- Zebra print dress – JC Penney’s
- Grey cardigan – Old Navy
- Black leather belt – Target
- Grey knee socks – Target
- Black boots – Trotter’s
- Bison necklace – gift
You’d think that as a former zoologist, I’d own more animal prints than I do. This score of a zebra-print dress ($5!) combined with my leopard-print skirt brings the total up to…hold on, carry the 12 times the square root of -3…2.
Part of the lack of animal stylings has to do with my own reservations about animal prints. While I know they can be used in classy and classic ways, I tend to think of them not so much in this DVF sense:
(Diane von Furstenberg)
as I do in this DVF sense:
(Drescher von Fran. Please excuse my lame attempt at an initials joke).
With avoiding looking like The Nanny in mind, I decided to keep the rest of color palate neutral with this dress. Grey and black are the dominant colors in the outfit, and the “in your face” of the zebra print is toned down by the coverage of the cardigan. There’s no question it’s zebra-print, though, and that makes me feel sassy!
I wore this to take The Rocket Scientist on a secret date to a big cheese festival for his birthday (if you’re new to the blog, the boy likes cheese. A lot. He even makes his own) – ’cause we party like we’re about to become lactose intolerant.
It wasn’t until after I got dressed that I realized that the combination of a zebra dress and a bison necklace is very appropriate for a cheese shindig, as both animals are ungulate grazers and so are the cows, goats and sheep that give us milk to make yummy cheese.
So there you go, theme dressing in a whole new and weird way. All I need now is the right pair of shoes…
A. F. Vandevorst
Brian Lichtenberg
- Rancho
Eh, maybe not.
For an interesting look at the place of animal prints in “investment pieces,” be sure to check out the discussion Katie started over at Scholar Style Guide.
P.S. I just noticed that Nina over at All Tumble Down recently did something similar with a leopard-print dress – neutrals keep it classy. And we both wore grey cardigans. We’re totally savannah twins.
P.P.S. This seems quite appropriate.
So you’re saying when I used to wear my zebra dress (that I gave to AUH before I moved) with my yellow cardi or floral prints I wasn’t classy?!?!
I love the zebra print with grey, and going to a cheese festival sounds like the best date ever!
I don’t think The Nanny ever did anything as awesome as zebra and florals together, so I’m sure the ensemble was uber-classy. And now I want to see pictures.
Love the print with the grey cardi… the only thing I didn’t like was the pockets bagging down.
And the hoof shoes are insane!
It’s a wonderfully slouchy cardigan, but with optimum slouch does come some bagginess. I’m willing to make that trade-off, though.
Love the print, for sure. It’s definitely sassy as styled. But what if you treated it as a neutral and added some bright colour? In the sweater arena, for example, or as a belt? ‘Too much, do you think?
I think I’ll try more color next time. I was hesitant to add a bunch of color because of my own reservations with the print, but I like your suggestion of a pop. Maybe a belt or scarf…
There’s a reason they call animal prints “New Jersey Neutral” after all.
Aww, that’s not fair to zebras OR New Jersey…
I am cracking up about how well the two examples you’ve included capture the extremes of wearing animal print!! And if anyone can walk in those Rancho shoes, I’d like to see it.
I really like how you’ve styled this zebra dress, which looks like it could have been tricky since it looks like it also incorporates a lacy neckline. I think the knee length hem keeps it from looking too negligee-ish. Pairing it with the slouchy sweater and belt makes it look totally *you*!
Thanks for picking up the convo on animal prints! For whatever reason, I always think that zebra and giraffe look the classiest of animal prints.
I love the juxtaposition of the sweater and socks and the lace and zebra. It creates a nice, unexpected contrast.
And I, for one, loved the DVF/DVF initial pun.
As long as someone out there finds me funny…
wondering what a horse might think of the heel-less hooves…
I think they’d respond with a resounding “Neigh.”
THANK you, for the Fran Drescher reference. It is the one thing this blog was missing. And you look fantastic in that dress.
This post had me freaking cracking up. You look like a hottie, woman, and definitely avoided any Drescher von Fran similarities. I was doing my math right along with you when you were counting up your pieces. Square roots are the BEST! This coming from a straight-up humanities nerd. Ah, math failures!
Also, those shoes are m-fing creepy. They should leave us alone. Your zebra dress: hot. Those shoes: really not. They’re even less hot than DVF’s laugh. HAHHAHAHAHA+nasal=Emily dying inside.
But the Nanny is a style icon!
Absolutely! Just not mine.