Furry supermodel is the cat’s whiskers
IT already leads one of the most charmed lives on the planet, spoilt with the finest food and first-class care. Now Choupette, Karl Lagerfeld’s cat, has also been confirmed as one of the richest players in the fashion industry, with annual earnings matching those of the most coveted models.
The Siamese cat, described by the designer as “sophisticated”, earned just more than £2-million (R35-million) for just two advertising jobs in the past year: a collaboration with the Japanese cosmetics brand Shu Uemura and posing for a Vauxhall Corsa car calendar.
The figure is not much lower than the reported earnings of Cara Delevingne, supermodel du jour, who was said to have made £2.4-million last year from a series of high-fashion campaigns.
Choupette is known to fans across the globe by way of the Instagram account dedicated to the feline, which shares photographs of the cat’s luxurious life, and stokes rumours about its two personal maids and publicist.
Lagerfeld, the Chanel creative director, told The Cut, a fashion website, that the cat was the “centre of the world” and his creative inspiration.
Despite runaway commercial success, Choupette is not permitted to advertise food because she is “too sophisticated for that”, he said.
Choupette is the latest cover star of the US fashion magazine Lucky, for its “100+ Stylish Animals” issue.
Lagerfeld, 81, said: “It’s a miracle in the story. Choupette was not even given to me. Choupette belonged to a friend of mine who asked if my maid could take care of her for two weeks when he was away.
“When he came back, he was told that Choupette would not return to him. He got another cat who became fat, and Choupette became the most famous cat in the world, and the richest. She had something unique.”
Lagerfeld said the cat was like a human being, “but the good thing is that she’s silent — you don’t have to discuss it”.
“She hates other animals and she hates children. She stays always with me and she has two personal maids. They play with her, they take care of her beautiful white hair, the beauty treatments for her eyes, and they entertain her. She is the centre of the world.
“If you saw her, you would un- derstand. She is kind of Greta Garbo. There is something unforgettable about her, the way she moves, the way she plays. She’s an inspiration for elegance.”— © The