It’s a jungle out there. Seriously, the animal print trend is as strong as ever. Animal prints, are a neutral palette that can be paired with just about anything (Huffington Post).

Animal prints seem to be all the rage.  They never truly go out of style, but do seem to be roaring back (pun intended).  I love, love, love wearing animal prints…I also love to carry an animal print handbag, or wear an animal print watch, or earrings.  An animal print scarf is an easy way to pop some animal magnetism into your wardrobe.  At the end of the blog are some of my favorite looks…This blog is for my friend Connie, who prefers my blogs when they’re chock-full of pictures of clothes…And also to my very dear friend, Kathy P, who has always rocked anything Cheetah or Leopard…and whom I believe coined the phrase…Cheetah is the new black!

 

The following article was found on Creativefashionglee.com (link at end of blog).

Animal print never goes out of fashion. In fact, every season and every year, people parrot, “Animal print is on trend!” But it’s the same print. If there’s anything new, it’s purely a matter of interpretation.

The question isn’t about “should you” or “should you not” own an animal print. Every fashionista must own at least a piece of this print be it a dress, a top, a pair of shoes, a scarf or a bag. The question therefore is – how do you make it right?

Don’t match animal print if it’s large

Matching colors and prints is very common in styling. However, not only does going too matchy creates a trying hard kind’a obsolete way of styling, it’s considered a big NAY when it comes to animal prints.

Choose only one large part of your outfit that’s wild. For instance, if your top is a leopard/tiger/zebra print, let the tights/skirt/pants be non-animal. If it’s your dress that has the print, then let your shoes be plain black or nude.

A touch of the same print on your footwear only works when the black, beige or white shade is dominant.

Tone your leopard print down

If your outfit is too wild, tone it down. If you wear an animal print mini dress, you can tone it down by wearing a single-colored-cardigan over your dress in color that blends well with your wild print.

If you wear leopard print tights for example, you can tone down the print by wearing them with knee-length boots in color palette that blends but suppresses the strongest shade of your animal print.

You can also decide for the color of your boots by taking a non-dominant shade from your other accessories. Again, in shades that complement your animal print.

Take a look at Whitney Port’s outfit. If she just toned it down with this Willow casual leather knee boots, she could have saved her fashionista image and avoided some OMG writers from asking, “Is it just us or is it these skinny leopard-print pants?”

Another way of toning down a large wild is by carrying/wearing accessories that steals attention such as fur purse or fancy scarf. But then, their color should always be complementary.

Only match animal print if it’s accessory

If you feel the urge to go matchy, you can do so on your accessories provided they don’t clash. For example, if you wear leopard printed boots, you can take a tiny purse in leopard print.

If your tiger bag is with considerable size, you can take a pair of tiger print stilettos. But hopefully, your long scarf is no longer a leopard/tiger and your head gear does not scream jungle. The key here is getting minimal.

Animal Print?  Stay single

I don’t mean that you girls should stop searching for the man of your life [yes, he is being searched for not unless you already found him] and just stay single.

But what I do mean is that you would never go wrong if you take only a single item of animal print, either for your top, bag, shoes or scarf, while the rest of your outfit is entirely neutrals.

Try D&G Style

If you want to be effectively daring, you can try Dolce and Gabbana style. A fitting sleeveless top with low cleavage tucked in a black and white polka dot midi skirt teamed with black booties, is a fabulous look to steal.

A pair of fitting long sleeves top and below the knee pencil cut is otherwise an alternative.

Notice that the top and skirt are matched [right photo] but the prints are of big patterns with light brown as the main shade. Complete the look with a pair of plain black stilettos.

Animal print and color clash

A new way to wear animal print is to team it with bright colors. Now, not everybody has the heart to apply this idea but it´s something worth a try. The key here is to go for only one single vibrant color.

One color that is best to clash against the print, and is certain to stand out, is green. There are many shades. My favorite is emerald-green, but deep green, getaway green or pebbled green are also good. Create a match. Let your shoes be green too.

But shades of pink, red, yellow, orange and pastels work well with leopard print too. Really, you just have to find your color. Think leopard skater mini dress and pink ballet flats. Delicious!

I love this style idea because colors are actually used to steal some attention from the print, a great way to tone it down.

Animal print teamed with another print

So D&G showed us how to pair a tiger print with polka dots, but fashion blogger Arianne did a more daring combination – zebra print with another bold print.

To give the two prints a good contrast, she layered between the two prints a single colored pattern (in the same shade as of the animal print). Also, she opted for light colors for her tights and boots to avoid looking too dark and heavy.

(Link for above article at end of blog)

 

Some of my favorite looks in Animal Print

 

 

I just ordered the above shoes.  Steve Madden.

 

 

 

 

 

I had to pop a bit of Lilly into this blog!

One note about Animal Prints…if you think they’re not necessarily for you, or you can’t pull it off, remember Less if More!  Feather in a print via a scarf or handbag… And full animal print, head to toe, is rarely a good idea.  #lessismore

 

Song of the Day:  The Lion Sleeps Tonight, by the Tokens. 🙂

Happy, Happy Birthday Lora!!!  Best friend ever!!

It’s a Critical Discussion Weekend, hence why I’m posting on Thursday, nor Friday…#bringiton #bootswiththefur #criticaldiscussion #veuve.  Can. Not. Wait.  Seriously…Cannot wait!!  Pictures to follow.

xoxo,

T.

 

 

 

Source:  http://creativefashionglee.com/how-to-wear-animal-print/