All Other Animal Prints Are Extinct: Cowhide Is Now the Moo(d)
Cheetahs are being taken down by an unlikely predator: Cows!
Ok, so not literally (but can you imagine).
Our bovine friends aren't taking down any apex predators out in nature, but in the world of fashion (an equally savage environment, IMO) cows or rather, cowhide prints, are dominating the style sphere with grass-grazing ease.
A specific breed of cow print is effectively knocking reigning animal pattern champs like leopard, snakeskin and cheetah off their pivot.
This defanging process has played out heavily on TikTok as formerly gauche cowhide patterns moo-ve to center stage in hauls and try-on videos.
For years, opinions on the versatility of animal prints have been as varied as the Kingdom Animalia itself.
To those who prefer to keep things very demure, very mindful, cowhide and snakeskin are an abhorrent disgrace to the senses, while others have dedicated their lives to refashioning the natural world through furs, feathers, and prints. Rest in peace, Roberto Cavalli!
Speaking of Mr. Cavalli, the fashion world is beginning to look more and more like his kind of zoo, what with the recent resurgence in cheetah spots and zebra stripes. But, right now, from fashion week runways to indie designer lookbooks, cowhide is the belle of the bull right now.
Fashion label NYRVA was ahead of the curve on this one, blessing concert stages and For You Pages for years with well-crafted leather designs that include tapered pants and oversized John Cena-esque shorts.
Except, if John Cena, you know, put that shit on.
Especially as of late, NYRVA's cowhide-printed pants have been showing up in OOTD videos aplenty, even on British rapper Asake ahead of a concert.
And, coincidentally, an OOTD video of someone going to an Asake concert. Cow-ception.
But it's not just trousers going full-on cowhide.
During SP5DER's Fall/Winter 2024 presentation during New York Fashion Week, singer Mariah The Scientist, the partner of founder Young Thug, closed out the show in a floor-length cowhide coat and matching bikini.
You know, for when you have a dinner at 5:00 and a pool party at 6:00.
Tory Burch also rounded up some cowhide action with its Hermès-flavored Lee Radziwill Calf Hair Bag and Acne Studios devised a literal cowgirl boot.
Moon Boots also got the Après-Ski market co(w)vered with a cow-print snow stepper.
And for those into that micro-mini action, western-chic brand Understated Leather made the ultimate ultra-mini hot pants that made a few coveted cameos during festival season, earning a fair share of the most valorized online fit compliment: "Link???"
The exact cattle-yst for this trend is hard to pinpoint but I have some ideas.
Bella Hadid and bull-wrangling beau Adan Banuelos have taken Western aesthetics to new heights, going from Rodeo Drive to literal rodeo.
Coupled (or tripled) with Beyoncé and Pharrell's cowboycore obsession and the indelible influence of the buzzier than ever Roberto Cavalli has lasso'd up a proper cowhide stampede.
Man, it's a jungle...er..farm out there?
