Overwhelmed by Animal Instincts?
Animal prints are the locusts of the fashion cycle. They are always around, but some years they’re more abundant than others. This fall they are everywhere.
Aficionados claim leopard, cheetah and zebra prints are fashion classics. But every time the fervor fades, animal prints go back on the kitsch shelf with ball fringe. When spots are hot they’re hard to beat, but when they’re bad they might as well be plaid.
This fall, there are designers who advocate head-to-toe animal-print outfits. These are a bit hard to stomach. And mixing exotic prints with the prevailing menswear silhouette, doesn’t work either--it’s too tortured, too Jane-of-the-Urban-Jungle.
Leopard and cheetah prints can look rich and sophisticated, especially in small amounts--at the cuffs and neckline of a coat or dress, or knit into a sweater that peeks out from under a black jacket. Some of the best animal-print efforts are seen on accessories--handbags, shoes and belts.
Shauna Stein is an expert on animal prints, and leopard is her favorite. She had it printed on the shopping bags for her Beverly Center store and she says she’s been able to find something every season in a big cat print since her first days as a buyer.
You’d think she’d be happy that this is a watershed year for animal prints, but she’s not.
“I love it the most when it’s not in style,” she says. “During popular years, it’s overdone and done badly.”
Stein is quite a connoisseur. She says zebra prints never cut the mustard, nor do the imitation tigers--the black stripes are too strident. But give her a good quality cheetah or leopard print with mottled colors and indistinct spots and you can almost hear her purr.
One of her favorite possessions is a 10-year-old calfskin handbag stenciled in leopard print by Maud Frizon. She also places an ancient Norma Kamali leopard print coat in her greatest hits category.
Animal-print accessories are the best investments, she says. They seem to hold up over time. A leopard-print belt from two years ago is still wearable; a short spandex leopard-print dress from the same season looks dated.
Some area stores are reporting great sales in animal-print accessories. Belts are bestsellers at May Co. and Nordstrom, which is also selling lots of hair accessories.
At I. Magnin, Calvin Klein’s leopard-print platform pumps, moccasins and flats are nearly gone and sales in animal-motif jewelry have been brisk. Chiffon scarves and cowhide headbands in leopard prints are doing well at the Limited.
If you wait a few weeks most of the spots and stripes will head for the endangered species rack and the markdown table. By the holidays they’ll be gone, but like the locusts, they’ll be back.
