What we're seeing today is just a strong resurgence of a style that's never fallen wholly out of favor. The current trend will no doubt abate eventually - resulting in welcome restraint in the use of these patterns. But animal prints definitely do not represent some crazy fad that will one day vanish altogether. I love animal prints, and I'm planning to reupholster a settee in my living room with a fabric simulating leopard skin. But all the fake fur I'm seeing on the market these days makes me wonder if this look isn't a bit flashy and trashy.
Fake fur IS trashy.
But for reasons I cannot discern, wallpaper, fabrics and rugs printed to resemble animal skins are considered ever so chic. But that's how it goes with the gurus of good taste. In my thinking, that concern went the way of white gloves. The guiding criterion now for interior designers is whether something is appropriate within a particular context. To use animal prints as an example, any professional designer will probably approve of their use in sophisticated settings.