Woman Gives House Tour of Grandma’s ‘Iconic’ Leopard-Print Home – Newsweek

Published
May 28, 2024 at 01:34 PM EDT
Life & Trends Reporter
A woman has given the internet a tour of her grandmother’s leopard-print home, which houses more than 500 items in the distinctive pattern.
Leopard print has been a staple of this season’s style, but for Ira Bowman, 76, her love affair with the pattern has been lifelong.
The former hairdresser won her town’s Miss King’s Lynn competition in her teens and traced her love of the print back to her beauty-queen days.
Betsy Stainsby, her 23-year-old granddaughter, showcased Bowman’s animal-print boudoir in a video on TikTok. The clip, posted earlier in May under the handle @betseal, has received more than 162,000 views and 15,000 likes.
Stainsby, a marketing and events coordinator from King’s Lynn in Norfolk, England, said she considered her grandmother her best friend. She told Newsweek that Bowman owned more than 500 leopard-print items, and that she had passed down her love of the print to her daughters, granddaughters and great-granddaughter.
“My nan’s always been a glamor puss,” she said. “She passed on her love of leopard print to everyone.”
She continued: “Personally, when I wear anything leopard print, it’s an ode to my nan.
“She says it can’t be tat. It has to be classy leopard print. She’s just iconic.”
Bowman told Newsweek: “I can’t explain it. I’ve always liked leopard print.”
Stainsby defined a classier leopard print as having a higher contrast between the darker and lighter tones of the pattern.
During the video tour, she showed off her grandmother’s home, with Bowman opening the door wearing a leopard-print dressing gown. The video shows Stainsby walking into her grandmother’s leopard-print palace past a leopard-print doormat and rug.
The footage then shows Bowman’s lounge, complete with a leopard rug, leopard lamps, a leopard stool, leopard blinds, a leopard curtain holder, leopard vases and leopard bowls.
Stainsby then takes viewers into Bowman’s kitchen, kitted out with leopard-print tea and coffeepots, a leopard plate and a leopard glass.
The queen of leopard print, as Stainsby described Bowman in the viral video, said she wanted to turn tradition on its head when “her time comes,” with guests at her funeral wearing her favorite print to honor her.
“She says when her time comes she doesn’t want us to wear black or colors to the funeral. She wants us to wear leopard print,” Stainsby said.
Bowman’s latest purchase was a leopard-print “pimp”-style coat from Roman that looked like something Polly Gray, the matriarch in the hit show Peaky Blinders, would wear, Stainsby added.
Stainsby continued: “She’s a fashion icon. My nan has been wearing leopard print for over 40 years. It’s such an amazing print. It makes any outfit.”
Bowman, who worked as a hairdresser and looked after children with special educational needs before an injury led her to retire early, is now a celebrity in the local community. Stainsby said her grandmother could not step outside without seeing someone she knew, and that everyone loved her.
Stainsby said the stylish septuagenarian accompanied her on shopping trips and did not hold back from offering her honest opinion.
“She has a love for people,” she added. “She’s got no filter. She isn’t mean—she’s relentless, and she’s so sassy. She’s molded me into me being the way I am.
“Without sounding corny, my nan is my best friend. She is an absolute icon.”
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