Recently I decided to revisit a childhood favourite from 1987. Catmopolitan was a feline-focused parody of the single-girl bible, Cosmopolitan, written by Ilene Hochberg. Just over forty years later, it’s possibly even more delightful. It delivers from the off, with tantalising coverlines, ‘Catatonic Catastrophe! Catnip – The Drug Problem’ and ‘Jackie Collars Sharpens Her Claws in Her New Novel Hollywood Housecats’. The advertisements, editorials and features in Catmo are all flawless translations of Helen Gurley Brown’s iconic publication. It was obvious that it had been put together by someone not just with in-depth knowledge of the fashion and media industries, but the ability to replicate it; and well before the age of digital photography and Photoshop. I was intrigued.
A little digging revealed that the author Ilene Hochberg had published her first book, Dogue, in 1986, followed by Catmopolitan and, eventually, Vanity Fur in 1988. All three are perfect period pieces of fashion media history, and Hochberg generously agreed to revisit them with me and share her creative process alongside some gold-dust eighties New York fashion gossip.
It was no surprise to hear native New Yorker Hochberg has always loved fashion. She was gifted a red Bonnie Cashin handbag at age nine by her mother and would spend hours designing and sewing avant-garde wardrobes for her Barbies. When she started Cornell University in 1972, her art deco jewellery and vintage wardrobe set her apart from the preppy coeds, but impressed the New York fashion crowd. On her mother’s advice, she turned down an offer from Pat Ast to go work at Halston, graduating with a degree in design in 1976. She worked as a fashion visual merchandiser and buyer for high-end department stores like Macy’s and Lord and Taylor. Despite loving the work, the gruelling hours took their toll, and with the support of her new husband Irwin, the owner of a company that manufactured shop fittings, started her own business in 1984. Looking to fill a niche for stylish dog clothes (Imagine a time when they didn’t exist!), she started Dogwear. Perfect for those looking to purchase a handknit sweater or mini mink for their pets.
As an advertising tactic, she put together a four-page mail-out titled DogWear Daily, in the style of stalwart Women’s Wear Daily. After the overwhelming response, Hochberg decided to investigate making a fashion magazine for dogs (and their owners). A one-off book skirted any legal issues, and Dogue was born.
It was the ideal project; combining her love for fashion and animals while drawing on her retail and marketing experience. Devising a system, she spent a year painstakingly replicating the original magazine. She did all the writing and layouts, sourcing out photography to seasoned pros Peter Serra and Hank Londoner.
‘I worked from my kitchen table in my then NYC apartment, armed with a stack of recent issues of Vogue, plastic page covers, a large three-ring binder, a handful of pens, yellow-lined legal pads, scissors and a roll of tape…tearing out essential content like the masthead and table of contents. Each essential page went into a ring binder in the same order. For each page, and each article, I carefully analyzed content down to the tone of voice of each columnist and contributor, creating dog-based articles that read like the originals.’
Not only did she write every word, but she made the mockups of the products used in the ads. ‘In a time before the magic of Photoshop, I had to create my own facsimiles of original brand-named products and props. This meant that for every parody ad, I had to buy the actual product and either paint new labeling to resemble the original or use LetraPress stick or rub-on letters to alter packages and brand names.’
After the mockup was done, Hochberg spent a year toting it to publishers who didn’t bite. Ultimately, it would be a lucky meeting at a Christmas dinner with Martin Greif and Lawrence Grow from Main Street Press that got Dogue on the shelves. It was followed in November 1987 by Catmopolitan, which sold over 750,000 copies and spent nine weeks on the New York Times paperback bestsellers list, and finally Vanity Fur in 1988.
All three share the same inherent fashion insight. It helped that Hochberg was fully immersed in the New York fashion scene; her best friend, the late artist and jewellery designer Philip Zowine, shared a flat with Michael Kors (Hochberg helped him prepare for his first fashion show). Another close friend was makeup impresario Akira Mitani, whose cat Snow was photographed by Francesco Scavullo for Catmo. The fashion crowd loved it.
‘My publisher was so excited when Bill Blass bought a lot of copies [of Dogue] to give out at his fashion show, and to friends. When I later wrote Vanity Fur, and included a story about designers and their pets, every designer I asked to participate said yes. That included Michael Kors and his cat, Max, Bill Blass, Yves St. Laurent, Valentino, Geofffey Beene, Carolina Herrera, Adolfo, Carolyne Roehm, Norma Kamali, and Cathy Hardwick, who was especially memorable as I made all the arrangements to visit with her and her toy poodles, Chanel and Lucy, through her handsome and charming assistant, with whom I spent the afternoon, Tom. As in TOM FORD!!!’
It was a hit with the editors, too. One of Bill Blass’ copies was gifted to Grace Mirabella, editor of Vogue, who loved it. Helen Gurley Brown (founder and then editor of Cosmopolitan) mailed Hochberg a congratulatory letter, and Tina Brown, the Vanity Fair editor, sent Hochberg an enormous bouquet of flowers.
For a fashion history enthusiast, these publications are such a gift. The references span from the obvious (Yves Saint Bernard and Ruff Lauren) to the niche (Debruff Turbeville and Koos Van der Arfer). They are a perfect time capsule, with takes on ads for now-defunct brands, such as Ultima II, Prescriptives and Pizazz.
Writing the books kept Ilene busy; besides the obvious book tours, she worked with the Humane Society, appeared in Elle and House Beautiful, and adapted several of her DogWear items into sewing patterns for Simplicity and McCall’s. She has written 10 books in total, with her latest PURSEonality (2026) detailing her journey creating an archive of over 8,000 historic handbags. The collection itself is set for big changes, which I’ll be revealing in my next piece.
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