Perhaps it’s in order to avoid the wrath of PETA protestors as they try to have a peaceful runway bow, perhaps they’ve been reading George Orwell lately, but the design world has certainly returned to its animal-friendly instincts this season. What’s more, its perfect timing – whilst a strong leopard print used to kill it style-wise, now everybody’s just gone and killed leopard-print. Walking past a Jane Norman display window last week, their shiny, shiny (nylon) leopard print garbs were both a mirror to my own animal-clad look, and a mirror to my soul. I need to cut off all ties – and fast.
Luckily for me, next season animal print is set to be replaced by…well, animal print. However, instead of leopard spots and zebra stripes all up in your face, we are presented with the animals themselves. Think Bret from Flight of the Conchord’s kooky and fit jumpers (boys take note) but with a whopping big injection of fashion.
Let us turn to the experts, however, for a demonstration of this fashiony Circle of Life. New York Fashion Week saw an abundance of woodland creatures on show at Jill Stuart, with screen-printed owls and foxes emerging from camouflage-esque colour blocks. It reminded me of those tack-tastic leopard-print shirts you can get on market stalls, the ones with actual leopards incorporated into the print – minus the tacky, of course. Elsewhere in New York, Anna Sui went into cutesy-overdrive, apparently taking inspiration from last season’s River Island hats. Oh, how the legal copyright tables have turned.
Skip forward to London, and my favourite show-opening of the season so far at Topshop Unique: model + Harajuku hair + lots of dalmation print + ‘Cruella de Vil’ blasting over the soundtrack. The 101 Dalmatians reference went all the way to a Disney dalmatian printed sweater – teamed with a pinstripe shorts-suit, natch. A strong look to end all animal strong looks, then. I’m just hoping Jane Norman doesn’t catch on to the rise of dalmatian-print as the new leopard – cos if that doesn’t scare you, no evil thing will…
But don’t worry if you’re less into cutesy, and more into terrifying. I’m thinking Christopher Kane Gorilla-esque garb, am I right? Turn to the usually big-on-cutesy Charles Anastase, who has the animal print you need in the form of his bull-print dresses. I say bull, but I think they could be some kind of mythological horse. Or a ram? A Big Look, then, if a little (accurate) reference-lite on my side of things.
So, whether you’re into lions, or tigers, or bears (Oh my!) this is a look set to release girls like me from a lifelong habit of tacky leopard-dom. Personally, I’ve just bought these bad boys in order to thoroughly embrace the animal in me. Yeah, what have you achieved today? Exactly.
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