“It’s A Celebration Of Everyone Living Together In Harmony”: Stella McCartney On Her Live Horse Show For A/W´23

Presented in the Manège de l’École Militaire, the Stella McCartney show featured seven white Camargue horses led by the horse whisperer Jean-François Pignon. Free from halters and bridles, they galloped around the 18th-century riding ring as models strode through the arena in front of them, while Pignon gently encouraged them to rear, run in circles and roll around in the sand. Their presence quite epically framed a collection that re-appropriated the codes of the hunting and military wardrobes through the animal-loving, vegan eyes of McCartney – with more than a few nods to her old Y2K collections for Chloé. Anders Christian Madsen spoke to her after the show.

Anders Christian Madsen: What came first, the horses or the collection?

Stella McCartney: “The collection came first. My mum’s and my sister’s photography and the relationship between my family and myself with horses, and all of our relationships with our fellow creatures. I wanted to try and make the connection. Because obviously there’s so much leather and feathers and fur on the runway, especially in winter, and I just wanted to show that you can do it in a different way. You don’t have to kill anything.”

ACM: How did Jean-François Pignon become involved?

SM: “I saw him many years ago in London at a horse show. I watched him against regalia and horse jumping and the magnificence of that side to equestrians, and then he came into the arena with these wild horses running around. These incredible trusting creatures. It blew me away. They are his wild horses. He doesn’t use any bridles or saddles. He’s a horse whisperer. They’re his pets. They’re his little babies. He’s a miracle.”

ACM: What made you want to focus on equestrianism?

SM: “It’s a big part of being British. And I have a farm in the country and there’s still a hunt next door. I want to make people aware that that’s still going on. Yes, they may not rip it to pieces with dogs, but they shoot the foxes. It’s just crazy to me. But it’s also beautiful: the tailoring, the bespoke work. As someone who studied that for many years, you can’t get away from it. The relationship between the man and the woman and the horse and nature. It’s this kind of pull and push, and I think there’s poetry at the centre of it all.”

ACM: How did you approach the collection?

SM: “It’s really just trying to get us all to connect and remember the reality that’s going on around us. And hopefully look really fucking great at the same time. We took the patterns of horse’s blankets. And there are very direct relationships: my mum’s photography and my sister’s photography. But I guess the main relationship is that they’re alive and the clothes haven’t killed anything. There’s a celebration of everyone living in harmony together.”

ACM: How are beliefs reflected in the collection?

SM: “This season, there’s an exclusive with MIRUM, which is a bio-based technology using rubber that’s completely biodegradable. No plastic. There were two bags with that because it’s such a new exclusive technology. We had the first Mylo mushroom mycelium bag in white. It might not seem that exciting, but actually in science it’s a big deal. We have the regenerative cotton again, in shirting this time, in very limited quantities for limited edition pieces. We had grape leather again, which comes from waste from the wine industry, and apple this season – the mock-croc Frayme bag was made out of apples. So, every time you’re eating an apple, you’re eating a handbag.”

ACM: How did Jean-François Pignon react to your idea?

SM: “He kept telling me in rehearsals, ‘Stella, you are a little bit crazy.’ With deep meaning in his eyes.”