Ask Earl With Laurel Pantin: How to Style Leopard as a Neutral

Save this story Save Story Save this story We all have that one friend we turn to for fashion advice. On the internet, that second set of eyes is Laurel Pantin—a writer, editor, mom, and entrepreneur-about-town—whose never overdressed or underdressed. Ask Earl is a direct line to Pantin’s brain, where once a month, she’ll help you solve the age-old question of what to wear—and how to wear it, well—for any possible scenario. Trying to figure out how to style work pants without looking corporate? Or how to pack for a long-haul flight with toddlers? Maybe it’s summer outfit ideas that don’t involve dresses... Whatever your question, Ask Earl is where you’ll find the answer—and Earl URL is where you can shop it, too.

I *love* animal print. I say “animal” as a catchall because I wear leopard, cheetah, jaguar, ocelot, lynx, etc. patterns all pretty interchangeably. My favorite animal prints come from the big cats—tiger, too—but I think for a lot of people it can be intimidating. Remember the Mob Wife trend from a few years ago? Yeah, that’s not what we’re going for, but I know when a lot of people see animal prints, that’s the direction their minds immediately go when it comes to styling.

The whole “leopard is a neutral” thing is a cliché because I think it’s true. The colors are neutral! And the print is so familiar and so wearable that it goes with basically everything. But for the purposes of this article we’re going to assume the reader is brand new to styling spots, stripes, and scales, and I’m going to break down some of my top tips for making animal print wearable.

How gorgeous are these calf hair trousers from Arma? The fit is divine, the feel is super soft, and I love that the zebra stripe is dark brown against beige rather than black and white. Black and white is so graphic and loud, this quiets it down. Then, a brown satin shirt (this one is Comme Si) is nicely tonal with the pants. But… if I had stopped there it would risk looking like theme dressing. A little too literal and on the nose, like “fashion person on safari.” The blue Homme Girls button-down layered in breaks it up, brings in a sense of humor and casualness, and keeps the outfit from feeling one-note. The shoes, which are perfect, are Herbert Levine.

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This is an EXTRA statement skirt, being both leopard and fully sequin . (It’s Ashish, and it was custom made for the store, and we have just one! ) I wore a similar style in Paris with a khaki button-down and a bright red sweater around my shoulders (concept 1!) and it was perfect. I also love it with a sweatshirt like this. Sweatshirts are a must-have for me to make an outfit less precious, and this one is Suzie Kondi. I love it because it’s a classic color and shape, but terry so it has an interesting texture, and the sporty casualness of it helps the skirt sing without dressing it up even more.

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I don’t typically do snakeskin, but I like this snakeskin dress from Chan Luu a lot. Snake to me feels very sexysexysexy, so if there’s a thing of bringing sexy back, I like to PUT sexy back. A cotton knit from Kallmeyer and an oversized Rùadh jacket help make the print feel more approachable.

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This shearling spotted coat from Arma is heaven! The brand’s shearling and leather are all by-product material from the meat industry, and they make some of the most beautiful leather, suede, and shearling pieces I’ve ever seen. To keep it from going Mob Wife, I went with the most relied-upon styling trick of all time: denim. These jeans are Rùadh and I love the narrow fit and dark-ish wash. The jeans make it feel day-to-day and super wearable. I also love bright red with animal print, and this merino sweater from &Daughter makes it feel special without being too attention-grabby.

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This Róhe coat is so beautiful , so elegant, so obviously tasteful. I love the little look I had on under it too! The leopard coat on its own with the look underneath could come off as being a little too traditional, vintage-inspired, or staid. To make it more interesting, I put on this Zankov sequin embellished scarf. Making it slightly less traditionally “elegant” makes it feel more personal and less like a costume to me.

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I’ve always loved shopping, but lately I’m feeling exhausted by it. There are too many links, too many newsletters in my inbox, too many discount codes on Instagram, etc. I’m trying to shop less but also find my way back to loving clothes. Do you have any advice for how to make my old clothes feel new again and style them with more recent purchases?

I hear you. I never thought I’d grow tired of shopping, window shopping, casually browsing, or just checking things out, and yet—here I am. I write a fashion and styling newsletter (called Earl Earl), and I own a small shop in Beverly Hills (of the same name), but so often when I’m online or on Instagram, my mind plays this funny trick where almost any picture of clothing I look at morphs into an AI slop pile of rags and fabric… just more and more and more stuff, multiplying before my eyes, crashing into me like a tidal wave of fast-fashion synthetic blends that will never, never, biodegrade!!!

I do love new things. I love to collect. But every so often, it’s nice to just say enough and dedicate yourself to wearing what you already own. There are pieces in my closet I’ve worn since high school (I’m 40) and others that I brought home last week, and I delight in wearing them all together. Here are a few ways I make that work:

Contrasting something well-worn (old band tees, your favorite jeans from 10 years ago, the perfect blazer you bought with your first paycheck, etc.) with an item that’s a bit more polished keeps your outfit feeling harmonious and intentional, rather than simply old.

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Instead of wearing my hoodie from sophomore year of boarding school with my Gap chinos from 2006, for example, I’d wear it with a tidier pair of blue jeans that aren’t super worn-in or distressed. And I’d wear the old Gap chinos with a crisp, newish button-down.

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Special-occasion dresses are hard to re-wear casually. A special top (maybe a beaded cardigan or a chiffon blouse) is much easier to repurpose. I like to wear these items with pleat-front trousers and flat sandals to make it feel a little more masculine and laid-back. The same goes for the opposite configuration. A jazzy skirt looks great with a sweatshirt or men’s button-down, or something casual and low-key.

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If I splurge on a trendy piece, I have a hard time letting it go. (Looking at you, The Row jellies.) It may have felt right in the moment, but now it’s a bit too reminiscent of that time. So I let the item “rest” in my closet. Usually, it needs to be on ice for at least three years before I bring it back out. Sometimes longer. Once it’s no longer in our consciousness— i.e., once all the fast-fashion brands are finished making dupes—then I consider bringing it back out. This is my favorite way to wear my past purchases; it’s such a thrill to rediscover a “vintage” gem in your own closet. Knowing exactly when to bring a look back is intuitive. Keep in mind, though, that if something lights you up inside and makes you feel like you’re covered in glitter—even when you aren’t covered in glitter—then you must really love it. No amount of time or advice in Vogue can take that away from you. So do you, and it will be great.

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For someone who grew up in Texas in extreme heat and now lives in Los Angeles, I am especially intolerant of the heat. I hate it. I don’t like feeling my skin roasting through the windows of my car, I don’t like burning my feet on the pavement around my house, and I especially don’t like getting dressed when it’s over ninety degrees outside. I know what to wear and what to do (wear as little as possible and stay indoors) but that kind of one-and-done dressing, or going purely for the practical runs against my grain. I like to put outfits together, I like when there’s a little bit of an artful mismatch. I really like layering.

But it’s impossible when I’m this hot, and as much as I feel bummed out throwing on a dress and heading out the door, most days it’s necessary. Most days, not every day . I had a lot of fun playing around with the items we have in my store, Earl IRL, playing dress up and imagining ways I could feel layered without feeling hotter. I pulled from a mix of our summer items and a few new fall deliveries and devised a few strategies.

This is a good one, because no matter what you put it with you’ll feel a little more styled and considered. Basically, a long necklace (one that hits just about below your breastbone) will help break out your outfit and add another layer of interest. No matter how light and cooling the rest of your look is, whether it’s a tunic from Comme Si and Birrot pants like this, or a gauzy sundress, an interesting long necklace will help it feel more pulled together. This one is from Presley Oldham.

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I also love to add in a sheer element. This plaid Tibi top lets me wear a very skimpy little camisole without it actually looking like I’m wearing a skimpy little camisole. The sheer layer allows for a breeze that helps keep me cool while also introducing a nice textural element.

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One of my absolute favorite summer outfits is a sarong with a button-down worn on top. It feels so sexy but also grown-up—I just love it. In the city, however, the sarong shows a little too much leg. I like to adapt the look by wearing my sarong over a fuller circle skirt with something fitted like this Birrot tank on top. Suzie Kondi’s gingham skirt has volume and keeps my legs super cool, and the Chan Luu sarong doesn’t add any weight to the outfit. I like this noisy clash of colors and prints, but of course, you could always go with solids.

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A wide variety of textures will also help your outfit feel more layered and intentional. This wrap skirt from Chan Luu has a fabulous crochet pom pom detail around the hem, and the wrap feature gives it even more of a layered feel without being any warmer. I love it with this ultra-light cashmere tee from Lisa Yang because the fuzziness of the cashmere with the linen skirt plus pom poms creates so much interest and variety, it feels like a much more complicated and “styled” outfit, despite it being just two pieces. This tee looks like it would be quite hot, but it has a super open knit weave and feels like almost nothing on your body.

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I bet you saw this one coming! Is it the most creative outfit ever? No. But it does the trick. Adding a big, gorgeous belt amps up your summer dress and makes it feel more interesting. This belt in particular is a winner because it’s a wide, stretchy swath of a material called Lay. It’s by Birrot, and I love the way it wraps around and can tie in the front. Some belts slide around all day and you find yourself constantly fussing with it to get the buckle to stay in the right place, but this one just stays put. No fussing necessary.

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I often see people suggest wearing a button-down completely unbuttoned all the way down the front and open. I don’t love that look—I think it looks unfinished and just not that great. My workaround when I do want an actual layer over my tank is to button just the bottom few buttons instead. I like the shape that it creates with the shirt and it still lets lots of airflow in around my arms. It can also help something like drawstring “soft pants” (like these from Suzie Kondi) look a little more pulled together and a little less like pajamas.

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Not because I don’t like my legs, not because I don’t like them generally , there is really no easy reason why I don’t like wearing, and have a hard time styling shorts. After my mid-30s, I started to feel they were a bit infantilizing. I felt silly wearing them, like I was dressing up as a little kid. It took me a while to figure out what kinds worked for me, and which I could wrap my head around (the flat-front chino J.Crew shorts of the early 00’s are a no-go, so are pleat-front khakis—too old on me), but it all took a lot of trial and error.

Living in Los Angeles where it’s warm year-round and can be absolutely boiling in the summer, I had to figure it out—as tricky as I find shorts, miniskirts are worse!—but now I think I have a good handle on the situation as a woman in her 40s. I tried on some of my favorite ones I have in my store, Earl IRL , to show how I’d wear them with some of our other new deliveries.

I actually really like my legs. I do a lot of heavy resistance training and they’re strong and I like them. However, my style typically doesn’t show much skin. I like to wear things oversized and relatively covered, so to balance these Made Some board shorts out, I went with an oversized Comme Si button-down in Grecian Blue. A logo-heavy tee would feel a bit too Gen Z for me, I’m really not trying to look like I’m in my twenties over here. These little classic blue sneakers also help. Whenever I wear little shorts like this I like to keep my foot covered so that I don’t feel like it’s just flesh out all the way down.

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I don’t like to say anything has been “trending” but, boxer shorts have been trending for a few years. I love them in concept—they’re boyish, comfortable, cool, and generally pretty affordable. The trick here is to make them look like shorts, not underwear. A special knit on top works (if it’s too hot for a knit, try a little sleeveless linen blouse). This one is from Zankov and very lightweight. I also like to wear sandals that look very polished and special, like these from Herbert Levine. They’re burgundy suede and gorgeous . The boxers are Comme Si and come in a zillion colors, but I like the dark navy in the shorts. I also think this isn’t the typical way to wear them (I usually see them paired with a coordinating button down or a white tee) which makes them feel a little more grown-up and serious.

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These Rachel Comey shorts are so cute, they have a lot of volume, are a great color, and an interesting shape. They’re very sporty, but clearly not true athletic shorts. I love them with another bright sporty piece, like this Rachel Comey sweatshirt, but like the boxer shorts, I prefer to wear them with slightly more polished shoes to keep them from looking too literal. These embellished suede flip-flops are also Herbert Levine and they are so, so comfortable. A tidy little leather pouch instead of a canvas tote also helps this feel like real clothes.

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The only way I’m wearing denim shorts is long. Short jean shorts are too reminiscent of my childhood in Texas, so I prefer something slouchier and more skater now. This is the kind of look I typically go for: baggy, oversized and raw edge jean shorts worn low on the hips like a boy, but I love them dressed up. It’s unexpected and interesting, but totally works. In this case, the Kallmeyer Ellis shorts go beautifully with this Kallmeyer sculptural poplin top. The bell shape of the top offers a nice contrast to how straight the shorts are; it’s a great tension between masculine and feminine and feels very adult.

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These jean shorts from Róhe are technically part of the long denim shorts, but they’re loooong . I love these. If they were a different material or had a pleat-front they’d be a totally different vibe and a little harder to style. I think those (on women over 40) can look a bit too granny-ish. These, however, are graphic and clean, and so boyish they can really support this embellished Zankov knit vest. Sparkle with denim, boyish and girlish, special and mundane—this whole look is just….perfect. You can do any shoe here: a heel would dress it up, a ballet flat would, too, but I like the idea of your most basic rubber flip-flops. A nice mix of all the things I love.

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