Gran obsessed with leopard print has home and wardrobe filled with the print
A great-grandmother is so obsessed with leopard skin that she has filled her home and her wardrobe with it - and even plans to be buried in the print.
Ira Bowman, 76, first fell in love with the distinctive spotted pattern in the 60s when she bought a scarf on a shopping trip to Oxford Street in London.
Over the years, her collection has spiralled and now her home in King's Lynn, Norfolk, is decorated with the animal print.
Ira, whose 10-month-old great-granddaughter Minnie Smalley is already sporting the family colours, has even planned a leopard skin funeral.
The former hairdresser, who also worked with special needs children before she retired said: "When I die and have a funeral, I don't want any black or any other colour, only leopard skin.
"I will be wearing leopard skin in the box as well."
Ira said that her first purchase of the pattern while training to become a hairdresser was "just instinct".
She said: "I think it was 1964 or 1965 - it was just instinct. Then I got a leopard skin coat.
"Then it went on to clothes, shoes, handbags - just about everything.
"I bought another coat for £40 from Roman on the High Street the other day - I'm not OCD or whatever you call it, that's just how it is.
"I just love leopard skin, that's how I've been all my life. I just think it's classy."
As well as clothes and more shoes than you can shake a leopard's tail at, Ira brews her tea in a leopard skin teapot, before pouring it into leopard skin mugs at her home in King's Lynn.
There are leopard skin vases, lampshades and rugs, while at night she snuggles down under her favourite pattern.
Her love of leopard skin has also rubbed off on family, who say they are never at a loss as to what to get Ira when it comes to Christmas and birthdays.
Granddaughter Betsy Stainsby, 23, turned her nan into an online sensation when a video tour of her bungalow she posted online went viral, with more than 160,000 views.
Betsy, who has inherited Ira's love of leopard skin, said: "Every time I wear leopard print, it's an ode to Nan."
Her mother Justine, Ira's eldest daughter, 53, added: "I just grew up with it, I thought it was normal.
"We always know what to buy mum for her birthday and at Christmas."
Ira Bowman, 76, first fell in love with the distinctive spotted pattern in the 60s when she bought a scarf on a shopping trip to Oxford Street in London.
Over the years, her collection has spiralled and now her home in King's Lynn, Norfolk, is decorated with the animal print.
Ira, whose 10-month-old great-granddaughter Minnie Smalley is already sporting the family colours, has even planned a leopard skin funeral.
The former hairdresser, who also worked with special needs children before she retired said: "When I die and have a funeral, I don't want any black or any other colour, only leopard skin.
"I will be wearing leopard skin in the box as well."
Ira said that her first purchase of the pattern while training to become a hairdresser was "just instinct".
She said: "I think it was 1964 or 1965 - it was just instinct. Then I got a leopard skin coat.
"Then it went on to clothes, shoes, handbags - just about everything.
"I bought another coat for £40 from Roman on the High Street the other day - I'm not OCD or whatever you call it, that's just how it is.
"I just love leopard skin, that's how I've been all my life. I just think it's classy."
As well as clothes and more shoes than you can shake a leopard's tail at, Ira brews her tea in a leopard skin teapot, before pouring it into leopard skin mugs at her home in King's Lynn.
There are leopard skin vases, lampshades and rugs, while at night she snuggles down under her favourite pattern.
Her love of leopard skin has also rubbed off on family, who say they are never at a loss as to what to get Ira when it comes to Christmas and birthdays.
Granddaughter Betsy Stainsby, 23, turned her nan into an online sensation when a video tour of her bungalow she posted online went viral, with more than 160,000 views.
Betsy, who has inherited Ira's love of leopard skin, said: "Every time I wear leopard print, it's an ode to Nan."
Her mother Justine, Ira's eldest daughter, 53, added: "I just grew up with it, I thought it was normal.
"We always know what to buy mum for her birthday and at Christmas."
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FunTranscript
00:00 I was up London and I was up to the Waterman's hairdressing and two friends and we went in
00:10 there and I bought my first scarf. From shoes to hats to swimwear, just beds, everything,
00:21 everything you can think of I've got. I have a funeral, I don't want no black or any other
00:34 colour, only leopard skin. I will be wearing in the box leopard skin as well.
00:39 [BLANK_AUDIO]