I always hated leopard print dresses. Until now.

Here are some styles that convinced me otherwise.

Leopard print dresses
(Image credit: Future)

I have a confession to make: I normally hate leopard print dresses. I hate to admit it, but in the past I've just found them to be borderline tacky, and have never found any that suited me.

Well, as the French say, "il n'y a que les imbéciles qui ne changent pas d’avis", which roughly translates into "only fools never change their minds". For this season, not only is leopard print unavoidable, it's been given a modern refresh, and I am here for it.

To get over my aversion, I tried a lot of leopard print dresses, and fell in love with all of them (side note: for more try-ons, see my white dresses, waistcoats and white maxi skirts for inspiration).

Some styles were out of my comfort zone: I don't normally wear short dresses or ruffles for example, but they somehow worked, and more importantly I never felt swamped by such a loud print.

This season, the addition of chic details such as a cowl neck (the Zara dress), a 90s style cut (the Realisation and Mango dresses) completely elevate this print.

Plus, it's incredibly easy to style. Since leopard print dresses are such a statement, they hardly need any styling to work. While it's still warm, I'm wearing them with leather flip flops, which I'll be swapping with black ballerina pumps and boots when it gets colder.

All you need to do is add a chunky jumper or masculine blazer and you're done. If you're tempted too, shop my edit below.

Shop leopard print dresses

Penny Goldstone

Penny Goldstone is the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire, covering everything from catwalk trends to royal fashion and the latest high street and Instagram must-haves.

Penny grew up in France and studied languages and law at the Sorbonne Nouvelle University in Paris before moving to the UK for her MA in multimedia journalism at Bournemouth University. She moved to the UK permanently and has never looked back (though she does go back regularly to stock up on cheese and wine).

Although she's always loved fashion - she used to create scrapbooks of her favourite trends and looks, including Sienna Miller and Kate Moss' boho phase - her first job was at MoneySavingExpert.com, sourcing the best deals for everything from restaurants to designer sales.

However she quit after two years to follow her true passion, fashion journalism, and after many years of internships and freelance stints at magazines including Red, Cosmopolitan, Stylist and Good Housekeeping, landed her dream job as the Digital Fashion Editor at Marie Claire UK.

Her favourite part of the job is discovering new brands and meeting designers, and travelling the world to attend events and fashion shows. Seeing her first Chanel runway IRL at Paris Fashion Week was a true pinch-me moment.