It's Sunday, time to relax and have some hoofcare- or lameness-related humor. This week our humor comes from South America: what happens when the worlds of polo and fashion collide below the hock in Argentina?
I have to thank my friend Molly Knott of DappledGrey.com out in Oregon for that video. If you are interested in equestrian fashion or know anyone who is, Molly's web site is the place to find out about the newest and most stylish English gear and clothing for horses and humans.
The polo wrap boots from the video are an actual item--they really are for sale! What's more, they are a fundraiser for Ethiopian children with the foot disease Podoconiosis, an infection caused by a fungus in the soil there.
And from the runways of European fashion boots come hoof boots for humans, all part of the hot new equestrian look. Christian Dior last week showed models in veiled hats and side-saddle attire, and here we have boots that make women's feet and legs look like hooves, with just little black bases sticking out at the bottom.
Wait, there's more! I made a new friend this fall, San Francisco fashion designer Trace Cohen of Bind. Trace was interested in farrier aprons.He added both a farrier apron and a tanner's apron to his line of super-hip men's clothing, so if you're walking around New York or LA or Milan and see someone walking down the sidewalk wearing a farrier apron...it might just be an expression of high fashion, not a horseshoer. The high-fashion farrier aprons come in black for winter.
Do you think that New England deep-winter barn clothes will ever have a high-fashion value? Two fashion shoots I've often thought someone should do were women from Maine in their favorite barn clothes and (more seriously) Saratoga's early-a.m. exercise rider colony, who have quite a style all their own.
That wraps up the fashion report, I hope it made you smile! It's all true!
© Fran Jurga and Hoofcare Publishing. Please, no use without permission. You only need to ask. Fran Jurga's Hoof Blog is a between-issues news service for subscribers to Hoofcare and Lameness Journal. This blog may be read online at the blog page, checked via RSS feed, or received via a digest-type email (requires signup in box at top right of blog page). To subscribe to Hoofcare and Lameness (the journal), please visit the main site, www.hoofcare.com, where many educational products and media related to equine lameness and hoof science can be found. Questions or problems with this blog? Send email to blog@hoofcare.com.
