I was walking through a maze of vintage and modern furniture at an auction house over the weekend, looked up and thought I was in a jungle.
My eyes caught sight of two lovely upholstered chairs in animal print, lurking on top of a table like two wild animals hiding in plain sight. I’m not into fur or animal prints – even if they are faux – but I had to admit that these were impressive. And eye-catching.
I could image one or both of the chairs serving as accent pieces among the right blend of furniture in someone’s home. Intrigued, I wondered if there were other such furniture in the auction house and went on a quest, down one aisle and along another. Then I came upon several pieces:
Two side chairs with leopard-print cushions and latticed backs arranged on both sides of a light beige upholstered bench. Sitting in a slight alcove nearby with a mirror as a backdrop was a tall-back chair in the same fabric.
A furniture set in a darker print with two large hassocks, a stool and a bench. Two chairs without cushions had been placed on the hassocks, but I wasn’t sure if they were part of the set.
And that wasn’t all. To put you in a real wild-thing mood, two antelope fur rugs were slung across a table.
Are animals prints in these days? Or were these items that someone had tired of and decided to shed?
Seeing all of these prints set me out on a search outside the auction house to see how popular animal prints were in other forms. It didn’t take long for me to find an answer. Walking down the street of my city a day later, I noticed store window after store window with displays of impossibly high-heel shoes in leopard prints.
On the web, I found that animal prints seemed to have a way of enduring. Women like the prints, according to one site, because they are exotic and show our wild side. Trendy fashion designers apparently understand that, because animal prints were again on the runways this fall, with some of the top designers adding a splash here or a whole canvas there. Michael Kors was one of them.
Redbook magazine online offered 12 fierce ways to wear them: by the piece, as shoes, jewelry, scarf, hat and more. The key is to keep it simple, piped in another.
That’s what I’d also suggest for the home: Go with “by the piece.” And stick to one animal, as one design expert suggested. Too much and too many, I think, would be a little much.
