The Lady & her Cat…

“The term “Cat Lady” can evoke the image of an unfashionable, unkempt, and slightly unhinged spinster hoarding multiple cats. The book “Cat Lady Chic” by Diane Lovejoy serves as the antidote to this unflattering point of view, celebrating the Cat Lady with a compilation of artful, playful, and sophisticated images of some of the most renowned, beautiful, and accomplished women in modern history with the cats they love”.

Model Mary Jane Russel with black cat – photograph by Louise Dahl-Wolf

This is the amusing description of the book “Cat Lady Chic“. Much is written about the attraction between women and cats, a subject often looked upon with great suspicion by those who do not understand it.

There are “dog people” and “cat people” and in some cases people who love both…But there is no doubt in my mind in which category I fall!

The eternally dazzling Grace Kelly – photographed by Robert Vose on the set of Alfred Hitchcock’s “To Catch a Thief“

We all know that cats are totally egotistical, so if they “choose” to love you, it is an honor. You will never dominate a cat or tell it what to do! They are regal and elegant, with very individual characters and will use you as their personal servant. Look at the way this cat has its “own” portrait within the portrait:

“Portrait of a lady with Black Cat” by Harijs Ebersteins

My cat “Bo Jangles” would DEMAND love, here and now and if you ignored him he would be up to all kind of tricks to get his way…I called him “the cat you love to hate”! A bit like “Cat” in the film  “Breakfast at Tiffany’s”:

Audrey Hepburn as Holly Golightly with “cat” in “Breakfast at Tiffany’s“

Many women have written about their life with cats like Doris Lessing:

“On Cats” by Doris Lessing

Or made films about the subject like the lovely actress Joanna Lumley in her documentary “Cat Woman”:

Joanne Lumley with Bengal in Cat Woman ITV Documentary

I just need to add a photograph of my own cat Nina, without her “lady” this time:

Nina, torn between curiosity and a slight apprehension…

Nina (after Nina Simone) is a very subtle lady, always a bit wary: “oh don’t stroke me…mmmm….ok, go ahead stroke me….” how can you resist that?