RiRi getting beastly
Animals have long influenced homo sapiens fashion, going all the way back to the times when we used to wander around in furs and skins (though some less enlightened people insist on carrying on the cruel trend) to more modern love affairs with leopard print, snakeskin and mock croc. Donning an animal print brings out the sexier, wilder side of us. Because, you know, big cats, etc., are sexy.
But there’s another trend that’s sweeping the globe; wearing prints of animals. Not animal prints, but pictures of animals. Ok, you might not think that’s anything new; you’ve been wearing your owl pendant for years and your American eagle t-shirt has been washed so often you can barely tell what it was meant to be in the first place. But now the trend has really got legs and sometimes when you’re walking through Siam Square you literally can’t move for market stalls flogging lion head t-shirts.
But while a few styles, like said lion head tops, retain the sexiness we associate with animal-inspired clothing, the majority of these garments channel cutesy woodland animals or beastly jungle creatures for a decidedly less-sexy effect.
While the pretty woodland prints are fun and easy to wear, they haven’t caused much stir in the high fashion world. After all, owl print jumpers may make the perfect slobbing-around-the-flat garments, but haven’t our wardrobes progressed since we were six years old?
DA+PP and Wonder Anatomie are just two of the many local labels championing the wildlife trend. While DA+PP have opted to print their woodland scenes onto jumpers and dresses, Wonder Anatomie have sexed up their butterfly prints with skulls and skeletons printed onto architectural designs that, quite frankly, have us drooling with desire.
However, it’s not just Thailand that has picked up on this trend. On the catwalks, Alexander McQueen went for an evolutionary theme with clothes printed with wood grains, flowers and birds. The catwalk itself was decorated with a peculiar array of a taxidermy elephants, giraffes and polar bears.
Christopher Kane’s collection of dresses adorned with huge roaring gorilla faces is as frightening as it is appealing. Rihanna was spotted out in one of these numbers, and she wouldn’t be seen dead in anything that wasn’t edgy and sexy – as well as too expensive for most of us to even consider.
So, the moral of the blog post is, if you’re looking to the animal kingdom for inspiration, ditch the animal prints this season and opt for prints of animals instead. And, for the love of fashion, leave the sugary stuff for your nightwear.
