Ticket Stubs: feline fashion, Arthur Russell's return and Clones Film Fest

With so many of this season’s fashions being heavily cat-inspired, you’d be forgiven for thinking that they were designed by felines themselves.

You’d also be correct, because they were. Designer Karl Lagerfeld (above) has been prowling around promoting the release of his kitty’s new cosmetic line for make-up brand Chu Umera. Lagerfeld cat Choupette (French for “don’t ask me, I’m just a cat”) is the innovator behind the world’s most redundant contribution to fashion – superficially, a cross between animal-tested cosmetics and bare-faced idiocy, two standards that today’s high-end labels would be nowhere without.

And Choupette’s not the only one clawing her way in to the industry. Katy Perry’s new Prism line for Claire’s Accessories may as well have been designed by the pop star’s alter-ego Kitty Purry.

Superfluous cat ears and diamond-studded hairballs predominate – this is a collection that could never have been conceived by a creature with opposable thumbs. That can be the only explanation for such an explosive concentration of cuteness in just one bracelet.

Ivo Nikkolo, meanwhile, is another top designer who’s been trying her paw at the furry trend. “The Cat collection” is a promising new lookbook for everyone who’s ever dreamed of capturing that tufty, dishevelled feline image. Fans of the collection can choose from a myriad of styles, ranging from “Just in from the rain Cat” and “Just out of a fight Cat” to the classic “Cat in heat”. Who says fashion’s gone to the dogs?

EMILY LONGWORTH

RUSELL MAKES A RED HOT RETURN

It may be time for an Arthur Russell revival.

Master Mix: 

Red Hot + Arthur Russel

l is the latest album in the Red Hot series and features Hot Chip, Sufjan Stevens, Robyn, Glen Hansard, José González, Blood Orange and others performing Russell’s tunes.

Russell was the wide-eyed, classically trained kid from Iowa who became a leading figure in New York’s downtown experimental and disco scenes. While he worked with Talking Heads, Philip Glass, Allen Ginsberg and many more, what makes him so fascinating is that his work crossed so many boundaries.

Search his back-catalogue and you’ll find fine examples of avant-garde classical,  early house and disco and spine-tingling folk music. You can be sure acts such as LCD Soundsystem, Owen Pallett, Antony & The Johnsons and Panda Bear have lent an ear over the years to his work

Unheralded

One of the reasons why Russell has remained so unheralded is that most of his work only came to public notice after his death from Aids in 1992 at the age of 40. A prolific musician in the studio who left behind reels of music, Russell wasn’t great at actually finishing the work. Only one album, World Of Echo (1986), was released while he was alive and that sounded nothing like the music he was associated with up to that point. Rough Trade reissued the album in 2005, but that did little to expand his fame.

But there have been several documents about Russell of late to cast some more light on his music and legacy. Matt Wolf’s Wild Combination: A Portrait of Arthur Russell (2008) documentary and Tim Lawrence’s Hold On To Your Dreams biography a year later have given fans valuable insights into his life and now comes the Red Hot tribute.

For a man viewed as out of time when he was alive, it seems now that Russell was simply ahead of his time.

It’s not Star Wars; It’s a film festival

How the good people at the Clones Film Festival must tire of references to Star Wars: Episode II. Oh well. Once again, the October bank holiday looms and it is time to welcome another edition. Yes, it’s Attack of the Clones. The event has been buzzing since 2002 and is now among the leading film festivals in the region.

Events kicked off last night with Na Píobairí Uilleann, a documentary on the gathering of pipers that, in 1968, helped save the uilleann pipes from extinction.

Continuing till Sunday, the festival is, as ever, crammed with domestic releases, special events and screenings of recent features that may not, hitherto, have escaped the larger cities. In that last category, we find the rousing Pride, the thrilling ’71 and – subject of a mild tirade from Brendan O’Carroll when it received a better review than Mrs Brown – the moving Mexican picture The Golden Dream (pictured below).

Once again, Clones hosts a 48-hour Film Challenge that, as the name suggests, asks participants to knock together a film in just two days. The picture will then be eligible for a Francie, Monaghan’s more prestigious variation on the Oscar.

And make sure you check out Aoife McElwain (formerly of this parish), who’ll be hosting a screening of Babette’s Feast and talking about her food videos from forkful.tv. For more, see clonesfilmfestival.com.

DONALD CLARKE