Following Vogue’s decision to do a photoshoot with Triple Crown-winning racehorse American Pharoah, we take a look at the other equines that have graced fashion magazine pages…
Last week, fashion bible Vogue made the slightly unusual choice to do a photoshoot with a horse – American Pharoah (pictured), the first horse to win the US Triple Crown in 37 years. Shot by Steven Klein, famous for his highly stylised images of supermodels, the magazine immediately came under fire over the size of the horse. ‘Even horses have to be thin for your magazine now,’ ranted one angry social media-ite. Everyone’s a critic these days.
This isn’t the first time Vogue has featured horses within its covers. A lady riding side-saddle on a coloured horse graced the cover in September 1927, and supermodel Gisele Bundchen was photographed by Patrick Demarchelier galloping a coloured horse across the beach in Vogue US April 2010. More please, Vogue. And maybe a fashion shoot just using horses…
US style magazine Vanity Fair has had no less than 26 photoshoots featuring horses! In 1984, Sylvester Stallone got all dressed up in his best polo gear and posed for aboard polo pony Bo Peep – who looks less than impressed with having a mega-star on her back. Sly Stallone is an avid equestrian who does, in fact, play polo and has his own Palomino Quarter Horse, Step to the Bac Jar. Maybe Bo Peep was just worried she was Expendable…
The 'frontispiece' — or 'girls in pearls' — page in Country Life magazine has featured a number of leading riders in
In July 1999, Will Smith was photographed for Vanity Fair by legendary snapper Annie Liebovitz, galloping off over the desert on a black horse known as Spiffy. Trained by stunt coordinator Pat Larkin, Spiffy’s contract banned Will Smith from ‘getting jiggy with it’ at any point during their working relationship.
Inspired by Lady Godiva, supermodel Gisele Bundchen (yes, her again) posed nude on a white horse for Vanity Fair in January 2000. Well, if you’ve got it, flaunt it, as they say – and that really is one stunning horse.
Lord of the Rings actor Viggo Mortensen posed with a Shetland pony for the January 2004 edition of Vanity Fair. He may not have played a hobbit in the films, but he clearly feels that size doesn’t matter! A horse lover, Mortensen bought the beautiful Andalusian stallion called Florian that appears as elf Arwen’s horse Asfaloth in the Lord of the Rings films, and gifted it to Arwen’s stunt double, Jane Abbott, who’d totally fallen in love with him. (The horse. Not Mortensen. Although he sounds pretty adorable too.)
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Tatler had a fashion photoshoot called ‘Horsing Around’ in January 2014, using the stunt horses owned by The Stampede Stunt Company in Hemel Hempstead. No strangers to posing on command, the stunt horses modelled like pros against a pink backdrop and even posed with a pineapple. Fruity!
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Amanda Vlietstra is a freelance writer and editor who’s worked for a number of national magazines and websites. Having thrown herself back rural living with gusto since moving from London to Buckinghamshire in 2012, she juggles her horsey life with work and two small children. She claims to do dressage, but really just potters about having fun on her 14.2hh Belgian Warmblood mare, Roxy. She also enjoys a good gossip over a coffee in the tackroom!
