When freshman Bradley Shepherd first joined the Savannah College of Art and Design (Georgia) Intercollegiate Horse Shows Association team, he didn’t realize how much the team would positively affect his life, both in and out of the saddle.

Shepherd, who said he didn’t know what breeches and show coats were before joining the team, grew up in North Wales, Pennsylvania, and Montreal, and while his father and sister rode casually, he had very little riding experience.

He joined the IHSA team in January of 2020, competing in the introductory division while studying fashion at SCAD. In 2022 he qualified for IHSA National Championship Horse Show in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, where he won the team introductory equitation on the flat class.

“It was a surreal experience,” Shepherd recalled. “I was waiting [in line for ribbons] for my name to be called, and they called it first, and I was like, ‘Was that me?’ Being able to get out there and help out the team was cool.”

Although Shepherd remained on the team for the length of his college career, he had to prioritize his classwork during his junior and senior years and dialed back on the horse showing. For their senior year project, SCAD fashion majors are required to create a senior fashion collection, which can culminate in participation in the school’s senior fashion show in May.

“The summer before your senior year, you create three concepts and choose one,” Shepherd said. “Your whole senior year, you work with that concept to create your fashion line. My collection was inspired by equestrians and my time on the SCAD team; the idea was that it’s a mixture between outerwear and evening wear. I wanted to convey the elegance of the sport and mix it with the more structured elements of the sport.”

Each student is required to create five separate looks for their completed collections, and the students receive constant feedback from their professors and advisors. For his collection, Shepherd spent time collaging different fabrics on a croquis, which helped him create his designs. He studied the minute details of saddles, saddle construction and reins with the idea to incorporate leather into his collection.

“I made everything myself, and most of the materials I used were silk wools, wool and leather,” he said. “Working with leather is completely different than working with fabric, so that was fun for me. I found a mentor [within the accessory design department] and took some leather crafting lessons. It was challenging to learn a new material.”

When it came time to complete his collection’s photo shoot, Shepherd reached out to his friends on the SCAD equestrian team for help.

“It all wrapped up so meaningfully for me,” he said. “Four out of the five models were girls on the team. My photographer, Lindsey Hurley, was a senior on the team, and my film editor was a SCAD [graduate]. All of my SCAD friends wanted to help; it was a full-circle moment for me. I wrapped up my whole college experience with my horse friends. The team became more a part of my life than I had ever imagined.”

At the beginning of May of this year, Shepherd found out that his collection was chosen to participate in the senior fashion show. There were over 100 SCAD senior fashion majors and only 40 were chosen to be featured in the fashion show.

“I was pleasantly surprised. I wasn’t working with the intent of making it,” Shepherd said. “I’m very detail-oriented, and my line was very classic and sophisticated.”

The fashion show was also featured in an online article on Vogue magazine’s website. “Not everyone can say they’ve been on Vogue’s website,” Shepherd said. “I went from not knowing what I wanted to do in college to stumbling upon it. It was very cool for me.”

Now that he’s graduated, Shepherd plans to move from Savannah to Charleston, South Carolina, with his girlfriend, Hannah Williams, who served as one of the team managers for the SCAD IHSA team. He has recently taken a remote men’s junior designer position with Free Fly Apparel and has jumped right into designing and executing various designs for the company.

“Currently, I don’t want my own line of clothing,” Shepherd said. “Through our senior project, you learn a little bit of everything in the fashion industry, and I really like the idea of working for a brand. So that’s where I’m starting.”

This article originally appeared in the August 2024 issue of The Chronicle of the Horse. You can subscribe and get online access to a digital version and then enjoy a year of The Chronicle of the Horse. If you’re just following COTH online, you’re missing so much great unique content. Each print issue of the Chronicle is full of in-depth competition news, fascinating features, probing looks at issues within the sports of hunter/jumper, eventing and dressage, and stunning photography.