Thanksgiving and Leopard Print

Unsurprisingly, I am thinking about Thanksgiving from a Style perspective.  Maybe it is because I dressed up as a Pilgrim one Thanksgiving when I was a child, and found the outfit fairly unsatisfying.  All that austere black and white. So grim!  The Native Americans though… they had feathers, beadwork, fringing, shells, and flattering neutrals in the form of animal skins.  I mean, where this particular man found a leopard skin in North America where leopards don’t even exist, I don’t know, but he is working it. The photo is from 1900, a few hundred years after the supposed ‘First Thanksgiving’, and he is not Wampanoag like the tribe in Plymouth, but you get my point.  He is way ahead of the Pilgrims in the Style stakes.

Speaking of leopard print (which we are now) I have to share this video, which has nothing to do with Thanksgiving except that it concerns beautiful shoes (which I am VERY thankful for), and it is by Jenna Lyons, the J.Crew phenomenon who at 45 is shaping Style globally (something I am also thankful for).  I am particularly thankful for her widely repeated diktat that “As far as I’m concerned Leopard is a Neutral” with which I wholeheartedly agree.

Jenna is definitely one of my top 5 Style Icons.  I love her quirk.  I love that she is 6 feet tall and still wears 5 inch heels.  I love her approach to age.  In a UK Vogue interview she said, “Society is so tough and expectations are so unrealistic.  Could I take better care of myself?  Absolutely.  I joke all the time that I’m old and I’m getting older and I feel it, so I guess I would rather talk about it with a smile and say, “Oh God, I’m old!’ than spend all my time at the dermatologist.  I approach ageing with ice cream and a martini.”  I love this lady.  Cheers, Jenna.

Leopard Coat: Topshop Sunnies: Miu Miu Photograph: Lottie Anderson Dogs: free to a good home (J/K!)