30 January 2025
Mel B has "always" loved leopard print.
Mel B has 'always' loved leopard print
The 49-year-old pop star famously wore outfits made out of the animal-themed pattern when she was part of the Spice Girls in the late 1990s and admitted that it came from a childhood inspiration of hers.
Speaking on the 'Routes' podcast, she told host Clara Amfo: "We didn't plan it, we just showed up and we were ourselves. We didn't have any stylists back in the day, so we were just diving into our own wardrobe. My wardrobe has always been leopard print, and has been since when I was about 12 years old."
When the Spice Girls opened the 1997 BRIT Awards with a medley of 'Wannabe' and 'Who Do You Think You Are'. Mel opted for a leopard print catsuit, whilst Melanie C wore a tracksuit, Victoria Beckham had a little black dress.
Emma Bunton wore a pink babydoll dress for that performance, and coupled it with a pair of platform boots.
Perhaps most famously, Geri Halliwell covered a black Gucci dress with a Union Jack tea towel and it went on to become an emblem for the group, with the actual garment becoming the most expensive piece of pop music memorabilia ever when it sold at auction for £41,320 a couple of years later.
Meanwhile, Mel recalled that her affinity with leopard print began when she saw it on the character of Bet Lynch (Julie Goodyear) on the ITV1 soap opera 'Coronation Street' in the late 1980s.
She added: "My first encounter with it was watching 'Coronation Street' with my dad and looking at Bet Lynch behind the bar in a fully leopard print bustier and I thought 'When I get older, that's all I'm gonna wear!' And basically, that's my entire wardrobe."
English (US) ·