Fashion has always known how to steal a little attention, but adding an animal to the frame? Genius. Because really, who can resist a puppy in Louis Vuitton or a cheetah running alongside Naomi Campbell?
From adorable domestic companions to majestic wild creatures, animals bring something to fashion images that clothes simply can’t: a little unpredictability, a lot of charm and an instant dose of magic. Whether they’re curled up on a designer sofa or standing proudly beside a supermodel, they have a way of making an image impossible to scroll past.
When fashion needed a co-star with more attitude than any model, photographers reached for the closest thing to a dinosaur: the giant flightless bird.
Nadja Auermann lent herself with complete trust to photographer Seb Janiak’s most extravagant idea: bringing together extremes. Six assistants watched over this emu during the shoot — frightened by Janiak’s flashes, it constantly had to be restrained on set.
Long before any of this, David Bailey had already sensed the power of the pairing. His 1968 portrait of Catherine Deneuve for Vogue set her cool, sculptural profile against the curved neck of a flamingo; two elegant silhouettes caught mid-conversation.
Dolores Wettach strolls the shoreline in a plunging black maillot, leash in hand — her companion for the day being Ethel, a kangaroo, strutting alongside like it's the most natural thing in the world. Helmut Newton, ever the master of the deadpan surreal, turns a beach walk into one of fashion's most absurd, endlessly iconic images.
Veruschka and her cheetah, by Franco Rubartelli for Vogue, 1967. Snakeskin print, cat-eye liner, real cheetah draped across her shoulders — Veruschka practically dissolves into the animal she's posing with. It's peak '60s theatrical glamour, equal parts fashion editorial and fever dream.
Peter Beard's lens met destiny in Nairobi. The light, the gaze, the future — all captured in one frame. 1980 was when the wild beauty of Kenya framed a woman who would soon become one of fashion's most iconic faces, feeding giraffes, crouching low beside a watchful cheetah, standing calm among elephants on the plains she once called home.
This legendary photo by Richard Avedon of model Dovima first appeared in a 14-page spread on Paris fashion in the September 1955 issue of Harper’s Bazaar, where Avedon served as staff photographer from 1946 to 1965. Aptly titled ‘Dovima with Elephants’, it was shot at the Cirque d’Hiver in Paris. Avedon later recalled, “I saw the elephants under an enormous skylight… I had to find the right dress, and I knew there was potential here for a kind of dream image.” That dress? The very first design for Christian Dior by a 19-year-old Yves Saint Laurent. Talk about legends. The photo would later sell for $1,151,976 in 2010.
Naomi Campbell is one brave model. For Harper's Bazaar's September ‘09 issue, she went toe-to-toe with the animal kingdom in Cape Town, South Africa; crouching on the back of a crocodile, riding an elephant mid-spray, sprinting alongside a cheetah at full speed, and pausing only for a playful jump-rope session with a pair of baboons. French photographer Jean-Paul Goude (best known for his iconic 1980s work with Grace Jones) captured the whole surreal safari in a series titled "Wild Things."
In their editorial for Vogue India, photography duo Sofia Sanchez and Mauro Mongiello shot the relationship between a woman living the 70s dream and a monkey, in a California Modernist house.
In Tim Walker’s fantasy world, some animals are included, of course.
Impossible not to include Gucci's SS'17 campaign and its big cats. Shot by Glen Luchford around Rome — hotels, cafés, even the Trevi Fountain — the visuals mixed new model faces with a very casual lion, leopard, and tiger, all wandering Alessandro Michele's 70s-nightclub world like they lived there.
An alpaca, a leash, a plate of bananas, and Jon Gries in head-to-toe Jacquemus’ cricket whites because apparently that’s summer now.
And speaking of alpacas (sorry but), this one might be our favourite. A few years back, our Spring/Summer '24 ‘Cuzco’ campaign came together with Yiorgos Mavropoulos behind the film camera, and a herd of these beautiful, curious creatures stealing every frame.
Human's best friend, fashion's best co-star. It was only a matter of time before dogs claimed their spot in the most iconic shots. And what better place to start than a borzoi: sleek, aristocratic, practically born to stand next to couture. Helmut Newton clearly thought so too, for Anna Molinari's Blumarine campaign back in 1995.
In the same year, Steven Meisel photographed Madonna for Versace's Spring/Summer campaign in Palm Beach. Dogs were included, and just as camera-ready as she was. The shoot was a major moment for Gianni Versace’s brand, generating extensive media coverage and marking a cultural turning point. Featuring Madonna as the face of the Spring/Summer 1995 line enhanced the brand’s connection to celebrity culture.
A few years earlier, things had already turned a little wilder. Chris von Wangenheim's 1976 Dior campaign, "Fetching Is Your Dior," paired model Lisa Taylor with a doberman baring its teeth just inches from diamond rings and gold bracelets. Equal parts glamour and menace, it defined 1970s fashion photography: danger dressed up as desire, female power biting back.
If you're keeping count, here’s another doberman — fashion clearly has a type. Sleek, sharp-eared, and just menacing enough to make the styling look tougher.
Recently, for Louis Vuitton's Men's Spring/Summer 2026 Pre-Collection campaign, "loyal canine companion" did some heavy lifting - turns out five leashes and a tailored coat is the new definition of menswear ease.
Left the most adorable feline models for last. Calvin Klein, photographed by Irving Penn. Two women tangled up together on the floor, a kitten curled up between them like it's the most natural place in the world to nap.
"Hissey Miyake" — a black cat baring its teeth, draped in a crisp white coat like it just walked a runway. It's from Ilene Hochberg's 1988 book Vanity Fur, a satirical takedown of fashion ads with cats standing in for the models.
One is never enough, clearly. Cats on the ladder, cats on the floor, cats wherever there's space left. This is Tim Walker's Grey Gardens-inspired editorial with Karen Elson for American Vogue, borrowing its faded grandeur and cat-hoarding eccentricity straight from Edith Bouvier Beale.
Kristen McMenamy sprawled dramatically across a stark white sofa, black cats prowling around and over her like they own the set. The whole thing was directed under Alber Elbaz's vision; pure film noir mystery, superstition be damned. Fur, leather, red lips, and cats stealing every ounce of the drama: peak Lanvin theatricality.
Black cats are a thing. Steven Meisel's Fall/Winter 2017 Givenchy campaign, all mood and monochrome; a model and a black cat, matching stares, matching attitude.
Coperni's Holiday 2023 "12 Kittens of Christmas" campaign, shot by Charly Gosp, put real, fluffy kittens next to the brand's most iconic pieces. Technically it's an accessories campaign. Good luck remembering that once you see the Swipe bag.
See you next week.
xx