Zara Phillips has been wearing Musto as long as she can remember.


“I think it must have started through my mum being keen on us all going sailing,” she recalls.


“I can remember both myself and my brother wearing Musto jackets and then when it came to spending more time riding, the Musto stuff we had did the job perfectly.”


A few years on and Zara is launching her own range of Musto stuff.


ZP 176 is the first collaboration between Zara Phillips and Musto. A collection of equestrian wear with the emphasis on matching practicality with style, it makes the most of the experience she’s had over a lifetime consumed with training, competing and working with horses.


Musto is best known for engineering clothes, giving them form and function, making them work as well as look good. Company founder Keith Musto used his experience as an Olympic Yachtsman to revolutionise sailing gear. Now the ZP 176 range has taken equestrian wear to a new level.


The practical insight that Zara brings to Musto ensures that proud tradition is continued. Not that the reigning World Eventing champion is given to such grand statements.


“It was pretty simple at the start,” she explains. “I wanted to work on a collection that I would wear, not just one I could put my name to. Then it got more complicated, in that I wanted it to keep me warm and dry, allowing me to work hard and also be stylish enough to wear when I wasn’t working.”


“The job these clothes have got to do is the most important thing. That involves making subtle adjustments in the way they’re cut and the way they sit, allowing for flexibility in the arms of a jacket, but making sure the jacket itself is tailored well.”


“I can remember both myself and my brother wearing Musto jackets”


It’s the challenge of making something very demanding look completely natural. Zara knows this is nowhere near as straightforward as it might seem.


“That’s my job,” she says, characteristically matter-of-fact. “I take it as a compliment when people say it looks like what I do is easy. I guess that’s what we’re striving for – to make something that’s very difficult look like it doesn’t take a great deal of effort. But it is hard work.


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“When you’ve got that sort of passion and enthusiasm for what you do, it’s only right that you should be able to rely on what you’re wearing. I hope people wear my clothes and then walk away from that environment and feel comfortable and stylish.”


Zara Phillips on Toy Town


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