unendangered

I didn't think it was possible, but Leopard Print is still the new black.

It's been years now.

I mean, it's gone back and back - to caveman days, I suppose (can't you just see the women around the fire, one-upping each other on whose man got them a better quality skin), but it really did seem, back in around 2010, that the look had been done to death.

But even on the catwalk at Burberry last week: it's still there (second to last shot, above). *

So once again, I am wrong.

The print is here, bigger and bolder and more witty than ever. Best worn in spring, I feel, with your own bare skin.

Shown from top: my friend Natayla, in a shoot I did for My Wardrobe in - wow, I think Dec 2010, then a girl at Somerset House this week (as before), Hayley in also about 2010, me, a guest from the Burberry show this week, a girl in about 2011, the Burberry coat a/w 2013 and last but never least, Carine Roitfeld in 2011.

Better run: we're off to see Zero Dark Thirty. It's effing freezing, and I'm pulling out my old leopard print teddy bear coat.

* And - thank you Jessie of Fashion Limbo - also at the Moshino Cheap & Chic show, which my other friend Jessi went to (she was my assistant this season!) but it was on the day we landed and I missed it (see comments). I love what I'm seeing tho - esp. looks 12 & 13. That's the new twist on the print: pattern on pattern, bigger & bolder. As Jessi said, it's a love it or hate it thing. Leopard is the Marmite (or Bovril) of prints.

another star

Amy, in Camden Lock.

I'm not kidding, I'm seeing leopard prints everywhere: it's like a cult. The variations are so... varied, and truly inspiring, creatively. I love the pattern more than once, as Amy's done here. And love the silver stars with grey and her gorgeous hair & eyes & pale English skin.

Is this just a London thing? Is leopard that big where you are? I'm just wondering where this will go... will there be a day when we'll all wake up and, like what happened to poor quiche in the 70s, we just can't wear it because it's ruined?

What would it take to ruin leopard for you: who would have to wear it?

everything but the glitter

It really doesn't take much to amuse me.. my latest game with myself is finding how many different ways women are wearing the ubiquitous leopard print this season. Tell me when you want me to stop, please, otherwise I'm gonna bore you to tears.

Also present in this shot: red lips, black leather biker chic (this time, in the form of her bag - the other girl's jacket is cropped out), gold studs, & white tee. We've got everything but the glitter.



Of course, I could resist posting another version of a look I've already showed you, because it's so my style I could be shooting a self-portrait. I have almost the same shoes (from NY: Barneys) & have been wearing them for over ten years, lately with black over the knee socks. I even tried finding a coat just like this and ended up going home from Portobello Road with a fabulous faux chocolate jacket, barely worn, from the 50s, or early 60s, instead. But more about that tomorrow. After all, tomorrow is another day.



Oh, okay, just one more: no leopard this time, just a bit of biker chic & boyfriends jackets. Preening before a party.

polka dot style

Dotted in Green Park during her lunch hour on one of the first gloriously spring days: Tanya, looking fabulous in polka dots, leopard scarf, and red Ray Bans. We're predicting lots o' polka dots this season, but then again, we would, wouldn't we? This is the season to break the rules: we're seeing a lot of pattern on pattern, in increasingly creative ways.