The Leopard Coat

I have been after the perfect leopard coat for some time. Like forever! I’ve always wanted one like Kate Moss wears but I think it might be real leopard which I don’t know about (though at least hers is vintage). I added a nice MaxMara awhile ago, but it’s a short jacket length, and I’ve still been on the hunt for a coat.

This season, I was really excited because I thought I had found the perfect one, again from MaxMara, via the runway show.

Doesn’t that look amazing?? I love how versatile the black/white/gray is. And the material seemed nice…not cheapie which is my issue with a lot of leopard coats that are a wool sort of print.

So I took the screenshot into MaxMara…prepared to spend (at FULL PRICE!! US PRICE!) if need be… and the sales assistant frowned at the photo and then passed me to the woman they said was the real expert in the shop. And then that woman looked at the photo and said “I’m sorry, this never made it into production.” AGHHH!

Then, to add insult onto injury, they proclaimed that there had been a version of this made, and it was very pretty, and would I like to see it? And while I was waiting, extremely excited for my beautiful leopard V2 to appear, proceeded to bring out this one:

Priced at a zillion dollars, complete with fringes and everything. Such a disappointment. Nothing against the gray coat – I love a good fringe – but what I was really after was leopard, so I passed.

Finally, desperate, I decided to try the vintage market. I hunted around eBay and Etsy and finally came across this one.

It was around $100, and the faux fur is so much better than anything else on the market today. Just the quality, the print, the thickness, everything. Why is that? You’d think technology would have made these sorts of things easier.

Anyway. I am definitely not a vintage shopper – I’m just not good at it, but I did learn some things while I was coat shopping. My tips for shopping vintage, especially in the leopard coat market, which I’ve become somewhat of an expert on:

• Ask questions! Especially about scent/lining/condition. Some people will say “great vintage condition” which could mean anything. Ask for specifics. Is there a smell? Are there tears in the lining? Are there any rips?
• Know your shoulder to shoulder and bust to bust measurements. For me me, as a petite person, those are the two most important. If you don’t know what to look for, get a thicker coat that fits you from your closet and measure from there. This is a key step. Don’t skip it unless you feel confident on the size.
• Clean it! I hand washed mine using this method on this blog. If the coat had been lots of $$ I would have been nervous but since it was fairly inexpensive I felt comfortable dunking it into my tub. Another bonus for vintage. And it turned out perfectly for me. It does take a day plus to dry though.
• Make small updates! The buttons are enormous on this coat so I’m swapping them out for smaller leather ones to make it a little more current. Was about $8 for the buttons. Hooray!
• There are certain brands/fabric makers that I became familiar with in terms of having really good animal prints. Kilimanjaro is one, the other is Safari by Sportowne. You can try searching for both of these terms on Etsy and eBay.
• In terms of era, I have found that the 50s-70s had the best quality of faux fur, but that’s just my personal preference in terms of pattern/thickness!

I will say that from my experience, there seems to be a lot in the size 4 – 10 range, and if you’re smaller like me, it’s more slim pickings. If you’re around a 0-2 and see something in your size, consider jumping on it. The coat I bought was the smallest I found and as you can see in the photos, it’s still an oversized fit (which I don’t mind).

Do you buy vintage? And surely I’m not the only leopard coat lover?