It’s a hot cat-girl summer
Feline fans are challenging sad stereotypes, from Taylor Swift’s Time cover to ‘childless cat ladies’ reclaiming the term.
Movies and television shows are absolutely littered with sad, single so-called “cat ladies”. There’s no lazier screenwriting shortcut to signifying “pathetic” than giving an overachieving professional woman a cat. When Miranda on Sex and the City wants to leave a bad date, her code is “I have to go feed my cat”. In How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days, Kate Hudson’s character snuggles with a kitty during a wine-soaked girls’ night in. On The Simpsons, Dr Eleanor Abernathy MD JD graduated from Harvard Medical School and Yale Law School but couldn’t escape the “crazy cat lady” trap.
Today, that stereotype couldn’t be further from reality.
In 2024, cats have crept into chicness. Prominent, confident women from Taylor Swift to Jenna Lyons to former Catwoman Halle Berry pose with their cats all over social media. Brands are splashing feline images across their clothes and stores, and cat people are snapping up pieces that show their affinity. Call it a hot cat-girl summer.
When JD Vance’s 2021 comment deriding “childless cat ladies”, including Kamala Harris, recently resurfaced, old tropes were stoked once again.
But women who own cats have been shifting misconceptions about cat ownership for some time now. Perhaps it started with Swift’s 2023 Time Person of the Year cover. She posed for photographers Inez and Vinoodh with her ragdoll cat, Benjamin Button, slung powerfully over her shoulders – a shot based on the cover of 1978 photography book Cat People.
Fashion has taken note of cat mania. Tory Burch has an ongoing collaboration with German photographer Walter Schels, whose lifelike cat portraits have decorated Burch’s LA store and a collection of clothing. Model Emily Ratajkowski wore one of Burch’s cat T-shirts. Balenciaga has made kitsch “I love cats” T-shirts and hoodies. Givenchy’s northern autumn collection includes a silver dress beaded with a cat’s face; the house’s founder, Hubert de Givenchy, was a cat lover.
Feline fans are flaunting their pets’ faces on jewellery. Etsy stores abound that will etch your cat’s face on trinkets, and higher-end designers such as Irene Neuwirth and Cece Jewellery make precious pieces. When Gigi Hadid commissioned a ring for Swift featuring Benjamin Button (as well as secret messages about Swift’s boyfriend, Travis Kelce) from Cece Jewellery, the London designer’s business blew up.
“If anyone can make a cat cool, it’s Taylor Swift,” said brand founder Cece Fein-Hughes. “I feel like people are unashamed to say they’re cat owners, much more so now than previously,” she continued, adding that cats have now overtaken dogs as the most requested custom jewellery pieces.
Cat lovers are quick to note that felines have long been brag-worthy, since the Egyptian era when they’d be draped in jewels and mummified alongside their owners. While cat owners have certainly had some bad press, from rom-com heroines to the feral cats of 1975 documentary Grey Gardens, they’ve also had glamorous proponents such as Audrey Hepburn and Eartha Kitt. And cats have long been deemed fashion-forward, with designers such as Karl Lagerfeld and Rick Owens fetishising their felines, and creative director Grace Coddington collaborating with Louis Vuitton on cat-printed silk pyjamas.
“Cats are sexy,” says New York podcaster Eileen Kelly, who often preens with her black Persian cat, Chi Chi. “They’re elusive, independent, glamorous and low-maintenance.”
“There are so many strong independent women who aren’t afraid to be labelled as cat ladies,” she adds, saying that having a cat never impeded her dating life.
TyLynn Nguyen, a Los Angeles creative consultant, said she got her Bengal cat during a personal transition period because she found it to be “sensual and feminine”. Referencing Michelle Pfeiffer’s Catwoman portrayal, she said that she saw cats’ potential to bring out the wildness in women.’
Vance was not the only one to weaponise the idea of a lonely cat lady: A 2022 Vice News clip compiles the many times the cat lady trope was referenced on Fox News, by Matt Gaetz, Kellyanne Conway and others. In recent weeks, an endless stream of objection to the cat lady stereotype has flowed, even from conservative women Tomi Lahren and Meghan McCain. Vance did not respond to requests for comment.
Meanwhile, cat fans are taking the opportunity to put their own spin on the “childless cat ladies” controversy. A wave of “childless cat ladies for Kamala” merchandise has swept the internet, as well as popular memes such as a video of cats marching to vote.
“People should be proud of being a childless cat lady instead of being made to feel ashamed about it,” says Tracie Morrissey, a Brooklyn podcaster and writer with over 126,000 Instagram followers, who is selling a fitted T-shirt with a kitten that reads: “Childless cat lady for Kamala 2024.”
Morrissey said she saw the current reclamation of the term “cat lady” as akin to “when women were trying to take back the word ‘bitch’ as empowering and using that word in a way that wasn’t negative”.
The Kamala Harris campaign’s merch machine hasn’t caught up to the amateur market, with its plethora of “brat”, coconut and cat-themed items. But the cat ladies have spoken, and for now, they’re flocking to Etsy.
The Wall Street Journal
