If man’s (and woman’s) most loyal companion is the dog, designers are no exception. The latest issue of the menswear biannual Man About Town pays homage to a few that know more than most about the inner workings of fashion. For the canine-themed 10th issue—featuring shoots not only by the usual fashion suspects like Paolo Roversi and Willy Vanderperre, but this time, by famed Weimaraner enthusiast William Wegman, too—the magazine sought out the pups of the fashion elite, who are photographed by Erwan Frotin.

The dog’s life: Not bad, if you’re a designer’s pet. Azzedine Alaïa has eleven animals (including one owl), but it’s his St. Bernard, Didine, who gets the close-up. “Animals make people better,” the designer says. That may explain the care Alaïa lavishes on his creatures, like the mastiff, Shamsi, he used to carry in a baby’s sling. “I took him on the Concorde,” Alaïa remembers, “where I said to the stewardess, ‘this is my son, he’s traveling with me.’ She didn’t spot him so she just said, ‘Oh, of course, sir.’” Dries Van Noten’s Airedale, Harry, is treated to fashion heirlooms: Van Noten and his partner, Patrick Vangheluwe, bought him a cushion that originally belonged to Yves Saint Laurent and Pierre Bergé’s French bulldog, Moujik, at the Christie’s auction of items from the couple’s country estate. (The original Moujik has long since passed away, but his successor, also called Moujik, appears in the issue alongside an interview with Bergé.) And in her interview with Jo-Ann Furniss, Donatella Versace reveals that her Jack Russell, Audrey, is a full-on diva. “She is the top, the toppest model of all,” Versace says. Has she as big an ego as Kristen McMenamy? Furniss asks. “Bigger.” What about Linda Evangelista? “Hmmm. Well, not on that level, no.”

Man About Town 10 launches next week at Colette.