It may be time to go wild this winter if you're looking for lingerie.

Both the store manager for Winnipeg's Diva Lingerie Inc., Carol Yaschuk, and the sales manager for lingerie at The Bay in downtown Winnipeg, Lourdes Pantig, say animal prints are the big thing in women's intimate apparel.

"It's for everything, from underwear to bras to sleep wear to flannels to robes --just about anything in lingerie," Pantig says about the current popularity of animal prints. "And I think going forward, that's probably going to be the trend for a while."

"It's exceptionally popular in sleep wear and I think it's partially because of its whole sex appeal," Yaschuk says. "The jungle print, the safari theme, the animal influence in sleep wear is just very sexy and appealing."

Yaschuk says animal prints are particularly popular in all kinds of women's fashion at present, but has a definite strong influence in terms of women's sleep wear. Patterns can include almost anything with a jungle theme, including tiger stripes, zebra stripes, giraffe and snake-skin prints.

"I think it just depends on how you feel or what kind of mood you're in," Pantig says, when asked why animal print lingerie is so appealing to women. "It makes you feel -- I wouldn't say naughty -- but adventurous, wild, fun."

As for other things that are new in women's lingerie this season, Pantig says "strappies" are something that may soon prove to be popular. Strappies are interchangeable brassiere straps that can allow a woman to wear a normal white bra with a number of differently designed and coloured straps -- even clear ones for the bare-shouldered look.

Yaschuk says there are a couple of very important things women should keep in mind when they are just going out to buy basic bras and panties. For one thing, women should buy bras that fit. Approximately 90 percent of North American women don't.

"It's really really important health-wise to buy a bra that fits properly," Yaschuk says. "There are many health considerations to think about."

One of those considerations is posture, which can be affected by osteoporosis or by not wearing a bra that fits properly.

Yaschuk also says it is important for women to match the style and colour of their bras and panties with the rest of their clothing needs.