As someone who has a very girly, classic style I’ve struggled in the past to breakaway from my way of dressing and embrace trends. An example of this is the animal print trend, arguably the biggest trend of the season, yet I always felt like it was a little out of reach for me.
For someone who loves wearing pastel colours and soft neutrals a bold print, like leopard print, is quite scary. I kept seeing people wearing animal print denim, which I even tried myself here, but I didn’t completely feel like myself in it, and I struggled to gain the confidence to wear it on a regular basis.
After a while of feeling uncertain about this trend I began to reassess it and try and look at it from a different angle. I wanted to get involved with this trend, but I wanted to wear it in my way. To start with, I looked at what I liked about the trend; I like the look of leopard print, however, I’m not a massive fan of snake print, I liked it when the colours within the print are more muted, and I like the look of animal print in delicate pieces such as earrings and sunglasses.
With that worked out, and armed with this new approach, I began to look for animal print accessories that I could introduce into my wardrobe and style up with pre-existing neutral pieces that I already own as a stepping stone into this trend. I picked up a pair of teardrop earrings with leopard print details from New Look which are sadly sold out now, but these ones are incredibly similar, along with a pair of delicate, triangular sunglasses from Primark (you can find similar ones here). You can see all of these pieces styled up in this post here.
Once I’d tried out animal print accessories, and established that I do in fact like the way these prints look, I decided to take the plunge and go for a bolder look. I am a massive fan of midi dresses so I decided that this style would be perfect for me to try out this trend. When testing out something new it’s important to try and play it safe at first, and combine the new, ‘scary’ element with something that you’re already comfortable with. This way, you’re more likely to ease yourself into something new and not freak out and bail.
I actually really liked how this dress looked; plus, it was under £6 (yes, you read that right!). Trying out a trend using an affordable piece is the best way to do it, as even if you decide that the style is not for, you haven’t lost a large amount of money on it. In future, I hope to take this approach to lots of other new trends so that I can test out new areas of fashion whilst still staying loyal to my personal style.
Love Chloe x
Lovely x go for it x