The year of the snake: How to wear this season’s serpentine trend

Find your sartorial spirit animal with a dose of reptilian style this season, writes Sarah Young

It’s easy to see how that snake tempted Eve out of paradise... Rodarte autumn/winter (Rex)

While its popularity has faded and flowed over the years, snakeskin is one of those looks that never seems to go out of fashion, and with exotic skins in general having crawled their way on to the catwalk once again we can expect to see plenty of it this season, whether it materialises as a bag, boots, heels or a shirt.

Depending on where you are in the world, snakes represent a gamut of meanings from fertility and healing to duplicitous evil – one way or another, they capture the imagination. With a host of designers snapping up the serpentine trend for autumn/winter, they’re likely to charm you, too.

Gucci autumn/winter 2016 (AFP/Getty) (AFP/Getty Images)

Gucci’s Alessandro Michele brought the snake into sartorial dialogue last season, swathing it all over his spring/summer collection, and showed no sign of scaling back for the colder months. From zig-zag python print boots to a satin pink pleated dress embroidered with a three-headed serpent, the print was vivid, versatile and strikingly wild. Burberry opted for a shot of colour too, updating their trademark mackintosh with green and navy snakeskin while flashes of red and yellow serpentine wrung through structural slits in dresses and skirts. It continued down at floor level too, with Rodarte electing the print through cut-out patchwork boots that spiral up the leg.

Burberry autumn/winter (Getty) (Getty Images)

Reptilian style may look formidable but for real-world dressing it’s actually very adaptable. To add the perfect dose of texture to any outfit if the trend has caught your (snake) eyes, try experimenting with accessories to begin with and choose neutral colours to keep it tame. If you’re looking to make a statement though, the catwalk has shown that snakeskin is by no means confined solely to earthy tones. Opt for a colour washed version; just make sure too keep to one show-stopping piece and always go faux.