Animal inspired jewellery has been around for yonks. Snakeskin cuffs, lion rings, owl necklaces, birds on everything… yawn… uh… sorry Tarzan, did I nod off?

So we were interested to see what approach Kenzo would take for his jungle themed Summer 2013 collection, seen at Paris Fashion Week a few of weeks ago. Haven’t all the animal accessories, and the jungle theme itself, been done to death?

Well, apart from the amazing digital graphics of the show, and the super sized, so-loud-you’re-hurting-my-ears clashing prints, the jewellery was a stand out.

There were snakeskin cuffs, of course, but in metallic and natural tones. Kenzo then took things a little bit further into the wild, with a necklace in the shape of a pair of tiger paws hanging around the neck, like some sort of slaughter scene trophy. Oy…

But the piece we loved the most was the wide textured bangle with fringing (or were they tentacles?) in black and burnished orange leopard spots.

Anyway, this got us on to an afternoon of trawling the interwebs for the more unusual animal inspired jewellery out there, things that go beyond snakeskin. We found polished stingray leather, beetle wings, and alligator tails! Hmm, I’m feeling the need to don a shabby loincloth and swing from a vine.

What do you think of this jungle jewellery?