In The Wild — Modishly Mackenzie

Animal print is BACK, baby, and it's having a serious moment.

I think leopard print is one of those things that will always come in and out of style. Sure, at times it seems less popular than others, but it still remains a classic. Other animal prints are also getting some attention this fall, like snakeskin and even zebra and tiger! But that’s a whole other blog post in itself.

My favorite has always been leopard print. Since I tend to gravitate towards neutrals, naturally I revolved my looks around the classic tan and black combo. BUT I cannot wait to further style these pieces with other looks! There is so much you can do with leopard print. The one thing all fashion experts seem to have in common is this: leopard can be considered a neutral. Which is going to be SO fun to play around with (I’ll continue to update this post with more looks as time goes on). Just think of the options… graphic tees, doubling up on prints like florals or stripes, experimenting with color. Even the leopard print itself can be a different color—we’ll see if I dabble with that (maybe a red one like this). You just have to be careful to not have something too flashy, or else you wind up looking like a walking Lisa Frank advertisement. It can very easily look cheap.

I had so much fun shooting in Downtown Detroit with my photographer, Marcus (you all should really check out his work! @marcuszimmerman). He made it soo hard to narrow down these photos! It was the perfect weather, with just a hint of wind, so it give me that ‘Beyoncé performing at a concert with a fan blowing her hair’ look.

My first outfit featured a cozy cardigan, which is actually from Amazon! Super affordable. When you wear leopard, sometimes it’s best to let the print speak for itself, so I toned it down with some basic pieces, like a plain bodysuit, black jeans, Steve Madden furry mules and a belt.

Next up, the star of the look was my favorite shoes of the season—Halogen Leopard Calf Hair Mules (which are sadly sold out at Nordstrom 😔). I wore the same back jeans with a Something Navy cardigan. I absolutely loved her launch, especially this oversized, two-toned cardigan. A chunky tan belt held it together and made the outfit complete!

So there you have it! Wild leopard prints can be appropriate for every age, in my opinion. My advice, as I stated earlier, is to just make sure you don’t over do it. One piece of leopard is literally all you need. You can’t get too matchy matchy, or else it completely over powers.