CATTITUDE – How Do YOU Treat a Copy Cat?

You’ve been staring at her for well over an hour now. You are almost 100% certain of what you see. Just a few more minutes and your worst fears will be confirmed… yes. Crap. She’s gone and committed the worst faux pas any self-respecting lady would shiver at. She’s wearing your dress. The very same one you bought in a Topshop spree last week. Not. Cool.

Copy catting like this is not uncommon, to prove this, we’ve dug up a whole online collection of copy cats for you, littered with opportunities for the hisses and heckles of a flared up case of Cattitude:

But once your lip starts to curl and you begin to bolt down that mental path of convincing yourself the stupid dress looks thrice as stunning on YOU, and her hip muffins are way too obvious in YOUR dress, she just can’t pull it off… that’s the claws of your Cattitude coming out in all their ugly, insecure glory!

Naturally, when the copy cat situation first comes to light, you will behave awkwardly. You will try to portray that the double dress scenario doesn’t bother you. Make a quick joke. Point and laugh. Mutter something sarcastic. Some women will even walk up to the offender and through giggles yell ‘Twinsies!’, but we do not recommend such social vulgarity. All these reactions simply draw attention to the fact that this accidental double dip in the wardrobe of life is eating away at you.

Every extra moment you spend in this style of comparative thinking convinces yourself, and dangerously those around you, that you both look like the two sprats out of Parent Trap. You’re living the life of the Olsens. Even, in more severe cases, that you are both female incarnations of Jedward. It is only a matter of time before surrounding parties catch on to the drama unfolding. It is imperative, in any mirror-image public display, that you act swiftly.

Luckily, Janes has the perfect solution for you…

Tried and tested, we have uncovered a sustainable solution to overcoming Cattitude in social and professional settings. As comparing yourself to the dual-dressed shewolf is only going to lure you further into a hellish field of thoughts, we need you to take a tip from The Killers and look on the bright side.

Firstly – you and your green face are not alone! Thousands of women across the UK suffer from frequent Cattitude and its fallout. Some, sadly, are not even aware of it. We know these as ‘bitches’. Thinking on the flipside of ‘she’s a dirty, copy-catting so-and-so’ offers an opportunity to draw a compliment from this obvious fashion fudge-up. Actually, when you think about it, the fact that you sacrificed precious time with your family to search shop after shop for THAT special dress, and gave up solid food for 2 weeks to fit into it, eventually having to sell Monsieur Pusskin to make up the extra cash to eventually buy THAT dress is, well, sort of funny. In fact, the chance of someone else wearing the very same outfit is so unbelievably small that you could look at it as down right hilarious!

So laugh. If you get a chance to speak to the poor girl (who is probably freaking and catting-about in her own head) tell her that you both obviously have brilliant taste, and you’re going to take it as a hint at your fashionista side. What’s more, we encourage you to learn how to use any awkward clothes combo to your advantage, like so:

Same blouse at that networking function? Approach and whisper to her that ‘great minds think alike’ and hand over your business card. Super suave and she’ll be intrigued into doing business with you.

Same goggle eyed glasses frames as your best mate? Tell her that combined you now both have eight eyes and are henceforth to be known as ‘Spider Girls’. Optional: create a Facebook page for it, matching spidey necklaces and collect dead spiders in a jar to present to her. She’ll have a contact lens session booked at Specsavers before you can say ‘green goblin’. Don’t forget to say thanks to our good friend, reverse psychology.

So the simple answer to approaching a copy cat is – throw your Cattitude outside and replace it with a fresh, new, way cuter and cuddlier sense of Gratitude. It’s a huge compliment that another chick has seen your style, admired and been inspired to mimic it herself. She is no copy cat, but rather, your biggest fan.