It started with Natalie Massenet. The Net-a-Porter founder and British Fashion Council chairman was spotted pairing a leopard print Marc Jacobs skirt with a leopard print Valentino Rockstud clutch at New York Fashion Week; the following week in London Kate Moss was seen front row at Topshop’s show in a pair of black leopard print Hysteric Glamour jeans, then, at Paris Fashion Week, stylist Giovanna Battaglia turned up in a vintage early 1990s leopard print Ala?a dress at the designer’s retrospective opening at the Palais Galliera.

By the time Andrea Mitchell, NBC News’ chief foreign affairs correspondent, wore a black leopard print trench while delivering her nightly report on the Syrian crisis the trend was official: animal spots are big news.

“With the amount of prints women are now dressing in, leopard really is the ‘new black’,” says stylist Isabel Dupré, whose equivalent to the little black dress is an Isabel Marant leopard print number she considers her fail-safe go-to. “There is something that reads expensive and ‘fashion’ in the print when it is worn right,” she adds. “Most of the time it’s as timeless as wearing black.”