Jo Weldon is the author of the new book Fierce: The History of Leopard Print. She also has written The Burlesque Handbook, and her work has appeared in a variety of publications, including Mental Floss and Time Out New York. She runs the New York School of Burlesque, and she lives in New York City.
Q: How did you come up with the idea for Fierce, and what do
you think accounts for the ongoing fascination with leopard prints?
A: About five years ago, I was stalled on another project
I'd been working on for a few years. I was staying with my friend Indigo Blue
in Seattle, described my frustration, and she said, "Save that project for
later. For now, what do you love? What's fun?" and I said, "Leopard
print." That was it -- I started researching immediately.
I think the ongoing fascination with the print is related to
the big cats. There are also a lot of cultural connotations to examine, but you
can't resist the pull of nature!
It's common to see the words "wild" and "jungle"
and of course "fierce" used in advertisements for leopard clothes,
and other references to raw and unfettered life. The cats are beautiful and
dangerous, warm and nocturnal, powerful and independent. We can't help but want
to identify with those qualities.
There is a brilliant photographer, Emilie Reigner, who has
been documenting people wearing leopard print in Africa, Europe, and the U.S.,
and who is doing important work that I think demonstrates its meaning in the
context of globalization, its path through other continents which points
up our need to be culturally sensitive with the use of the print, and her work
shows a lot of pleasure in the expressions and body language of its wearers.
Many people have told me that when they put on leopard print
they feel bolder and more confident. And of course, we know that cats are
playful, even big cats. One woman told me that she works with bullied children,
and one of the confidence building exercises they do in therapy is to have them
dressed in leopard print and roar, and the kids respond beautifully.
Q: The book looks at thousands of years of leopard print
fashion. Where did it first begin?
A: On leopards, of course! Honestly, it depends on how you
define fashion, since in many places it's been ceremonial, though not always
exclusively, as part of governmental events, religious services, and
celebrations in regions where big spotted cats are known, notably in many
countries in Africa, Asia, the Middle East, and the Americas.
In European countries there were eras of sumptuary laws that
reserved the wearing of leopard fur for nobility.
In clothing worn for social reasons in Western fashion, one
of the most significant eras is the early 18th century, where the textile print
became popular after Louis XIV kept a menagerie of animals rarely seen in
Europe, and then again in the mid-to-late 18th century on male dandies known as
macaronis and in the courts of Italian and French royalty. Check out my
Pinterest for some examples!
In the 20th century, spotted cat furs were hugely popular
with flappers, who needed big warm coats to ride in unheated cars while wearing
short skirts. You would also see these furs on opera and movie stars playing
femme fatales, often as part of an orientalist aesthetic, which influenced
our view of the pattern as part of an independent, glamorous, rare, and
possibly dangerous feminine persona.
The print began to come into its own throughout the 1930s
but had its most-remarked-upon high fashion moment to that date when Christian
Dior used it in his landmark 1947 debut collection. From then on it was often
featured on the finest catwalks.
Q: In more recent decades, who has come to characterize
leopard print fashion, and where do you see it going next?
A: Oh, there are so many fabulous divas it's hard to say! In the ‘50s there were lots of beautiful leopard print bikinis and lingerie sets, giving that second-skin effect. I was probably most influenced by Eartha Kitt and Ann-Margret in the 1960s, personally. Among celebrities, Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss, undeniably.
A: Oh, there are so many fabulous divas it's hard to say! In the ‘50s there were lots of beautiful leopard print bikinis and lingerie sets, giving that second-skin effect. I was probably most influenced by Eartha Kitt and Ann-Margret in the 1960s, personally. Among celebrities, Naomi Campbell and Kate Moss, undeniably.
It has also had a big impact coming from the retro fashion
communities, seen on Dita Von Teese and Leslie Zemeckis and Christina
Hendricks. I've loved seeing Helen Mirren and Michelle Obama in it, too. Prime
movers in the music industry have been Lady Gaga and Beyonce, of course.
And now there are so many men who wear it well, which is
fantastic, even though on them I see it most often worn by them when
performing, or in super casual fashion.
And so many Drag Race stars have done such spectacular
fabulous things with leopard print -- honestly, it's their costumes I covet
most! And those are all by independent designers, where the wearers are
actually collaborating with the makers, so it's peak creative and unique
self-expression.
Some historically great fashion designers have done
brilliant things with leopard, like Gernreich, Biba, Yves Saint Laurent, Diane Von
Furstenberg in the ‘60s and ‘70s, Patrick Kelly and LaCroix and Vivienne
Westwood in the ‘80s, and Azzedine Alaia, Gianna Versace, and Gaultier; Yves Saint
Laurent, Dolce and Gabbana, Roberto Cavalli, Tom Ford, I could go on and on! So
many designers have made so much of it.
This isn't my primary focus in the book because a lot of
this fashion isn't accessible to most people, but it's fantastic -- it's art
and philosophy and all the fancy things. In my book I'm trying to inspire
people who aren't very familiar with fashion history to look into it,
because there's so much to uncover.
Q: The book includes many photographs and drawings—how did
you select the art to include?
A: Before it was a book, it was an illustrated lecture, so I
selected art that helped exemplify fashion trends in the context of societal
changes and the democratization of fashion in general, which was the throughline
of the lecture.
How did we come to be wearing it now? After all those
centuries of clothing being so labor intensive and expensive -- remember, the
sewing machine wasn't invented until the middle of the 19th century, and most
housing didn't have significant clothing closets until the mid-20th century
-- the most interesting thing to me was seeing the process that broke
down those barriers, where fashion gatekeepers couldn't prevent the average
consumer from being able to wear it.
I looked for things that affected how available it was, and
looked for images that would have affected the tastes of consumers. I started
out with hundreds of images. Many of them were orphaned, meaning I couldn't
find out who owned the copyrights; or they were not available to me or were
prohibitively expensive.
Not being able to get some of my original choices led me to
find some very exciting images when I went back to my research, such as the
image of Wilma K. Russey, the first female taxi driver in New York City.
I think clearing the images was the hardest part, and paying
for the rights definitely was the most expensive part! If I had known what I
was getting into I might have come up with a different format for the book
project!
However, I'm thrilled with the way it looks, and I feel that
overall it does exactly what I wanted it to: reinforce the pleasure people take
in wearing the print by making them feel connected to its history.
Q: What are you working on now?
A: Of course I'm always writing about burlesque! I'm working
on a handbook of striptease that explains the logistics, theatrics, and
psychology of performing seduction, and what it tells us about communication in
general.
I'm also writing about the sex workers' rights movement,
where I’ve been an activist, and looking at what it has meant historically to
be "dressed like" a sex worker.
My friend Laura María Agustín, who has done remarkable
research and presentation around migration and sex work, has collected a lot of
those stereotypical stock news images of women wearing short skirts and high
heels leaning into cars, and it made me think about how little people know
about sex workers and their cultures.
Q: Anything else we should know?
A: The colloquial term "leopard print" often
refers to other cat prints, such as cheetah, which is also in Africa and Asia,
and ocelot and jaguar, which are indigenous to the Americas.
Actual leopard print can be the standard golden and black
pattern of the Amur leopard, the cream and grey of the snow leopard, the
angular taupe tones of the clouded leopard, the coffee and black tones of the
black panther.
Personally it doesn't bother me when people call other cat
prints "leopard," but I think it's worth looking them up and learning
their status! All of these cats need our support as ethical consumers, and
I think if we've gotten inspiration from them to feel our fiercest, we can pay
them back by supporting their well-being and their environments.
--Interview with Deborah Kalb
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