There’s a new animal print in town. It’s more attention-grabbings than leopard, more head-turning than cheetah, and far more refined than cow. Behold, zebra stripes, whose jagged black and white lines have the same effect as an optical illusion. The graphic has already won a few famous fans. This week, model Kendall Jenner wore a plain black puffer coat, a tiny shoulder bag, chunky white sneakers, and a pair of can’t-miss-them velvet pants streaked with big and bold stripes. They sparkled on the street, ready to stop any paparazzo dead in their tracks. Her model friend Bella Hadid also tried on some equine lines, leaving makeup artist Patrick Ta’s brand launch party last night in a polished zebra print coat by Roberto Cavalli, the stripes close together, as thin as eyelashes.
Over on the Fall 2019 runways, zebra print has already made a few winning cameos: at 3.1 Phillip Lim in classic coat and at LRS where zebra print took form in a large shiny blue skirt in the shape of a bow. As far as accessories go, Khaite and Maryam Nassir Zadeh stamped classic black and white stripes on knee-high boots and slouchy bags.
Though zebra print looks positively of the moment, it also conveys a groovy retro vibe. See the Spring 1996 Gucci show, where stripes came coated on caftans, plastered on button-downs, and even on a pair of men’s pants. And it was sexy! (Look at the ever confident Shalom Harlow.) Fortunately, you don’t have to wait to buy the look—or trawl eBay for yesteryear finds. Here, the 11 best zebra pieces to wear out now. Into the chic wild you go.
