Vintage Leopard Print: Spotted Through the Decades

from Josephine Baker to Jackie Kennedy, and Alaïa to Alexa Chung

I’m Emily Stochl, a vintage & secondhand fashion reporter 🎤 and this is Pre-Loved, an indie media platform featuring vintage fashion stories & recommendations!

100 Years of Vintage Leopard Print

Vintage-lovers, what does it mean (to you) for something to be timeless? I don’t think a piece has to be minimal or basic (it can be, but not a must) to be timeless. Rather, it’s about a garment’s potential longevity.

Is the piece or look something that you would have gravitated toward five years ago? Can you see yourself wearing it in five more years?

If the “trend” comes back around, after you haven’t reached for it in a while (breaks can be good!) do you think — when you come back to the look — you’d want the same exact same piece you already own?

Take leopard print. Leopard print is a timeless pattern that emerges in every fashion decade. There is endless visual inspiration for leopard print, no matter your style. It’s a bold pattern, but somehow it goes with everything (a neutral, if you will!) depending on how you pair it.

So, with our consideration of timelessness, let’s explore leopard print through the decades, inspired by fashion icons from the last hundred years.

This post is inspired by

Alex

’s wonderful post on, “Perpetual Plaids,” highlighting vintage plaids through the decades — I thought the format was super fun!

1920’s & 1930’s

In the 1920s, leopard print emerged as a jazz-era symbol of sexual liberation. It was largely associated with flappers and television starlets.

Search: cocoon coat, slip dress, stole.

Pictured: Bette Davis, Joan Crawford in a silk slip, and Josephine Baker

1940’s & 1950’s

The 1940s and 50s featured nipped waists, swinging bottoms and bold femininity. Women could dress in leopard print from head-to-toe when Vanity Fair began selling leopard print undergarments.

Search: swing coat, muff, handbag, nightgown, slip shorts, playsuit.

Pictured: Zsa Zsa Gabor, 1953 Vanity Fair ad, 1955 Harpers Bazaar cover, and Elizabeth Taylor

1960’s

In the 1960s, leopard print was embraced by Christian Dior in Paris and Jackie Kennedy in the White House. Bob Dylan's 1966 song, “Leopard-Skin Pill-Box Hat” (written about It-Girl Edie Sedgwick), commemorates the hat style emblematic of this era.

Search: pill box hat, set, scarf, swimsuit, cape, boots, clutch.

Pictured: Jackie Kennedy wearing Oleg Cassini in 1962, Marilyn Monroe, Christian Dior in 1960, Monica Vitti, and Audrey Hepburn in Charade (1963).