Key Takeaways
- Fawn print is in the animal print spotlight—er, headlights???—this fall.
- The sweet pattern is characterized by a soft, reddish-brown base shade and cream spots, just like the camouflage pattern on a baby deer.
I know everyone thinks their puppy is the cutest in the world, and it’s almost true. The one problem standing in the way is *my* puppy, who is actually the cutest in the world. I’m not even biased. It’s a hard fact, because she looks identical to the cutest animal in the world: a baby deer. Seriously, my camera roll “people and pets” section can’t tell the difference.
Baby deer are usually born in May or June and weigh around 6 to 8 pounds at birth. Soon enough (like, within 20 minutes) they’re standing and practically perfect: darling little fawns with white-spotted, reddish-brown coats to help them camouflage while they can’t defend themselves.
By this time of year, they’re almost adolescents, still relying on their sweet moms and sporting those cute spotted coats… just like the rest of us will be doing soon enough.
Oh deer—there’s another animal print trend to obsess over this fall. It’s just too easy to fawn over fawn.
@evie_mills/Instagram
The Trend
Also known as deer or Bambi print, fawn print is exactly what it sounds like: a soft, gentle, and speckled light or reddish-brown and cream combination. We recently saw it on a fleece in Sandy Liang’s viral GAP collection, on Leandra Medine as she modeled Never Fully Dressed’s PreFall offerings, and on our Instagram explore pages because the animal itself is easily clickable.
@erinsiebert_/Instagram
When Sofia Richie Grainge announced her fashion line (and second pregnancy!) last week, she shared the news while wearing a wool fawn print jacket from the collection. (“The Blake Jacket: Soft print, strong presence” reads an Instagram post promoting the piece.) The print also appears as a silk maxi dress that I would absolutely trust to carry me through the season, despite a baby deer’s wobbly gait.
Fawn print has been slowly creeping up on us for the past year or so, but it’s nothing new. Burberry showcased a version in their Spring/Summer 2019 collection. It was also big back in the early 2010s, in fashion and in nail art. As for why it’s popular now? Maybe we’re all feeling like deer in headlights these days. Or we just want to lean into the cozy and the cute.
Getty Images
Baby deer obviously had a big moment back in 1942 when Bambi premiered. The spotlight continued to shine every year thereafter as generation after generation watched (and cried to) the movie. When Audrey Hepburn was filming Green Mansions in 1958, the on-set animal trainer suggested she take a fawn home so it would learn to follow her around. Its name was Pippin, and they were besties.
Hollister
Get the Look
So, are you ready to hunt for some fawn print of your own? In in the most gentle, no-baby-deer-harmed-in-the-making-of-this-jacket kind of way. (I would never.)
@sofiagrainge/instagram
You can find the SRG Collection here if you want to go full It girl, or keep scrolling to shop some more of our favorite deer/Bambi/fawn print finds.
