EMMA JOHNSON
THIS LEOPARD WON’T CHANGE HER SPOTS
TIME to get serious this week readers. I need to know where you stand on an issue that is very close to my heart. Leopard print: Do you love it or do you loathe it?
As you may have gleaned from my opening paragraph, I adore the stuff. At the last count I had nine items in my wardrobe bearing the brown/yellow/black markings.
As I write this, I am wearing a leopard print jumper and have just, moments ago, removed a leopard print scarf.
Before you start, double leopard is perfectly acceptable – I read it in a fashion magazine. Like double denim, it has been recalimed by fashionistas.
Right now my passion is being served purr-fectly well by the fashion industry.
If you have set foot on the high street in recent weeks, you’ll know shops are starting to resemble the Serengeti, there’s so much of the stuff on the rails. In additon to all the leopards: zebras, tigers and snakes are also prowling/slithering about, but I plan to stick with the Panthera pardus (the posh name for leopards).
A pleated skirt from M&S, some Dune boots and a shift from Dorothy Perkins are all in my crosshairs.
There is also a button-through maxi dress from Zara that I keep revisiting. I am playing the long game on that one, waiting to see how many people I see wearing it before I hand over my cash.
The only thorn in my paw (I know it was a lion in the fable, please allow me the metaphor) is that my husband is not a fan.
Whenever I don one of my lovely leopard print pieces, the words ‘Bet Lynch’ spring forth from his lips within minutes of him clapping eyes on me.
And he is not the only one who can’t resist the leap to the brassy Corrie barmaid. Numerous male friends/relatives have given me an ‘alright Bet’ to my big cat looks. Especially when I wear my faux fur leopard coat.
In fairness that one is an open goal.
Bearing in mind Julie Goodyear has not been on the cobbles in almost 15 years, that’s quite a fashion legacy.
I suppose it could be worse, at least I am never compared to that other one to sink her claws into the leopard look, Kat Slater.
A straw poll of female friends reveals many of their partners/husbands bear the same ill will towards leopard print as my own.
Most of the women like it, save for one who thinks she may have ‘killed it’ for herself in her younger days. A leopard print dressing gown was the final nail in that sartorial coffin apparently.
The current trend for all-things leopard is hardly new. Christian Dior first used it back in the 1950s and it has barely been out of our closets since.
Elizabeth Hurley and Debbie Harry are high-profile fans. Even the ultra-demure Audrey Hepburn couldn’t resist its pull and this season Tom Ford and Victoria Beckham both used the print in their collections.
Yes, leopard print may be bold and it may be brassy, but for me it’ll always be the (big) cat’s whiskers.