A Rider’s Closet: At Home With Tiffany Foster

Whether inside the competition ring or out on the town, every rider wants to feel good in the clothes she wears. With her beloved French Bulldog by her side, Tiffany Foster invited us into her home in Wellington, Florida, to share her favorite pieces that make up her feminine yet modern and refined style.

“I really like everything to be uniform. I’m very sensitive to shades and colors, and I find black to be the easiest way for everything to be clean, consistent, and uniform with myself and my team — easy for organization and to keep different sponsors represented appropriately.

Jackets
I wear Winston jackets that they make custom for me. I’m really drawn to them because I really like the idea of a technical fabric, but I don’t like when they look like a scuba suit. Their technical fabric looks like wool, so it feels like a traditional riding jacket but is super stretchy. I wear the Exclusive jacket. It’s very simple, plain, and doesn’t have any frills.

I do a big release and so my jacket was getting stuck often in the buttons and braids. [Initially] I started altering them myself; I found these snaps and replaced the buttons with them. I asked them to make a prettier looking version of what I had done, and they did! They are all snaps down the front so they lie flat and smooth. My red jacket — I’m actually retiring this one now because it’s seen a few rounds — has one snap that I put on at the top because I got stuck on the neck at the second to last jump at the Nations Cup Final in Barcelona, Spain. I rode the neck to the last jump because I couldn’t get it off and then had the rail down. So from then on, I literally asked our Chef d’Equipe, Mark Laskin, if I could get rid of the top button, and he said, ‘Yeah sure as long as you don’t knock the jumps down!’ So, I traded that out.

Shirts
I wear Winston show shirts, they’re the most traditional looking ones I think that they make. I prefer them to fit slim on my neck. I’ve actually altered my own show shirts in the past so there is no gap between my neck and the collar. I ride every day in Equi In Style (EIS) sun shirts or a turtleneck, depending on the weather. The EIS shirts are embroidered with the farm logo, and I usually always wear black unless it’s really hot, then I’ll wear a white one.

Helmets
GPA started sponsoring me about 10 years ago, and I’ve never changed. I really like them, I think they’re really feminine, and I like anything that kind of tailors to a little bit more of a feminine look in any of the gear. I think the First Lady is an iconic female helmet; I think they do a beautiful job with them and they’re really pretty. I like the thicker harness. I’ve also fallen off a lot and they do their job! I also have a visor I bought on Amazon. Being in the sun year-round you have to be careful about protecting your skin.

Logos
If we don’t have an owner, we don’t have a horse, so I think it’s really important to try to make sure that I have the outfit matching to every horse depending on who owns it. So, I have gear for my Artisan horses, gear for my Little Creek horses, and gear for horses owned with Ariel Grange and Lothlorien Farm. I also made my own CSIO kit. I have coolers, saddle pads, and bonnets for if I’m representing Canada in CSIO competition. So I’m pretty committed to it. I’ll take three different jackets to the ring if I’m showing three different horses.

Boots
I wear Tucci. I like them because I have a really long calf, so I need to get custom boots. I think Tucci does a great job because they last forever. They’re really classic and high up on the knee without digging into the back of your leg. I think they look really stylish, and they do a great job with their measuring.

Socks
Winston makes really nice bamboo socks. They’re not thick and uncomfortable; they’re really thin and nice.

Breeches
I like high-rise. I would buy double high-rise if they made them! I don’t like to be pulling my pants up all the time, and I like when the pant hits at the narrow part of your waist. I like a wide belt for showing, but a narrower one for day-to-day. I use a Winston belt.

Gloves
SSG. I’m sponsored by them, they’re a Canadian company, and I really like their gloves.

Layers
My everyday uniform would be some kind of denim jacket and a turtleneck. J.Crew makes these tissue turtlenecks. They’re less than $30, and I could just wear that shirt. They’re so thin and great for layering. I buy them in bulk.

Outerwear
I love Noel Asmar. The pieces are really flattering and fit everyone.

Jewelry
A special saying to me that means a lot, especially because I’ve had some bad injuries and some difficult times — like everyone has in their life — is the saying that someone said to me when I broke my back: ‘This too shall pass.’ Whenever something is rough, I just think about that and know that it’s going to be fine. One day you’ll look back and this will just be an unfortunate thing that happened to you, but you will get through it and it’s part of what makes you, you. I was shopping in Calgary and saw this really cool necklace — it was long to go with my turtlenecks — and I asked the lady as I was paying for it what the braille on the necklace said, and she told me it says, ‘This too shall pass,’ so that’s kind of been my favorite piece of jewelry.

I wear pearl studs all the time. I think a pearl stud is really classic, easy to wear, and for the most part, that is what I wear. I like anything that looks feminine that you can [wear] while you’re riding. Even though we’re all equal and we’re competing against men, I don’t want to look like a man! I want to look like a girl, and that’s an easy way. It doesn’t obstruct anything or inhibit your performance. It’s just something I pop on in the morning because I think they look pretty and refined.

Eyewear
I have prescription glasses; I can’t see far away. I started wearing glasses when I was around 14. I couldn’t find a distance, and then I got my glasses, and then I could. So if anyone is blurry out there, try glasses! Because you’re not supposed to wear contacts all the time, and I am riding all day, generally I’ll wear my glasses the rest of the time to give my eyes a rest. In doing that, it’s kind of fun to have a bunch of different frames to spruce up your outfit. Not every pair of glasses goes with every outfit. I really enjoy buying glasses. I also love a big, full coverage pair of sunglasses. The bigger the better!

Splurge vs. Save
I’ve kept my same spending habits from growing up. I would rather have less stuff but have it be higher quality. If I’m going to splurge it’ll be on shoes or a great accessory.

What’s always in your purse?
Carmex. Always on me at any given time.

Still looking for the perfect …
Riding shirt.”

Read this next: A Rider’s Closet: At Home With Jordan Allen

Photography by Kate Metzner for NoelleFloyd.com.