The Different Faces of Leopard Print
Is it really Leopard Print? Leopard print for over two decades has been a fashion hallmark for advanced design and style. The pattern captures exoticism, glamour, superb taste and overall status. Many of the most well known designers like Ralph Lauren, Oscar de la Renta, Roberto Cavalli, Christian Dior, Barclay Butera, Larry Laslo, Lanvin, Moschino, and Yves Saint Laurent -to name a few- put their signature freely on their leopard-based fashion interior design creations. In the last few years we have seen more variety emerging in leopard prints. Designers create variations of the pattern by scaling it up or down in size, and infusing it with virtually any color imaginable. And the more leopard prints appear the more they seem to diverge from each other and end up being misnamed as other animal prints.
When people look at a spotted wild cat pattern they usually call it Leopard print. And they’re not far off. Leopards have one of the most diversified patterns of all the Old World cats. Yet leopard print is not the only spotted wild animal pattern. The Cheetah, Jaguar and Ocelot also are heavily spotted, which can easily create confusion. Leopard belongs to the scientific classification called Felidae, which in Latin means cat family. In Latin Leo means lion and Pard means panther. Leopard is also often nicknamed the Prince of Cats.
There are about 36 species in the cat family, and three are what we commonly refer to as leopards: True Leopard, Clouded Leopard, and Snow Leopard.
1. The True Leopard has a paw-like spot pattern, asymmetrical flanks and groupings of black and brown spots that look like bloomed roses, named rosettes. Its head and legs have solid black spots and the belly is usually white. Leopards in eastern Africa have more circular rosettes, while their southern African counterparts have square rosettes. Leopards that live in grassland areas are light colored; leopards found in the desert are more sandy and the forest ones appear in brownish-golden hues.
2. The Clouded Leopard is a mid-size cat and is named after its spotted cloud-like pattern. It lives in the rain forest of Southern Asia, and is also known as the “mint leopard” because its spots look like mint leaves. The clouded leopard’s dark markings look bigger and irregular, and interestingly resemble those of a large python, a snake that shares the leopard’s home.
3. The Snow Leopard, the rarest and most handsome of the big wild cats, is strikingly different from the common leopard. Although it has similar rosettes, its clusters appear less well defined and are more spaced apart. Its fur is almost grey with brownish-yellow tinges on its flanks and white fur on its belly, chest and chin. The Snow leopard’s coat is long, thick and woolly, providing protection from the cold weather of the mountains where it lives.
The Jaguar is the most similar big cat to the leopard. Its markings have a distinctive dot in the center of their rosette. But in both the leopard and the jaguar a recessive gene, called melanism, often creates a totally black-colored cat that people identify as a black panther, thinking that it is its own species; in reality, it’s either a melanistic leopard or a melanistic jaguar, and its spots can only be distinguished under strong, bright light.
The Cheetah has no rosettes, but solid black round or tear drops, sort of imperfect polka-dots that run all over its body.
The Ocelot, smaller in size, has yellow-mahogany brown fur with black doughnut-shaped and bar-shaped spots on its whole body. The Ocelot’s coat usually has a single white spot on the back of each of its ears and two black lines on either side of its face.
In today’s market, you will see all the different faces of Leopard Print pattern, in a variety of media. For ideas and examples, visit our blog Leopard Print