Lane Clarke’s Winning Style

By Paula Parisi July 1, 2011

We had to know! What’s the deal with Lane Clarke’s helmet? The 25-year-old Australian was the picture of style when The Equestrian News photographer Michael J. Marten captured him winning the Blenheim June Classic Grand Prix in his custom Antarès Sellier head gear. “The neat thing about Antarès helmets is they’re completely customizable,” Clarke said.

“Any color you want, with different materials. Our barn gets two kinds. For the students we order black-on-black with white stitching and our Hayden Show Jumping logo. For myself, I wanted something a little different, so I got black and chocolate brown leather with a golden logo.”

Antarès will create basically any helmet a client can dream up. “I’ve seen one that’s navy blue with  bright yellow. Basically it looked like the guy was hailing a taxi,” Clarke chuckled. For the main helmet surface the company offers a standard finish of high-gloss enamel or nubuck. The front center panel, where the logo typically goes, is an insert that slides out, which is very convenient for displaying different client emblems.

In terms of wearability, “they’re super light-weight and comfortable,” Clarke said of the helmets, noting they are cut back at the brow “so you don’t get pressure on your forehead.” They are also USEF/FEI safety compliant.

His current favorite boots for showing are Alberto Fasciani. At home, at the Hayden stables in Laguna Niguel, he wears Ariat with Decima half-chaps for schooling. He favors Kingsland breeches. “I always show in white. I own probably 9 or 10 pairs of white breeches. The Kingsland are great – very comfortable and they wash out really well with normal detergent, no bleach.”

Clarke has his riding jackets custom made by one of his students at her Newport Beach-based business, Charlotte Couture. “I have two collars, black for regular competition and white for grand prix.” Since he was about 15, he said he a vision for how he wanted to look in the saddle. “I decided I wanted a blue jacket. I didn’t want to wear the same navy or gray or green jacket as everyone else.”

Showing amazing perspicacity for a teen, he found a coat whose cut he could have copied by a tailor, and then shopped for fabric. “It took me a while to find the material and the style that I wanted,” he recalled. Asked how he would describe the color, he answered “cobalt.” We couldn’t help but notice it’s the exact shade of a blue ribbon!

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