Karl Lagerfeld Loves His Cat, Isn't Afraid to Tell Rihanna

Last night, New York Times fashion reporter John Koblin met up with Rihanna at a swanky party for designer Karl Lagerfeld. At the party, held in a $60 million apartment on the 83rd floor of a luxury skyscraper, Koblin and Rihanna had what, ostensibly, was meant to be an interview, but on the written page seemed more like a missing passage from a Lewis Carroll novel.

When Koblin asked Rihanna what she and Lagerfeld talked about while sitting next to each other at a high-priced dinner filled with celebrities, the following ensued:

“We were talking about his cat,” she said. “His cat. He loves, I know, that sounds. … “

She paused and stared.

“Is that normal?”

She was reassured that was perfectly normal.

“I thought it was normal,” she said. “I never thought he’d be showing me pictures of his cat. On his phone!”

What sort of cat was this?

“A white cat,” she said. “Beautiful.”

At this point, wine almost hitting the floor, there were a few too many questions about Karl Lagerfeld.

“Are you a fanatic?” she asked. “A Karl fanatic?”

No, just a cat fanatic.

“He’s supercool,” she said of her dinner seatmate, Mr. Lagerfeld. “He’s very real. He’s just talks about normal stuff.”