I and hubby decided to spend the last weekday of 2013 hunting for New Year sales in Frankfurt. While trying to stay patient amidst the very long queue at Mango store, I noticed two women in their late forties wearing leopard print coat. But what astonished me wasn´t the coat, it´s how the print made them look like they´re in their sixties. At first glance they looked much older than their face suggest. This puzzled me, why a leopard print coat could age a woman so much? And what could she do to reverse it?
I remember a friend whom I lent my leopard print dress five years back, she wore it to a dinner date. Her elder sister asked her, “why would you wear such a matronly print?” It was then when I started defending animal print.
A woman with a mountain of to-buy stuffs squeezed through the thickening queue and I was forced back from my thoughts, but I promised to write this post, how to look fashionable in leopard print coat without looking matronly. So here we go …
Table of Contents
Editorial-Inspired
They say that we can´t take the glamor off the print to reality because the models we´re seeing are air-brushed, but surely we can take some style tips.
Wear a wide belt on the coat. I love the idea of wearing a thick black belt or a waist band on top of a midi leopard print coat. Not only does cinching your waist gives you a more defined silhouette, but the dark belt will also tone down your print.
Wear with a bright mono dress. We know that wearing animal print with bright colors is very fashionable. But what you probably failed to realize is that teaming a bold print with bright colors gives you an aura of youth.
Wear with fashionable, fun pieces. Try your leopard print coat with a silk top, flare jeans, and a fedora for an utterly chic look.
Wear Your Leopard Print Coat Casual
The best way to not look matronly in leopard print coat is to dress it down. Wear it with a simple white tee and cut-off denim shorts, with black jeans, or a dark tee and tattered boyfriend jeans. These looks are perfect if you´re off to walk your dog, go shopping with the girls, or run errands.
Celebrity Fashion: Ways to Wear Leopard Print in Summer
With Tall Boots
The idea is putting together a double statement in a look. By teaming your leopard print coat with a pair of all-eyes-on-me tall boots, whether it´s thigh-high, over-the-knee, or knee-high fringed, the attention is forced from top to down.
People aren´t going to focus on your coat, which would then direct the eyes to your face. Instead, they´d look down, wondering where you got those killer boots.
Wear Your Leopard Print Coat as Cape
Create a stand-alone fashionable outfit, that means an outfit that looks great with or without a coat, then throw over your shoulders a long leopard print coat to wear as cape. This gives you a surefire “wow” effect.
A Dose of Modern
The secret to looking young in leopard print coat whether or not you´re only young at heart, is to look for pieces with modern style and silhouette. A fit and flare dress coat is flattering to any body type and age, or try a two-toned coat. Neutral leopard print with black or beige.
How to Look Effortless With A Hint of Leopard Print
The Unexpected Way to Style Leopard Print Coat
Nothing´s more exciting in wearing animal print than keeping things surprising. It´s time to surprise the world!
Print clash. Do you think your friends expected you to wear a leopard print coat on top a check or houndstooth midi dress? Most probably not! But remember that this print clash works best if both have similar color shade, especially if both are dark monochrome.
The rule of length. Balance a fur leopard print short coat with a long black skirt that hugs your figure on top and then flares out like a fish tail with every step you take, thanks to a sexy high slit.
Muted color block. It´s the new way to colorblock. Take one bright separate, team it with another piece in complementary hue, shoes matching one of your separates, then pull everything together with a luxe leopard coat.
Shop Leopard Print Coats
Lace Trim Short Coat $199.00, Overcoat $67.89, MANGO Oversize Coat, $149.99 $69.99
Marc Jacobs £ 1,980.00 £ 1,188.00, Malene Birger £ 399.00, Dolce & Gabbana £ 7,216.00
BB Dakota Hazel Coat $128.00 $89.60, Nasty Gal Cat Coat $128.00, Wild Thing Coat $98.00
Don´t give the wild print any reason to intimidate you. You want to wear it, not the other way around. These fashion tips should suffice in making you look gorgeous in an animal print topper without looking matronly.
Over to you girls, how you wear a leopard print coat?