We often read history books to discover secrets of the past, particularly as they relate to our present lives. As someone who has tended to favor comfort over fashion, I can’t say that I would’ve jumped on a book about leopard print. Except — and this is the full disclosure part — the author, Jo Weldon, is my dear friend. We enjoyed many a meal discussing this project — the copyright challenges, the research, and the general state of the publishing industry — before it ever got off the ground. So I couldn’t wait to read it. Even so, Fierce was a magnificent surprise.
After opening with a personal ode to Catwoman, who lived in a leopard-print lair, the remainder of the book manages to be equally entertaining while offering up loads of informative reporting. Better yet, Weldon never shies away from addressing controversial issues head on, beginning with meeting Eartha Kitt, aka Catwoman, at a nightclub as a child, “much too young.” She goes on to praise Kitt for her unapologetic anti-war activism, which got her blacklisted from many venues and even investigated by the CIA. The author’s takeaway was that “to live with honor, one must be fierce, and, to this day, leopard print continues to be an emblem of fabulous, intelligent women everywhere.” And so the inspiration for this book was born.
Setting up this information/controversy/humor, Weldon defines leopard print and differentiates it from the animals often lumped in with it — jaguar, cheetah, and ocelot — also including each one’s status on the list of endangered species. Beyond the fresh writing style, what makes this read so compelling is her theme — the idea that wearing leopard print has always had layered meaning, particularly as a “signifier of some kind of coded female presentation.” From Greek myth to suffragettes to Dita Von Teese, the author explores how the pattern has accumulated connotations over time, rather than morph into new ones.
Each chapter opens with a quote from a famous lover of big cats, from Anne Bancroft’s leopard-print adorned character in The Graduate (“Would you like me to seduce you?”), to The New Yorker, “Leopard print, whether thrift or high fashion, seems to signify, more than anything, a certain knowingness.” And of course, each chapter is chock-a-block with deliciously wicked images of women flaunting their fiercest selves while covered in leopard. Perhaps even better are Weldon’s descriptions of these and other images, summations that never let up on her wry sense of humor and detached — if also smitten — perspective. In her summary of the 1975 film Tommy, Weldon tells how the hero’s mother is most often clad in skintight leopard-print outfits, pointing out that, “Nora’s destructive female sexuality kills one man, turns another into a murderer, and yet a third into a senseless mute.” But it’s too late for squeamishness, she’s already shown us so many highbrow figures of the past employing this animal print, such as the singer and activist Josephine Baker, the iconic Jackie Kennedy, and the many famous designers who’ve used the pattern in their high-end collections.
In short, there’s a definition for everyone and — thanks to the internet and marvels of manufacturing — anyone can find a piece of leopard print that speaks to their preferred one. Yet here again is another caution from the author. After writing this love letter to these women (mostly) of the past, she reminds us we’re yet obliged to support the lives of the workers who make clothing today. There’s even information on ways to support these magnificent creatures, who are still hunted for their fur legally in some African countries. It would be impossible to put this book down and not come away with renewed appreciation for leopard, either in print or in the wild.
Fierce | Jo Weldon | Harper Collins | 232 pages
This article appears in Oct 18-25, 2018.
