How to Pick a Shoe Color Part 4a: Warm Animal Prints (Tan Leopard)

In this warm weather footwear series, I am reviewing our choices when we select a shoe color for our outfits.

Previous posts in the series:

Part 1: Match Your Skin Tone (Nude to You)

Part 2: Match Your Hair (Bookend)

Part 3a: Warm Metallics (Gold)

Part 3b: Cool Metallics (Pewter/Silver)

Today we'll shift to one of my favorite categories of shoes: animal prints! Animal print shoes are an incredibly versatile timeless classic. They are considered a neutral (at least the versions based on neutrals like tan, brown, grey, and black) but have more visual interest than a solid option. Wearing animal print shoes in an outfit with a print garment is a very easy way to do some low-key print mixing. I'm convinced that animal print shoes can be worn with anything...except maybe too much other animal print.

In this post, I'll introduce my warm-toned animal print shoes and show how I've styled them for summer, including some earlier OOTD that I haven't shared on the blog before. I have three pairs in total, though these brown-based leopard print calf hair smoking slippers are never worn during the warm seasons. With their rich warm brown color and hair texture, they have a cozy autumnal vibe so I wear them a lot during the fall into winter. (Clarks brand purchased from Zappos for $50 in December 2013.)

Leopard Pointy-Toed Flats

These BP brand flats are the cousin of the late lamented gold flats that I discussed in the warm metallics post. They were purchased at Nordstrom for $50 in December 2014, and unlike the gold version, they are still in good shape. A pointy-toed flat is a terrifically versatile shoe, and I will happily wear this pair with long pants, cropped pants, skirts, and dresses in warm weather (or really, any time I don't need socks). I like this particular leopard print a lot! Some of them can be too dark or too orange or too large scale or too loud. This one is a nice beige/brown with a moderate size print. I find these shoes a pretty reasonable "bookend my hair color" option as well.

You'll see in these outfit photos that I frequently wear these shoes with warm-toned colors like sandstone, orange, maroon, red, mustard, and olive. But they also work with colors with cool undertones and even with navy (outfits #3 and #8).

Outfit #1: 6/13/22

Outfit #2: 6/11/22

Outfit #3: 10/1/21

Outfit #4: 7/12/21

Outfit #5: 7/15/20

Outfit #6: 9/23/19

Outfit #7: 6/17/19

Outfit #8: 7/23/18

Outfit #9: 7/6/18

Outfit #10: 6/16/18

Outfit #11: 5/21/18

Cheetah Oxfords

These shoes are really more of a fall/spring shoe for me because they have too much coverage for hot weather (and for hot weather outfits), but I do wear them with long pants at the tail ends of the summer season when the temperatures are more moderate. They are a more recent addition to my wardrobe than the other pairs, purchased for $99 in September 2019 from Nordstrom.

Outfit #12: 5/23/22

Outfit #13: 5/15/22

When talking about warm-tone animal prints, a rabbit with a brown "broken" pattern is spot on. This thirsty lop bunny is a wonderful example. With the broken pattern, the rabbit's normal dark fur color (black, brown, blue, or lilac) is interspersed with areas of white fur...i.e., in some areas of the fur, the pigment is entirely lacking. Surprisingly, the version of the gene that causes this mottled-with-white broken fur coloration pattern (En) is dominant over the version that causes a solid pattern (en), so it takes only one copy of the gene to get a rabbit with the broken pattern.

Do you like wearing leopard print? Do you prefer it in accessories, clothing, or both equally? Would you mix animal print shoes with other prints in an outfit? What do you think of our lop rabbit's "broken" animal print fur?

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