Bold gallops in style for the Year of the Horse
The horse is one of the most dynamic animals in the Chinese zodiac—bold, intelligent and forever moving—making 2026 an exciting year for style. It is also one of the most glamorous, so much so that Manolo Blahnik remarked, “The horse is more chic than the woman riding it,” when he saw the Velázquez portrait of Queen Margarita of Austria on horseback at the Museo del Prado.
The horse’s innate elegance makes it an enduring influence in fashion, embedded in logos, house codes and the histories of luxury houses that perennially mine the equine motif and their equestrian heritage. Not surprisingly, they have gone all out to create special collections for this lunar year.
In the Philippines’ Chinatown, horse hunting already started at the end of 2025, when shops were doing brisk sales of horse figurines and jewelry. Designers were also busy creating couture pieces in the lucky colors of vermilion red, emerald green and gold to balance energy, promote health and attract prosperity.
The horse-drawn kalesa, once ubiquitous in the streets of Manila, Vigan, Tuguegarao and Cebu, is a beloved Filipino icon that appears in clothing and accessories.
Horses were introduced by the Spaniards in the 16th century, making equestrianism a symbol of status and wealth in the archipelago. A source of fascination, they were incorporated into tribal art, such as the horse blanket of the Itneg from Abra and the silam kabayo motif of the three-paneled pinilian blanket of the Kalinga. The stately rigodon de honor dance in Pampanga was performed on horseback.
The juego de anillo was the earliest horse sport adopted at fiestas in Cabanatuan and Nueva Ecija, as well as in Muslim provinces, where a group of horseback riders use sticks to pull off a ring hung on bamboo poles. The Manila Jockey Club, established in 1867, is the first horse racing club in Southeast Asia, with its first races running from San Sebastian Church to Quiapo Church.
Horseback riding was largely dominated by men, particularly in the caballería (colonial cavalry), but women among the principalia engaged in leisure riding as well as traveling on horseback in rural areas. Nineteenth-century paintings and prints depict these riding women wearing their finery, including hats with plumes.
In the West, the 16th and 17th centuries saw the rise of horseback riding as a popular pastime of the elite, which led to the development of specialized clothing and accessories. These evolved further in the 18th and 19th centuries, as riding jackets became more tailored with distinctive elements like high collars, brass buttons and tapered waists, often worn with jodhpurs or riding breeches. Together with riding boots and helmets, these items also influenced fashion beyond the riding fields.
Luxury handbags like the Hermès Birkin and the Gucci Jackie bag were both inspired by equestrian gear. The former originated from the design of the Haut à Courroies, created in 1892 to carry saddles, boots and riding accessories, with a sturdy structure, belted closures and double handles. The latter, originally introduced in the 1950s and renamed after Jackie Kennedy in the 1960s, has an equestrian-inspired silhouette adorned with the red-and-green Web stripe—a reinterpretation of the girth strap that holds a horse’s saddle in place—together with a horseshoe-shaped clasp.
The equestrian world, of course, is ever-present in jewelry, from necklaces, bracelets and earrings featuring horse-inspired designs to pieces with horse bits, which are also a signature detail in shoes and bags.
The inspiration even penetrates the intangible realm of scent, evoking rides in the countryside—as Chanel’s Cuir de Russie recalls the smell of a horse’s neck after a ride, and Carolina Herrera’s Stallion Leather Suede, with its notes of smoky leather and spices, brings back memories of her Arabian horse.
Equestrian codes have proven timeless because they are deeply ingrained in the DNA of the world’s leading houses. Guccio Gucci, who worked as a porter at the Savoy Hotel in London, never forgot the stylish riding gear and luggage of the aristocratic guests—the stuff of his dreams that provided the foundation for the House of Gucci when he established it in Florence in 1921.
Coco Chanel’s exposure to horse racing and polo, particularly through her relationships with Étienne Balsan and Arthur “Boy” Capel, prompted her to incorporate riding breeches, jodhpurs, tailored jackets and comfortable jersey fabrics into her functional, masculine-influenced design aesthetic. The quilting on the Chanel 2.55 bag, introduced in 1955, was actually replicated from the jackets and blankets worn by stable boys and jockeys at the races.
Chanel’s rival, Elsa Schiaparelli, blended equestrian themes with her signature surrealist and circus-inspired pieces, such as her 1937 collection featuring buttons cast with a naïve relief of an Etruscan horse and the Chevaux Savants bolero with horses embroidered by Lesage.
The house’s present creative director, Daniel Roseberry, has brought the horse into the 21st century with his striking saddle corsets and shoulder panels mimicking miniature saddles, blending the “horse girl” aesthetic with high-fashion armor silhouettes. They are bold and forward-looking, speaking of strength and survival—all the qualities one needs today to gallop into the Year of the Horse and make it successfully to the finish line in 2027.