Associated with everyone from Bet Lynch to Mel B, and sometimes dubbed a “neutral” by fashion insiders, leopard print is such a stalwart of style that it can be dated back to ancient Egypt. But in 2024 it is having something of a fashion moment once again.
Last week Kate Moss wore a leopard print coat to shows at Paris fashion week, while Hailey Bieber was spotted in a similar design in LA. Leopard has also been on the catwalk – with Prada showing a leopard coat this month – and popular on the high street. Ganni’s Izey jeans are now a familiar sight on fashionable thirtysomethings nationwide while Marks & Spencer’s £45 leopard print wide-legged jeans have sold out on the website. Due to be restocked this week, they have a waiting list of 12,000.
Statistics show how interest has soared. Between July and August, fashion search platform Lyst reported that searches for “leopard print” increased by 91%. The focus is chiefly on two items – leopard print coats and jeans. Pinterest say searches for “leopard print jeans” have increased 2990% since last year. Depop, meanwhile, report that searches for “leopard print coat” have increased 296% since June, with an uplift of 83% for “leopard print jeans” in the same period.
Fashion writer Lauren Cunningham has bought into the jeans. “As a neutral fashion lover who was a bit bored of my own wardrobe, they definitely helped to add extra interest,” she says. “Plus, they’re easy to style whether with jumpers, shirts and T-shirts.”
She believes the recent popularity of leopard print is thanks to a change to fashion’s status quo. “For a while now we’ve seen the rise of quiet luxury with a very pared back minimalist vibe,” she says. “Leopard print seems to offer a break from that without being OTT.” She also links the current interest to the wider Y2K revival: “trends are known to move in 20-year cycles, so it was due a comeback from its noughties popularity – just think back to Scary Spice,” she says. Of course, leopard print dates back much further than the Spice Girls. Jo Weldon, author of Fierce: The History of Leopard Print, says a piece of leopard print linen was found in Tutankhamun’s tomb. Actual leopard skins were popular in the 20th century – women in the 1920s wore it as a badge of status – but movie stars such as Joan Crawford, Jayne Mansfield and Audrey Hepburn helped boost the profile of the print, and Christian Dior featured it in his couture collection in 1947.
It wasn’t all print rather than fur, however. Jackie Kennedy wearing a leopard fur coat in 1962 saw the demand for these skins soar – it’s estimated that a quarter of a million leopards died as a result, and the leopard was put on the endangered species list in 1972. Leopard print rather than fur became the norm in the decades that followed.
It gained a rock’n’roll makeover in the 70s and 80s when worn by the likes of Debbie Harry, Mick Jagger, Divine and Tina Turner, while in the 90s it crossed both the Spice Girls and Britpop bands including Lauren Laverne’s Kenickie.
Leopard print still fits into multiple trends. In 2024 it’s a bona fide classic so can be seen as elegant, but it also signals glamour, so suits the party girl feel of the brat look. Weldon says its longevity comes down to this chameleon quality. “It gains different meanings in different times. The economy is challenging, politics are terrifying. Leopard print reminds us that we can play, that we can think about the beauty of nature, and that we can still feel powerful in the midst of trying times.”
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If the print can become a trend as it is now, there are those who are loyal to leopard whatever its popularity. Moss is a long-term fan of the leopard print coat, wearing one to her 30th birthday party in 2004, while stylist Carlyne Cerf de Dudzeele is featured in a new documentary In Vogue: the 90s, wearing leopard print Uggs, in a room covered in leopard print wallpaper.
Laura Antonia Jordan, contributing editor at Elle, describes an Alaia leopard print coat as a treasured piece in her wardrobe. “I think [leopard print] is always having a moment,” she says. “There’s always room for leopard. [It’s] classic but a bit naughty: a perfect mix of vulgarity and elegance.”