Equestrian Life April 2018 Issue

fashion
I couldn’t wait
to wear my
new tailcoat.
I absolutely
love it
CHARLOTTE DUJARDIN CBE
Flying
Changes
The company that re-defined the
British dress code!
Flying Changes, was
founded in 2012 by
International dressage
rider and trainer Sarah
Cheetham, and produces high
quality, innovative custommade
and ready to wear
equestrian jackets and tailcoats.
A revision of the dress code
by the B.E.F. in 2011 sparked
an, as yet untapped, talent and
passion in Sarah during the
process of designing a truly
unique tailcoat for herself. She
found a small UK tailor to work
with and bought all the fabrics
herself. The tailcoat was grey
with a salmon pink stripe and
collar. At that time something
quite extraordinary!I
Whilst representing GB at
Hartpury CDI that year, Sarah
found herself the envy of
her fellow competitors and
everyone wanted to know
where she had bought her
new tailcoat. The seed was
sown, but it was not until the
following year, when Sarah
was sidelined due to a back
injury, that the business became
truly established.
As a professional competitive
rider herself of more than 20
years, Sarah had the unique
skill set to truly develop a
range of products that not
only conformed to the correct
dress code for each discipline,
but also the understanding,
only gained through years of
competitive experience, of
how to truly accommodate
the growing demands of our
modern riders. It was recognised
by Sarah, that equestrian
sport was changing fast, riders
were demanding high quality
technical fabrics, but the coats,
most particularly the tailcoat,
still needed to have the look of
traditional tailoring.
This is combined with the everincreasing
desire by our riders
to be a little unique, to be given
the ability to design a garment
that expresses their own or their
mounts personality or colouring,
to be able to represent the
colours of their sponsors or
ultimately simply be able to
promote their own business.
26 April 2018 Equestrian Life