It’s a bit of an awkward time of year for shopping. It’s the tail end of the January sales, it’s sometimes super cold outside and then confusingly sunny and mild.
It’s much too early for nonsense like icy pink cropped t-shirts or Fifties style floral dresses. I don’t feel like buying clothes right now that I blatantly won’t wear until April at least. So what’s a girl to do if she ain’t ready for the spring clothes trickling into the shops but feels like weeping at the thought of going out there to sift through clearance sale remains? Buying a sequin skirt at this point (even if it’s heavily discounted) is a bit like buying Christmas wrapping paper in mid-January. Completely bonkers.
Enter the animal sweater. With fuzzy looking faces on the front, or just the shadow of a grazing giraffe, these are not the animal sweaters of your childhood. No matter what your age, you can definitely pull one off if you pair it with slightly edgy bottoms and accessories like ankle boots, skinny dark jeans or something like a leather knee length skirt.
Even Balenciaga had a dog sweater in its 2011 Pre-Fall collection, albeit paired with thick black eyeliner and not a trace of a smile. See? You can be bad-ass while wearing the face of a rabbit on your jumper. There is one for every kind of animal lover - whether parrots, giraffes, foxes or cats are your thing. If you wear it right, it’s not at all cheesy and is a fun way to ride out the last couple of bleak winter months. January and February, I kind of hate you. But I will get through it, even if the only smiling face I’m wearing is the one on the front of my jumper.
Credits:
Top row, l-r: Red giraffe, £38, River Island, Cat with glasses, £45, Louche at Joy, Pink swan, £29.50, Dorothy Perkins, Grey with rabbit, £39, Miss Selfridge
Bottom row, l-r: Parrots, £310, Markus Lupfer at Net-a-Porter.com, Leopard sweatshirt, £130, Sandro, Bird, £45, Warehouse, Fox jumper, £25, Topshop
Main image: Swan jumper, £37, Miss Selfridge