• Abstract and Figures
• Public Full-text

A LEAGUE OF HER OWN With a passion for excellence, world-class showjumper and Gucci ambassador Edwina Tops-Alexander shows courage goes a long way, as Elizabeth Colman discovers. PHOTOGRAPHS: HUGH STEWART he might be the number one female is gone. Here now is an elite international athlete at the top of her showjumping champion in the world, sport. We watch her, transfixed. The pair appear to move as one, but Edwina Tops-Alexander doesn’t look with perfect poise and grace. Seemingly in slow motion, they fly. like an equestrian superstar right now. The story of how Tops-Alexander, a middle-class girl from With a head full of rollers and half Turramurra, a northern Sydney suburb, arrived at this moment a coat of make-up, she is sitting cross-legged is one we all know. It stars a battling Australian who, with hard in a chair wearing a black Gucci jogging work, determination, spirit and humour, overcomes the odds. The tracksuit, one of the most achingly luxurious youngest of four, she learnt to ride on a neighbour’s horse. As a Sitems of clothing I’ve ever seen, and a pair of white Gucci sneakers child she made a token effort to contribute to the costs of her sport, with the brand’s signature green-and-red web. but it was the financial and moral support of her father Ian and She’s fiddling with her iPhone. “Have you seen the new Gucci her mother Jenny, who took her to practice, videotaped lessons app? It’s great, no?” she asks a publicist from Milan. Gucci is why and wiped away the tears when she fell short, that kept her going. we’ve come here, to the stables in the Dutch countryside where She recalls one heinous experience as a teenager in the mid- the 38-year-old Australian trains. Her sponsorship deal, which 1990s at Sydney’s Royal Easter Show when, before a crowd of comprised an exclusive wardrobe designed by the house’s creative 10,000 spectators, she stood in a dusty ring pleading with her director Frida Giannini and her own Gucci stallion to ride, has palomino horse, begging him to move. “He stopped before every evolved this year into the brand’s first full equestrian line. jump. I could see the funny side but I was humiliated,” she recalls. The clothes are laid out nearby: dress shirts in delicate hues Things hadn’t been going well for a while. One trainer had with equestrian collars, jackets with inimitable tailoring, sleek dropped her altogether. But the problem, sadly, was the horses. riding boots, little polo shirts and a velvet-covered riding helmet “As much as I loved them, they were useless. One would try to that draws an involuntary “Mummy, I want one!” from me. attack me when I’d get on it. Two people had to hold it. I was a bit For the collection, Giannini tells Vogue she consulted Tops- of a clown. I had lots of friends because I was funny; I would fall Alexander from “sketches to fittings and the final outfits”, as part off all the time and get back on with a smile on my face.” of her “extensive research”. “[We] set out to develop a wardrobe Behind the smile, however, she was tormented. She felt that her that would be fashionable yet technically functional,” she says. parents were “wasting” their money. Yet they decided to give her Tops-Alexander is dogmatic about women maintaining their another chance and invested in some decent horses. Their gamble femininity in her sport, not least because she believes they are paid off: she started winning again. At 21, the year she finished often better riders. “I think horses sense the nurturing attitude,” university, she won the Australian Young Riders championship. she says. “Frida has fitted that to her design; using materials that Three and a half years later she was in Europe. always look elegant and sporty and, at the same time, traditional.” Yet this was only the beginning. Picture a ruddy Australian In high school, she had a dual passion for horses and fashion with no fortune, few contacts and just a single horse, attempting design. And so did Giannini. Says Tops-Alexander: “I loved to break into a sport dominated by aristocrats, royals and the fashion, and I loved horses … my problem was I couldn’t draw.” world’s most distinguished “horsey” families on their home turf. Giannini’s problem was time: “I rode as a child and competed in “You see, in Europe the breeding programmes have been going events, but showjumping is a demanding sport. So I had to choose on for hundreds of years. It takes a long time to build that empire. between my career and horseriding, and you can see which won.” We’re a new country and that’s the main reason why, with a small An hour later Tops-Alexander, with flawless hair and make-up, population as well, we’re behind.” is in the saddle cantering around a sandy ring with her stallion Europe almost broke her. Mixed success in the sport and in her Guccio, named after Guccio Gucci, the founder of the Florentine attempts at a horse-dealing business, plus a bad break-up with fashion house. It is difficult to say who is more elegant: Tops- a UK boyfriend, nearly drove her home. Yet she stayed, redoubled Edwina Tops-Alexander Alexander in her spotless white jodhpurs or Guccio in his charcoal her efforts, qualified for the Australian team in the 2002 World wears an exclusive wool saddle blanket with Gucci house crest. Equestrian Games in Jerez, Spain, and, although they came 13th, equestrian wardrobe designed by Frida Giannini. It is not, however, difficult to tell who is in control. Her chin caught the eye of Dutch riding figurehead and Barcelona Olympics ▲ FASHION EDITOR: EMMA ELWICK-BATEs hAIR AND MAKE-UP: CAROL MORLEY up, a steely glint in her eye, the girlie blonde in the make-up chair gold medallist Jan Tops. The pair started dating soon after. 219 Wearing a tight pink polo and jean-jodphurs that show off her trim, petite figure, Tops-Alexander is relaxing now on a leather sofa in the stables’ glass-fronted reception. These are no ordinary stables; rather, this is one of Europe’s most renowned equestrian centres, with immaculate lawns and topiary, an in-house vet, indoor rings and even horse solariums. The place belongs to Jan. Under his guidance, her career blossomed. He trained her relentlessly and introduced her to champion horses, whom she would charm into submission, culminating in her “magic” chestnut gelding Itot du Château, a partnership that secured her victory in last year’s Global Champions Tour, when she became the first rider ever to win €1 million in prize money. On the coffee table next to us is a book she has written about her adventures on the circuit. It has a preface by Charlotte Casiraghi, daughter of Caroline, Princess of Hanover, who writes: “Impossible to “I was fascinated mention Edwina without speaking of Itot du Château. This little horse has now become mythical alongside his rider.” by Edwina’s The two women, now close friends, first met when Casiraghi came to Tops’s centre to pursue her passion for riding. They began determination and competing together as a team. Casiraghi writes: “I … was immediately fascinated by [Edwina’s] determination and steadfast courage in competition. Her fighter’s attitude won me over.” steadfast courage When Tops-Alexander married Tops in September 2011 in a lavish wedding at the Hôtel de Paris in Monte Carlo, Casiraghi in competition. Her was maid of honour. Princess Caroline was a guest. And it was the Casiraghis who introduced Tops-Alexander to Giannini. fighter’s attitude The Gucci partnership makes sense. The house has drawn from the equestrian world since it launched in 1921 and later won me over” branched out from luggage to leisure gear for the international jet – Charlotte Casiraghi set. Its horse-bit motif is its most famous design and the Gucci Paris Masters is one of showjumping’s most prestigious meets. Giannini has made her mark at the brand by drawing on this kind of heritage. “This season I took inspiration from the world of riding for both the ready-to-wear and the accessories,” she says. “For the silhouette, this meant working with equestrian-style pants and flat riding boots. Also with handbags, for example, the soft stirrup bag with spur closure. Both the stirrup shape and the spur had come from Gucci’s archives, but this season we worked with new proportions for a very contemporary interpretation.” While Casiraghi, fourth in line for the throne of Monaco, was already a face of Gucci, as her grandmother Grace Kelly had been, she only competes in equestrian events as an amateur. Signing the pro Tops-Alexander in 2011 was, says Giannini, “an honour”. For such a fighter, missing out on a medal at the London Olympic Games this year was painful. “Of course, I was absolutely disappointed. It’s a prestigious award and it’s an award that every athlete would like to win, and I’ve still got that goal,” she says. She muses on whether she would have had more success taking Guccio into the ring rather than Itot. In any event, the failure to live up to expectations provides the sort of motivation that she thrives on. “It’s good to give yourself a kick. I’ll have to keep going for Rio, although Itot is too old for that.” Fortunately, riders don’t appear to have use-by dates.

Load more

  2

Copy Link