Leopard Forever

JAX

American Archive

"I remember, maybe 25 years ago, [Bloomingdale's late VP of fashion direction] Kal Ruttenstein asked the question, 'What do you think that people will wear in the year 2000?' And I did a leopard tattoo. Leopard print is completely timeless. It was hot in the thirties, in the forties, in the fifties, in the sixties, in the seventies — all the decades. Why? Because there's nothing more beautiful that the leopard, and the way the print moves on the skin and goes up and down. [Rolls and shimmies her shoulders, like a leopard striding through the jungle.] And when I did my first wrap dress, I did a leopard print. And by the way, I keep on doing it, and people keep on buying it. There's something about how the woman feels feline. It's kind of nice to feel feline." - Diane Von Furstenberg, TimesTalk panel, via The Cut