was definitely a miss – I still feel like Aunt Käthe in the early '60s wearing it. Leopard was never a wild choice back then."
Now, leopard print is suddenly all the rage, even among the younger generation. "The rain jacket, a hooded blouson, I find quite cool because the combination is somehow quirky," the woman from Berlin says. "I only like these prints when they are used in small doses, when they are cleverly combined with solid-colored pieces – then it becomes an original statement."
A woman in her mid-40s from Mülheim an der Ruhr echoes similar sentiments: "I think it often comes off as cheap or tacky, or that people wearing it aren't authentic. I prefer floral patterns. They're more colorful and joyful."
The leopard print has been associated with words like "sexy," but also "tacky," because it has frequently been worn by seductive characters in movies. Women's magazine "Glamour" explains, "Over the past decades, fashion brands have constantly tried to separate the animal print from its seductive or 'tacky' image." Among these brands were the Scottish designer Christopher Kane and Alessandro Michele, formerly of Gucci.
The weekly newspaper "Die Zeit" stated at the height of summer 2024 that any animal prints conjure up images of nostalgia: "Colonial arrogance of past eras, when people brought dead wild animals or hunting trophies from Africa and Asia." They usually seemed ironic: "A blouson with a leopard fur pattern flirts with the rebelliousness of the '60s and '70s fashion, its political incorrectness evident in both materials and origin."
Müller explains that today's Leo look is far from being defined by one thing. "It can be completely contradictory and paradoxical: At one moment, this pattern stood for colonial victories, but now, post-colonial, it stands for the opposite; it once stood for exoticism, luxury, and power, but now it stands for vegan alternatives, for example, when it's worn as fake fur for animal welfare."
Müller wonders if the leopard print trend in today's culture might also serve as a "counter-speciesist statement." What does that mean? Speciesism is like racism or sexism, she says, but discrimination here isn't based on skin color, hair, origin, or gender, but on species. Anti-speciesism is thus an ethical stance that opposes discrimination against living beings based on their species.
Wearing leopard print, Müller says, might just be a subtle expression of philosophy. Fashion, it seems, isn't just about looking good – it's also about making a statement.
- Fashion
- Berlin
- Savannah
- Pedestrian zone
- Micaela Schäfer
- Textile
- The latest employment policy in the fashion industry could include a emphasis on diversity and inclusion, acknowledging the evolution of perceptions and meanings associated with leopard print, and encouraging the use of vegan alternatives in designs for a more sustainable and ethical fashion culture.
- In the home-and-garden section of community policies, there might be a provision for promoting societal awareness and education about the history and cultural significance of animal prints, particularly leopard print, to discourage the exploitation of wildlife and promote the use of sustainable materials in home decorations and accessories.
