Talk about a grand entrance.
On Tuesday, Chanel staged its spring/summer 2022 haute couture show at the Grand Palais Éphémère with a surprising start: Charlotte Casiraghi, Grace Kelly’s granddaughter, took a ride around the runway on horseback.
An accomplished equestrian, the 35-year-old Monaco socialite and model trotted down the catwalk on a beautiful bay, and wore a sparkling black tweed Chanel jacket with riding pants and boots.
Casiraghi was named a brand ambassador in 2020, and even wore Chanel at her 2019 wedding to Dimitri Rassam.
The steed made as much of a splash as the fashion, with one fan pointing out that the French house closed its last couture show with a bride on horseback, bringing the two collections into dialogue.
Others, however, decried the use of the animal in a commercial setting. “So tacky and unnecessary to use animals in parades!” one commented on Chanel’s Instagram. “How unnecessary is it to have a horse walk a catwalk? Just for the attendees entertainment? #animalabuse,” another wrote.
Sitting front row to watch the spectacle were various celebrities and fashion elite, including Anna Wintour, Pharrell, Margot Robbie, Sofia Coppola and more.