Just when we thought everywoman fashion plate Katie Holmes had pivoted to autumnal dressing, the actor whipped out the leopard print. Wearing what can best be described as a “party shirt,” Holmes did her usual street-style laps around New York City wearing a splashy cheetah-print button-up over cropped grey trackies. With a shell necklace signaling lazy sojourns spent browsing beach stalls (or at least an aspirational Net-a-Porter edit), but black leather pumps nodding to the back-to-school mood ahead, Holmes’s look was very much summer on top, autumn down below.
Who can blame her? As September approaches, and the phrases “transitional” and “transeasonal” are bandied around (guilty!), we enter a period that is notoriously tricky to dress for. One day, you’re grabbing coffee in your suede Cos fisherman sandals, the next a downpour demands you dust off your trench coats, while Vogue declares you’ve “had enough of summer, thank you very much.” Happily, Holmes has signature pieces, like luxe capacious tote bags and ballet flats, that anchor her looks whatever the weather. She is rarely a victim of the trend cycle.
So, if that shot of animal print feels incongruous for the muted McNally bookstore babe we’re used to seeing pick up groceries, may we remind you that this is the woman who owns a pair of zebra-print boots (albeit by Khaite). She is partial to a head-turning piece when the mood is right (think back to that over-reported, traffic-stopping bradigan and her pantless moment with Tippex-white thigh-highs). Now, in the dog days of summer, when much of Hollywood is still in the land of Whispering Angel, why shouldn’t Holmes have one last flirtation with frivolous seasonal style before coat season really kicks in?