Please Stop Putting Cats on Clothes

I love cats. For instance, real live cute felines like my friend Audrey Gelman’s ginger Persian-mix Lyle and Vogue's Thessaly La Force’s cuddly tabby Catberry. I also enjoy cat jokes: I follow @RealGrumpyCat on Twitter, and I’ve laughed out loud over LOLcats references ever since I Can Has Cheezburger was created in 2007 (I Can Has Prada Bagz?). I was even delighted to learn that Uber offered lovable kittens-for-hire (a fifteen-minute cuddle with a shelter cat) in honor of National Cat Day last week. But when it comes to putting cats on fashion—on bags, pants, necklaces and sweaters, headbands, rings, and loafers—I have a request: Please stop.

Now, for those cat lovers whose claws just came out, please turn your Maison Michel kitten ears this way and hear me out. We’ve now had over four years of fashion cat mania. It began on the spring 2010 runways, with a parade of arched backs and perky tails at Miu Miu. Those clothes were a conversation starter and compliment magnet: What are those on your dress? Cats? Aww! So cute! They were unexpected. They were intentionally cutesy, which made them funny. They flipped the notion of being a “cat lady” from something dumpy and lonely to a source of wit and pride. That moment of playing with expectations is what can make fashion interesting. But as we near the end of 2013, I’d like to argue that cats are an unrelenting trend. Talk about nine lives: Cats have outlived Burberry Prorsum’s owls, Balenciaga’s German shepherds, and even Givenchy’s raging rottweilers.

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They’ve even stood their ground through the whimsy desert of Philo-inspired Minimalism—and they don’t appear to be backing down. Markus Lupfer, Moschino Cheap and Chic, and BCBG Max Azria all have cats on sweaters; Marc by Marc Jacobs has a cat with little almond eyes on all kinds of product (the character even has a name: Rue Cat); Charlotte Olympia, Oscar de la Renta, and Forever 21 sell quirky kitty loafers; and Eugenia Kim, Marie Mercié, and Topshop have offered many variations of eared hats, from beanies to berets and bowlers. The cat-fashion population is so plentiful that I’m tempted to round up any egregious examples, put them in a burlap sack, and send them down the river. But I won’t. Instead, I propose a compromise: Once the Miu Miu cats in the house’s spring 2014 collection and Karl Lagerfeld’s cat accessories inspired by his kitty Choupette are all sold out, let’s take at least a one-season break. A cat nap, if you will.

Because the more we saturate the markets with cats, the less funny, cute, and unexpected they become. Cats become a cheap trick, an easy way to make a fashion statement. No one can ignore an animal’s face on a sweater, or little lace ears. They will say something nice. But, in the process, they may actually be overlooking whatever it is you really have to say. Take a break to find what other clothes and accessories represent your intelligence and humor. Be a cool cat—and chill.