Her trademark hair is thick, glossy and silky smooth. Her sapphire blue eyes are piercing and stare icily ahead making little effort to disguise the contempt she feels for all before her.
The lady in question is Choupette, the moody French sensation taking the modelling world by storm and who, last year, clawed in over £2 million in fees, outstripping the earnings of bushy-eyebrowed supermodel-of-the-moment Cara Delevingne.
Designer Karl Lagerfeld says: ‘She is the centre of the world, when you see her you understand. She is kind of Greta Garbo. It’s the way she moves, the way she plays. There’s something unforgettable about her. She is an inspiration for elegance.’ But this starlet who has bewitched the creative director of fashion house Chanel is no leggy clothes horse, in fact her legs — all four of them — are on the short side. For Choupette is a three-year-old Birman cat and the pride, joy, and slightly disturbing obsession, of Lagerfeld — or ‘Daddy’ as he calls himself when talking to his pet.
Choupette is so famous she has notched up over 100,000 followers on Twitter and Instagram, boasts a Wikipedia entry and doesn’t get out of her bed for less than a million quid.
Her earnings came from just two jobs, one for Japanese cosmetics company Shu Uemura to whom she lent her name for a special capsule collection. The other was posing for German car brand Opel. In keeping with her first-class pedigree, Choupette would never promote cheap brands.
‘I don’t allow it, she’s far too sophisticated for that,’ sneers the pony-tailed Lagerfeld, who admits to being in love with his feline muse. ‘There is no marriage allowed between humans and animals,’ he said regretfully in an interview recently. ‘I never thought I would fall in love with a cat.’
Choupette and the Chanel chief are rarely apart, living, eating and sleeping together with their respective entourages trailing in their wake. Yes, Choupette has her own six-strong team at her beck and call whether they’re catering for her very faddy diet, stocking up on her favourite beauty products or just tickling her furry tummy.
While most moggies start their day with a tin of supermarket pet food, Choupette’s tastes are a little more refined. She’s not so much the cat who got the cream as the cat who got the bespoke mineral water, specially blended for her using a cocktail of Swiss, Swedish, British and German water by Le Water Bar Colette in Paris.
Let me eat cake - as that other famous French glamour puss, Marie Antoinette, almost said
I travel in style and I refuse to go anywhere unless it's in this £1,660 Louis Vuitton pet carrier
She doesn’t demean herself by eating her food from the floor but dines perched on the table beside her Daddy. When it comes to her diet she laughs in the face of Whiskas and Felix. All her food is prepared by her personal chef Patrice who creates several dishes at a time including liver pate, chicken and asparagus and fresh fish.
All morsels are served in her favourite silver dishes made for her by French luxury goods company Goyard.
When not dining at home Choupette likes to eat in some of the finest eateries. Restaurants in Paris aren’t exactly known for welcoming humans with open arms, let alone animals, but when you’re a superstar like Choupette, escorted by the head of France’s most iconic fashion house, then no maitre d’ is going to tell you to ‘casse toi’ (get lost).
Flicking through the apps on my iPad keeps me entertained on my private jet, before a little catnap on the pilot's lap
The famous La Voltaire retaurant on the banks of the Seine will prepare a special ‘Choupette’s Eggs’ dish for their fussy feline diner, a concotion of chopped boiled eggs infused with fresh mint. Over at Cafe De Flore they offer Croquettes a la Choupette (potato croquettes with minced beef).
The one thing her personal vet Madame Horn has put her foot down about, however, is her penchant for beluga caviar. No, it’s not the extortionate price (as if), rather the fact it’s far too high in salt and fat. Besides, a girl needs to watch her weight and Choupette likes to stay at a trim 7lb 11oz.
Perhaps the extraordinary thing about Choupette is that, strictly speaking, she was stolen — catnapped — by Lagerfeld who was only meant to look after her for her a fortnight as a favour to her original owner, French model Baptiste Giabiconi.
When Baptiste returned from his skiing trip he was told that Karl had taken such a shine to his kitty that he wouldn’t be handing her back. Given that Baptiste was the male face of Chanel, he was hardly going to argue with the boss.
I told my Twitter followers: 'The French don't need to bathe so much, that's what perfume is for, oui? Lagerfeld perfume, naturally
This is me promoting Opel cars. It was exhausting work but I must say the money was rather good
Since then Choupette has published an autobiography — a glossy 128-page coffee table affair called The Private Life of A High-Flying Fashion Cat in which her two personal maids Francoise and Marjorie (one for day, one for night, darling) regale us with details of her fabulous life.
It was in the book that we learned Choupette (who Lagerfeld claims: ‘is like a woman spoiled to death’) travels everywhere by private jet. She likes to curl up in the lap of the pilot for the duration of the flight or (I kid you not) entertain herself flicking through pages on her personal iPad.
Choupette likes to summer in Provence and splits the rest of the time between Paris, New York and Monte Carlo. She’s backstage when her Daddy exhibits his new collections but snubs the after-show bashes. ‘She’s not a party animal,’ says Lagerfeld. ‘She likes her sleep.’ And, just like Daddy, Choupette hates to be around children.
It’s the job of maids to pack her custom-made Louis Vuitton trunks for her trips away and be sure to include her array of beauty and grooming products, including eye drops and brushes and oils for her fur which is combed every day — no fur balls.
With so much effort put into her looks, it’s no wonder Choupette has already graced the cover of Vogue on two occasions. In December 2014 she featured on the front of Brazilian Vogue in the arms of model Gisele Bundchen and, back in July 2013, she snuggled up to Linda Evangelista on the cover of German Vogue.
This is the bed I share with my fashion designer 'Daddy.' We both love antique French lace
The fashion designer said of Choupette, 'It’s all in the eyes, the eyes, the eyes . . . it’s how she communicates’
It must be said that Choupette has only one look but, according to Karl, that doesn’t matter: ‘It’s all in the eyes, the eyes, the eyes . . . it’s how she communicates.’
Lagerfeld has already designed a range of accessories (Monster Choupette) in his pet’s honour. Items in the collection include socks for £25, a keyring for £90 and £300 shopping bags, all adorned with a white cat motif. He’s not saying what’s next in the pipleine for his ‘moody little princess’, but one thing’s for sure, when it comes to glamour pusses they don’t come any bigger — or richer — than this one.
