Feline Fashion: Why celebrities opted to dress like cats at the Met Gala
Feline Fashion: Why celebrities opted to dress like cats at the Met Gala
It’s the one event where celebrities can forget their inhibitions and wear the most outrageous or bizarre clothes. We are talking about the Met Gala red carpet. This year, the event, dubbed as fashion’s biggest night, was an ode to iconic designer Karl Lagerfeld and celebrity after celebrity wore gorgeous outfits in homage to the late designer’s work.
But there were some who chose to pay homage to the designer in a different way – in possibly the most ‘catty’ way; they either dressed as a feline or carried cat-related accessories on the red carpet.
But what’s the link between Karl Lagerfeld and a cat? Why was the cat theme so prominent on the red carpet? And more importantly who dressed up as a feline at the event?
Feline fashion at the Met
Grammy winning rapper-singer Doja Cat’s debut look at the Met Gala was an ode to Karl Lagerfeld’s famous pet – Choupette. She wore a silvery hooded Oscar de la Renta backless gown — complete with cat ears – along with feline facial prosthetics and sharpened talons on her nails. She topped off her look with a diamond headpiece and diamond arm cuff.
And she was fully committed to the look; when interviewed on the red carpet, the rapper punctuated her sentences with a few “meows.”
Also see: Priyanka Chopra, Alia Bhatt make heads turn with their outing
Shortly after Doja made her presence felt at the event, someone wearing a fluffy cat suit and head with hyper realistic blue eyes and grey whiskers, which resembled Choupette, slinked down the red carpet. On removing the cat head, it was revealed that it was actor Jared Leto. Interestingly, the actor is set to play the controversially iconic designer Karl Lagerfeld in his next movie.
Rapper Lil Nas X too took the theme very seriously and emerged on the red carpet in sparkling silver body paint and jewels and nothing much but a matching metallic thong. Only when inspected closely was it revealed that the rapper’s bejewelled eye mask also featured beaded whiskers – a reference to Lagerfeld’s cat. And if that reference was lost on the viewers, he made sure to respond to reporters on the red carpet only with meows and purrs and waving his claws.
Other celebrities too paid homage to the designer by opting for cat-related accessories. Janelle Monae, singer-actor, accessorised her mismatched black-and-white Thom Browne coat, held a Choupette-shaped handbag.
Saturday Night Live actor Chloe Fineman also paired her gown with a Choupette-shaped purse by Judith Leiber, this one in a bedazzled pink.
Choupette, Lagerfeld’s iconic cat
The reason why these celebrities opted for feline fashion was the designer’s love for his cat – Choupette. It can be said that Choupette, the white Birman, is perhaps the most famous and richest cat in the world.
It is said that Choupette came into Lagerfeld’s life in 2011 when model and muse to Lagerfeld Baptiste Giabiconi asked the designer to look after Choupette in Paris while he went home to Marseilles to visit his mother. At first the designer demurred; he wasn’t particularly fond of animals and, more importantly, he liked things pristine.
However, with its beauty – Choupette is pristinely white and has beautiful blue eyes – the feline won over the designer. Later, Giabiconi handed over ownership to Lagerfeld and from then on, Choupette lived the charmed life.
A besotted Lagerfeld turned Choupette into an international star – the cat had her own maid, bodyguards, custom Louis Vuitton carriers, silver bowls and a jet-set lifestyle. She also had her own jewels and nannies.
She was a model in her own right; by 2016, she had been on the covers of Harper’s Bazaar with Lagerfeld, German Vogue with Linda Evangelista and Brazilian Vogue with Gisele Bundchen; she had also fronted campaigns for everything from cars to cosmetics. Such was Lagerfeld’s love for Choupette that Chanel collections included the shade ‘Choupette blue’, while the Karl Lagerfeld brand even released a handbag printed with her face.
The designer’s love for the cat ran so deep that he was once quoted as telling CNN that he would marry the feline if it were legal. “There is no marriage, yet, for human beings and animals,” he said. “I never thought I would fall in love like this with a cat.”
And Choupette’s charmed life has continued even after Lagerfeld passed away owing to pancreatic cancer in 2019. She is rumoured to inherit a portion of Lagerfeld’s €200 million net worth. Today, the 11-year-old cat lives in Paris with Lagerfeld’s former housekeeper Françoise Caçot and has a dedicated Instagram page @choupetteofficiel, which has almost 200,000 followers.
And Choupette continues to live a pampered lifestyle even after Lagerfeld’s death. She has modelling contracts and other appearances she makes and her 11th birthday last August she celebrated on a private jet with balloons and champagne.
She also may be the only cat in the world who can claim to have supermodel Naomi Campbell as one of her friends – in April, Choupette made an appearance in Vogue, snuggled up in Naomi Campbell’s arms, as a part of a tribute to Lagerfeld.
Choupette and the Met
It’s no surprise then that the organisers of the Met Gala invited Choupette to the event on Monday in New York.
Choupette’s agent was quoted as telling the New York Post that the cat was officially on the guest list of the prestigious event. “She got the invitation … It’s an event in honour of the legacy of Karl, and Choupette is obviously a central part of the legacy.”
However, on Met Monday, Choupette announced that she would not be attending fashion’s biggest night.
s
“Many people invited me to walk the red carpet of the #METGALA2023 in tribute to Daddy, but we preferred to stay peacefully & cozy at home,” a post on the cat’s Instagram page said. “We pay tribute to my Daddy every day since his parting and we are very moved to see one more day dedicated to him.”
But even without being present at the event, the feline made her presence felt and all we can say was that it was ‘cat-tastic’!
With inputs from agencies
Read all the Latest News, Trending News, Cricket News, Bollywood News,
India News and Entertainment News here. Follow us on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram.
What's Your Reaction?
