Good kitties and BAD CATS

Everything you ever wanted to know about styling leopard

Meow and happy Sunday! Welcome to the ultimate guide to leopard. I’ve been wanting to write this letter for so long because I’m always seeing clothes or accessories when I’m shopping and I think ‘oh wow that’s a great leopard print’, or I think ‘ugh what a hideous leopard’. Not all prints are created equal, and there’s always a discernible difference. So, what’s the difference between a good kitty and a BAD CAT?

Leopard looks from this week at Paris Fashion Week - in case you thought leopard was on its way out.

What makes a good leopard?

A “good leopard” comes from the following factors:

• Color: Too much yellow or gold are a dead giveaways that your leopard was carelessly printed and mass produced

• Print quality: If the print looks digitized (I’m looking at you, Zara) it’s a NO.

• Material: Probably the most important factor because it’s the biggest indicator of quality. Shiny leopard (satin) is a hard pass, same for polyester.

The best of Spring 2025:

Anthropologie pants, Isabel Marant sweatshirt, D&G swimsuit, Amazon thong sandals, zip-top tote bag, Paris Texas moccasins, J.crew one-piece swimsuit, Saint Laurent tote btw this is $85 (not a typo) definitely the cheapest thing you can buy at SL

The “best leopard at the best price” award goes to…

Jenna Lyons famously said “leopard is a neutral” and perfected the leopard print during her time at J.crew. I had the pleasure of interviewing the legendary creative director Somsack Sikhounmuong who worked with Lyons at J.crew (our full interview will be in next week’s letter!). He confirmed that “Jenna took her leopard very seriously. That’s not the kind of leopard we would do” she would say. I think J.crew is still consistently delivering the best leopard pieces, season after season.

Jenna Lyons: Patron Saint of leopard as a neutral

How to style it:

• Accessories are the easiest way to leopard - shoes, belt, bag, yes!

• For a bigger piece like a coat or a dress, channel your inner Jenna Lyons and treat it like a neutral. What would you pair with plain jeans? A black sweater and ballet flats? Great, do that with leopard jeans.

Favorites folder:

J.crew cashmere sweater (in a small), Free People Jeans (in a 27), Jamie Haller loafers

Aureum belt (code ABBY20) vintage blazer, Free People jeans

Almina Concept sweater, Theory jeans, Loeffler Randall flats (take a half size down from your regular - I normally wear a 9/39 but needed an 8.5 in these) Liffner bag

Free people tank, Belt, vintage jacket, Alex Mill jeans, YSL leopard mules

Old H&M shirt, Ganni leopard jeans, Loewe bag

And last but not least…

The unacceptable offenders I found in stores this week:

H&M leopard dress - the stretchy polyester and terrible hand quality makes this a hard no. Zara hat - print is too digital, obviously there are no B/W leopards in the wild. Zara mules - too many details, satin is too shiny

That’s all ‘til next week my fashion cats.

xo

Abby