PARIS - French fashion house Chanel shook up conventions by sending a horse out onto the catwalk at its Haute Couture show in Paris on Tuesday (Jan 25).

The animal was ridden by Charlotte Casiraghi, a niece of Prince Albert of Monaco and a competitive showjumper who is also a Chanel brand ambassador.

Wearing a Chanel jacket made of black tweed and decorated with sequins, Casiraghi rode out at the start of the show, cantering several times around a catwalk designed to resemble a horse training ring.

The rest of the models — this time on foot — came out onto the catwalk afterwards.

The show, at the Grand Palais Ephemere, an exhibition and performance space in Paris, was conceived by Virginie Viard, who became Chanel's creative director in 2019 following the death of haute couture icon Karl Lagerfeld.