Finally, a Cat Mag for the Creative Class

photo courtesy of Puss Puss

Cats infest the internet like gremlins, filling every available empty space they can cram their furry little heads into; their virtual selves are as grumpy, impatient, and demanding as their IRL counterparts, insisting on your attention, your adoring gaze, your five minute YouTube break. While their longtime battle for worldwide domination has been thwarted over and over again by the superior branding of their bitter enemy, “man’s best friend,” felines long ago conquered the net, and are attempting to parlay that power once again into real world influence.

London is ground zero for the new cat offensive. Occupied with a flurry of new “cat cafés” like Lady Dinah’s Cat Emporium, no one even noticed the troops amassing on a new front altogether: print media. Maria Joudina-Robinson, art director and obvious cat puppet, has begun publishing Puss Puss, a magazine and art object full of beautiful pictures of cats and cat-dependent people, available at the Ace Hotel in London’s hip Shoreditch neighborhood. Puss Puss will translate the feline appeal to a younger, creative, more image-conscious set, attempting to do for the legacy of publications like Cat Fancy what Pitchfork did for traditional music mags like Rolling Stone, or like what Kinfolk did for classics like White Power Monthly.

A typical cat

The first issue features badass global favorite Ai Weiwei, who apparently boasts a Hemingway-level cat collection at his compound in Beijing. “This is their place,” he tells Puss Puss. Russian-Australian model and notable short person Anja Konstantinova graces the magazine’s cover, showing off a “Meow” tattoo inscribed on the inside of her lower lip. Other cat-related propaganda in the book includes pieces on celebricats like Lil’ Bub and Grumpy Cat, the fate of the stunning, but increasingly endangered clouded leopard, and a photo essay on some of London’s cleanest, most attractive, creative cat owners. Luckily for decent, god-fearing dog lovers everywhere, this publication is still only sold in various bookshops throughout the U.K. and Europe, but for those too cat-crazed to stand up to the impending feline apocalypse, Puss Puss can be purchased on the magazine’s site.