9 essential fashion trends you need to know for 2019

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NEW YORK, NEW YORK – DECEMBER 02: (C) Dilone walks the ruwnay at the Versace Pre-Fall 2019 Collection at The American Stock Exchange on December 02, 2018 in New York City. (Photo by JP Yim/Getty Images)

Animal prints

For many of us, leopard print never goes out of style. And for some, it may even be considered a neutral. It’s December here in Chicago, but I still wanted to wear a light, silk dress last week. The temperature was hovering around freezing. Additionally, said dress had lace cap sleeves, a high middle slit, and low neckline.

Solution: I own a very simple cotton, long-sleeve leopard print dress/tunic, that probably cost me $10. This was the perfect under-layer to a black and red printed dress that I just HAD to wear. It not only solved the problem of being more appropriately and warmly dressed at work, but it instantly added a funkiness to my outfit. That’s one way of utilizing one of 2018’s top trends.

Heading into 2019, an obvious and exciting place that we’ll find leopard is on outerwear. Happy to hear that more and more designers are opting for faux fur over actual animal hides – like Versace, Gucci, and Givenchy.

But leopard isn’t the only animal whose print will be getting a lot of attention in 2019. Consider zebra, cheetah, tiger, and snake prints. Especially snake skin.

Apparently, Pinterest has data around “snake skin” searches being up approximately 642 percent. Plenty of designers and retailers have already embraced the trend. Including Philosophy di Lorenzo Serafini, who paraded some solid snake printed looks down the runway for their Spring 2019 Ready-to-Wear collection, like this one.

It seems like this is a solid trend worthy of shedding your old skin – ahem – wardrobe for.