Catsparella: from the vault

Showing posts with label from the vault. Show all posts

Wednesday, February 20, 2013

White House Black Market: "9 Lives Of The Little Black Dress"

I was recently going through some old folders in my desk, and came across a White House Black Market catalog that I've been hoarding away since 2009.

The combination of cats and fashion has always been intriguing to me, and while I don't necessarily advocate felines as fashion accessories, it can't be denied that they add a touch of glamour to any outfit. A lot has been written recently about the rise in popularity of cats in the fashion world, and I think it has a lot to do with the natural, effortless beauty they possess.

The concept of the White House Black Market photo shoot was "9 Lives of the Little Black Dress," and what better way to bring it to life then with black and white kitties? The featured looks may be out of style, but the cats themselves are timeless.

Thursday, April 12, 2012

1950s Ethicon Suture Cat-a-log

My dad recently came across this cool/bizarre find at a book sale: A 1950s "Cat-a-log" distributed by Ethicon Suture Laboratories, Inc., that proves long before the days of LOLcats, people were still obsessed with anthropomorphizing our feline friends.

What is an Ethicon cat-a-log you ask? I'll let the introductory page do the explaining:

This is an unblushing "me too" booklet. The current epidemic of picture books prompted us to get in the act with one of our own, relating to fields of mutual interest - nurses, doctors, and their patients.

As to cats, we owe the name, at least, a salute. The larger percent of our business is in supplying with catgut - an age old misnomer for surgical gut made of sheep intestines. Further, we are happy that cats are not the source of this essential suture material, for many of us are fond of the beautiful little creatures.

Most of the captions are written by "our friends in the nursing profession," while the photographs were captured by Walter Chandoha, "a photographer who specializes in cats."

The black and white booklet - which apparently saw hundreds of thousands of printings throughout the 50s - is around 20 pages long. I've shared a few scans here, and if there's interest, I'll post the rest!