Without fail, once a week I will receive a call or text from a friend asking to borrow a specific item of clothing from my wardrobe. The going out staple which has become famous amongst my friends is not a basic flattering top or a good pair of jeans- it’s an almost comically small pair of leopard print booty shorts.
In 2024, leopard print had a major revival with everyone’s favourite fashion icons donning it. But it hasn’t always been a wearable everyday print. Christian Dior himself (the first designer to feature leopard print on the runway), said “if you’re fair and sweet, don’t wear it.”
Dior’s take comes from a rich fashion history of leopard print as a form of self-expression and performance. In the 1940s and ’50s, leopard print was defined by the youthful beauty of icons like Marilyn Monroe, which created a binary correct and incorrect way to wear the print, as something that could only be pulled off by youthful attractive women. In fact, older women were often called “cougars” for trying to wear the print, and ridiculed as desperately trying to cling onto their youth.
The ’70s and ’80s saw the print as a rock culture staple, worn by artists like Debbie Harry, David Bowie and Rod Stewart. Its femininity was re-defined. Yet, it still did not manage to completely move away from its gendered connotations and was re-affirmed by drag culture as a way for the queens to embody their feminine sides.
The leopard print we know is that of the fashionable ’90s- a perfect example of the Kate Moss effect! The print became a wearable symbol for the fierce and digressive qualities of feminism.
Leopard print embodies the wonderful dichotomy of being extremely classy and incredibly tacky. How many fashion trends can you say have been worn by both queens of punk like Wendy O with her chest out, and in a formal appearance of the former first lady Jacky Kennedy? This is precisely what I love about my booty shorts. In a world of classic going out looks, they are tacky and a little bit crude whilst being fun and acceptable!
In 2025, major fashion magazines including Vogue and Harpers Bazaar predict a big year not only for the leopard but the zebra and more. However, after a quick dive into leopard print’s history, it feels a bit ridiculous to ask if it will be around in 2025. It seems that as long as interesting cultural movements that subvert the status quo are in motion, their members will be wanting to don a layer of leopard print armour, regardless of its catwalk presence. You best believe my booty shorts will be making many more outings in the coming year!
Jacqueline Kennedy, in 1962.Photograph from Getty