It’s a jungle out there…. Animal prints such as leopard and snakeskin are everywhere! How do you tame this trend so you don’t look like you walked out of a zoo?
A little is animal print is sexy and chic at any age, but too much of it will make others roar..roar with laughter. Don’t be a fashion victim.
Christine Kolenda looking sexy in an animal print sweater!
A touch of exotic skin shows that you have a creative side and that you are not afraid to express yourself. However, be stingy with animal prints. Live by the ONE ANIMAL RULE. What’s that?
If your sweater is leopard like in the photo above… Boom. That’s it! You really don’t need any more leopard print anywhere else, and you definitely shouldn’t mix your leopard print with tiger, zebra, giraffe, snake, lizard …you name it.
Instead pair that eye-catching leopard sweater with a classic pencil skirt in a neutral like black, camel, cream,brown, or gorgeous red, like Christine Kolenda did at NYC’s Beauty Bash event. Simple and chic, her sweater is her statement piece.
Chanel meets animal print
Now, this woman on the left has a touch of a repeating leopard print. She’s wearing a leopard print blouse with a cream jacket that is trimmed in leopard. She looks elegant, but if she wanted to kick it up a notch she could wear a balck or cream top under that jacket o make the trim stand out more.
Love the burgundy shoes. Animal print shoes would have been overkill!
Also, don’t be tempted to carry a matching animal print handbag. Don’t do it!!! It’s just overkill and you end up looking silly instead of sexy. Less is more when it comes to this queen of the jungle look.
Judith Ann Graham has it perfect. She’s teamed a snakeskin print blouse with leather pants. Any one else may have been tempted to add matching snakeskin heels but Judith chose gorgeous burgundy pumps and a matching burgundy handbag to really make her outfit pop.
Do you own an animal print outfit? We’d love to see you in it. Please email us a photo and we’ll post it!
Style Expert Deborah Boland specializes in helping mature women to Tweak their Chic®!
I love how you emphasized the importance of toning this wild print down as the first in the list on how to wear animal print. Because this trendy, luxus print is already a statement, I lean more to wearing it with other neutral colors to balance it. Lately however, I´ve been experimenting on how to wear it with other prints and bright colors. I´ve been gathering inspirations around the web.
Thanks a lot fot this gorgeous guide!
Hi Creative Fashion Glee… great tips! Thanks for sharing…very nice blog too!!
Fabulous tips! Animal print used to be the trademark for old people but NOT anamore. Girls of any age love this luxus print and with style tips like this guiding girls on how to do it right, the more it is embraced by the fashion world.
Hi Cathy, LOL.. that seems to happen a lot around here!!! You should try wearing that leopard coat with some jeans to run around town in and see if you can’t have some fun with it!!!
Your new top sounds great!! Enjoy!!!!
Gee thanks for answering so quickly. After i wrote this i found a really nice small scale animal print blouse at winners which i just love. It is very subtle tiny scale leopard type pattern on a sheer fbric. I wore it over black jeggings with a narrow slate bow belt and a long cardi and metallic ballet flats. Being 5’9″ – this is a great look for me. So, i guess my motto is now never say never. But once you hate something – just get rid of it.
I used to be about 30 lbs heavier and in desperation bought a long animal print jacket to wear to a number of slightly dressy events. My husband hated that jacket – even after i lost 30 lbs and had it taken in he still didnt like it. The fit is very flattering now- but now i hate the animal print too.
I think after age 50 or so, animal print is best confined to smaller accessories like a scarf or even better -
Gloves or perhaps shoes. Anything larger is difficult to get right.
Hi Cathy,
Animal print can be tricky and there are so many variations of print and quality of the fabric and style that needs to be considered. I (JoJami)just got rid of an animal print swing coat that I had bought a few years back. I wore it for fun with jeans while running errands around town. I have a bold personality and seemed to be able to “pull it off”, but I got tired of it and had not worn it much lately so it went in the give away pile. Wearing it casual is easier than trying to wear it for formal affair. I would not rule it out for everyone but a full animal print coat is not for the faint of heart!
Great tip to add to my fashion “do not do” list! Don’t overdo it on the animal prints – check!! I’ll save my need to be more animal-like for the gym! Agreed – love the burgundy shoes- great outfit!