THE WILD SIDE OF STYLE

If you're fair and sweet, don't wear it!" Christian Dior once said when he used leopard print in his 1947 collection. Still, many who fit that description may have been emboldened to actually wear the print as well as those of the other animals of the wild which have been appearing on the runways ever since.

- RICKY TOLEDO & CHITO VIJANDRE

In the past year alone, it peaked for fall 2024 with searches up 170 percent, resurrected for resort 2025, and is back for fall 2025-2026. Filipino Gen-Z celebrities, influencers, and style setters have discovered it and made it their own, running the gamut from sweet to street style and rocker.

Aside from the curiosity and novelty of rediscovering retro styles, it gives a certain feeling of empowerment since it makes a bold statement that requires confidence while expressing individuality.

Wearing animal skins was always an expression of power. There was also the belief that the pelts gifted the wearer with some of the animals' strengths. Leopards, for example, were seen as fierce, very resilient animals.

"People feel a primordial connection to them," says Jo Weldon who wrote the book, Fierce: The History of Leopard Print, where she cites prominent iconographies like "The Seated Woman of Çatalhöyük," a 6000 BC female figure with her arm on a leopard. Seshat, the Egyptian goddess of wisdom, and Dionysus, the Greek god of wine and hedonism, are often shown wearing leopard or cheetah hide while Chinese goddess Xi Wangmu is depicted with the teeth of a tiger and the tail of a leopard. Egyptian pharaohs and Roman emperors wore skins as symbol of their authority and status, with the Emperor Honorius banning his court from wearing them to maintain exclusivity.