Why is leopard print so trendy?
Leopard print, which encompasses a wide spectrum of feline furs, is one of the most ubiquitous trends in Western fashion right now. But far from being a novelty, it is one of the oldest prints in fashion, with origins dating back to Ancient Egypt. While a good number of fashions come back, they never do so in the same form, and as for leopard skin, it has a history of numerous stellar comebacks, each with very different meanings, from sexual empowerment and ostentatious luxury to the subversion of punk and hip culture. trash.
The first time that Europe emulated the leopard skin in a print was in the 18th century, when, under the excessive luxury and colonial tints of Rococo exoticism, it fit perfectly with the clothing of men and women. In the 20th century it acquired an indisputable prominence with the film Tarzan the Ape Man (1932), as the revealing clothes and furs of Johnny Weissmuller (Tarzan) and Maureen O'Sullivan (Jane) sparked a genuine passion for feline prints. Among the greatest proponents was Josephine Baker who, in addition to turning the print into a symbol of identity on and off the stage, had Chiquita, a live cheetah, as a pet with which she walked along the Champs-Élysées.
In 1947 Christian Dior revived the trend with the dress Jungle leopard print, about which Dior himself warned: "If you are pretty and sweet, do not use it." Apart from the display of wealth, this print socially infuses women with an untamable and predatory dimension as an echo of the macho label of the femme fatalePrecisely because of this connotation of sexual disinhibition and of moving away from the idea of a defenseless takeover by being a hunter who does not let herself be caught, she frequently dressed (or undressed) pin-ups like Bettie Page or Jayne Mansfield, and also Mrs. Robinson in The Graduate (1967) while devouring a very young Dustin Hoffman.
In 1962, designer Oleg Cassini created a striking real leopard fur coat for Jackie Kennedy. A seemingly insignificant detail led to tragedy, as sales of these coats skyrocketed, resulting in a quarter of a million leopards being killed to meet demand. This leopardmania led to iconic fashion moments, such as Audrey Hepburn's Givenchy hat in the film Charade (1963), recreating the hats pillbox by Jackie Kennedy. A trend that led Bob Dylan to dedicate a song to her Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat (1966) to ridicule women who used this accessory.
Environmental awareness led to the Endangered Species Act being passed in 1973 and, as a result, and with polyester in full swing, the fashion world began to offer coats that simulated the real thing, but at a more affordable price. As a result, the fashion spread massively. Precisely for this reason, an element that had identified the upper classes now reached the lower classes and entered the realm of kitsch tackiness of "I want to, but I can't." At the same time, cultures such as punk and trash They would use it as a weapon of subversion of the system, with figures such as Debbie Harry of Blondie, Sid Vicious, Steven Tyler and Kurt Cobain.
Apparently, we can think that coats that imitate animal skin are harmless, but, according to some experts, their large quantity causes a distorted perception of the state of these species in the world and makes us believe that there are many of them despite being in danger of extinction. In any case, these skins that serve the animals to go unnoticed in their habitats, on the contrary, are for us an element of social visibility that, far from connecting us with nature, make us turn our backs on it even more.