The Alluring Energy Of Leopard Print, In Pictures From Throughout The World

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1 The Alluring Energy Of Leopard Print, In Pictures From Throughout The World April 27, 2017 Leopards are carnivorous cats distinguished by their power, adaptability and rosette-speckled fur, which acts as straightforward camouflage of their pure environments. When you ve ever adorned your self with some form of leopard print clothes or accent, you could have felt a sure energy in its furry grip a connection to nature, a feline poise, the fearlessness of a predator. Haitian-Canadian photographer Émilie Régnier has lengthy been fascinated by the eternally modern sample, for each its historical past and the just about supernatural powers it endows those that don it. For her sequence Leopard, the artist traveled to Dakar, Senegal; Kinshasa, Democratic Republic of the Congo; Johannesburg, South Africa; Paris, France; and a small city in Texas, documenting the various people who overlapped of their mushy spot for the mushy spots. The challenge started when Régnier was looking for new fashions in Paris. She encountered a girl there who confirmed up for a shoot carrying a leopard print boubou a protracted, African costume. The picture of this lady inhabited me for days onwards, Régnier wrote in a press release to HuffPost. She then realized how steadily leopard print appeared on the earth round her. It was worn in every single place and by everybody, she stated. Leopard print has totally different connotations relying on the time and place by which it seems. In Africa, courting again to the kings below British colonialism, leopard fur equals energy, derived from the picture of the leopard as king of the jungle. A former president of the Democratic Republic of the Congo, the dictator Mobutu Sese Seko, was identified for donning a leopard print toque a good becoming hat that henceforth related the animal template with authority. One among Régnier s topics is a person named Samuel Weidi, who works as knowledgeable Mobutu impersonator. It s undoubtedly the signature hat that makes Weidi s id legible, and it nearly feels as if the print s energy makes the wearer rise up a bit straighter. The photograph sequence launched Régnier to quite a lot of people who gravitated towards leopard for very totally different causes. For the rich fashionistas in Paris, leopard had been an indication of luxurious since Christian Dior launched animal print into his 1947 assortment, formally dubbing it high fashion. For a tattoo artist named Larry primarily based in Texas, nonetheless, leopard print is actually a second pores and skin. The person posed nude for Régnier, his total physique coated in spots because of over 1,000 tattoos. Finally, Régnier s challenge follows it single motif all over the world, documenting the varied people who, no matter age, gender, occupation or private model, are drawn to leopard print s alluring presence. 1

2 Emilie Regnier, Chief Matadi Kibala, Kinshasa, 2015 Emilie Regnier, Aïcha, Dakar, Senegal,

3 Emilie Regnier, Samuel Weidi aka Common Mobutu, Kinshasa, Congo DRC, 2015 Emilie Regnier, Julie, Kinshasa, Congo DRC,

4 Emilie Regnier, Lola, Cabaret Manko, Paris, France, 2016 Emilie Regnier, Madam Faye, Dakar,

5 Emilie Regnier, Anita, New York, United States, 2014 Emilie Regnier, Zanelle Domo et Philo Dlama, Durban, South Africa,

6 Emilie Regnier, Mobutu, Kinshasa, Congo DRC, 2015 Emilie Regnier, Arielle Dombasle, Paris,

7 Emilie Regnier, Jean-Pierre Sacaze, Dakar, Senegal, 2015 Emilie Regnier, Nancy, Libreville, Gabon,

8 Emilie Regnier, Abby Nouze, Clermont-Ferrand, 2016 Emilie Regnier, Dora Diamant, Paris, France, 2015 Émilie Régnier s From Mobutu to Beyoncé is on view till June four on the Bronx Documentary Heart. See our previous coverage of her work here. 8