Valentino isn’t really known for cats: watch The Last Emperor, the documentary charting the final collection created by founder and namesake Valentino Garavani, and see his private jet-travelling cortège of five pug dogs – Milton, Molly, Margot, Maude, Monty – steal the show. In the 1980s, he started a secondary line not only named after one – his favourite, Oliver – but bearing a canine portrait woven into the label. Anyway, his successor Alessandro Michele is evidently a cat person, as his debut Valentino collection featured the Chat de la Maison – house cat, but a couture house cat at that, crafted into a minaudière with Furby-esque, heavily lidded eyes. Reminiscent of the tchotchkes and objets d’art that inspired Mr Valentino’s archival designs (although those were more likely to be Viennese Secessionist furniture or Delft pottery), this Chat has already spawned a whole array of associated Valentino accessories less than a year after its debut. The cat is truly out of the bag.
Le Chat de la Maison minaudiere by Valentino.
