Demi Moore wears many hats on set. She takes on the role of wardrobe—arriving at the Condé Nast studio with longtime stylist Brad Goreski carrying heaps of designer bags and jewelry—lighting designer, and prop master. But Moore isn’t the subject of the photo shoot.
Today, she’s playing momager to her dog, Pilaf . The white-and-brown long-haired Chihuahua bounds into the studio, tail wagging, eyes bulging with excitement. (“I think she looks like a cross between a goldfish and Bette Davis,” Moore says.
) Pilaf greets the throng of adoring fans—myself included—with aplomb. With Moore’s permission, I scoop up all 1.2 pounds of Pilaf (roughly the weight of a baguette) and place her on my chest like a newborn baby.
“One of her best qualities is her instinctive sense of going to complete strangers like she has something to give them that they need,” Moore says, “So I usually let her do it.” Pilaf, as is her birthright, is a natural in front of the camera, poking out of a Birkin bag, a stack of diamond bracelets in place of a collar. “Hi, Mouseketeer!” Moore says from her perch next to the photographer, clapping and waving spirit fingers to turn the pup’s attention toward the camera.
“So pretty! So pretty!” Goreski concurs: “She’s luxury!” he cries. But, lo, sometimes cover girls get shy. Luckily, Moore is there to step in.
She presses her forehead to Pilaf’s, whispering words of encouragement. “Shhhhh..
.shh shh shh shh shh shh shh,” she hushes. “Sit down, please.
” Pilaf sits. “Thank you.” Soon enough, Pilaf is back in her groove, ears perked up, tongue lolling.
Even a high-octane model needs someone to look out for her, though. Throughout the shoot, Moore is always aiming to optimize the final product, from the props to the color of the background. “Purple is a good color for you,” Moore tells Pilaf as she examines photos on the monitor.
“Look at how pretty the purple is for your hair color!” Moore found Pilaf during the pandemic—or rather, her daughter Tallulah Willis spotted her on Facebook. The only problem? She was more than eight thousand miles away. A family in Thailand had a litter of puppies, and despite the distance, Willis knew that the little pup was perfect for Moore.
Et voilà! Pilaf was flown to Los Angeles—the first of her many international travels. As Moore later tells me: “She’s flown to Europe 14 times.” Pilaf has earned a great deal of media attention thanks to her luxe lifestyle .
(“She moves through life with ease and grace,” Moore explains.) Like any bona fide star, anything she does is worthy of a write-up, from sitting front row at Versace—alongside Pierpaolo Picciolo’s bulldog, Miranda—to her penchant for arts and culture. One Daily Mail headline read: “Demi Moore reveals her Chihuahua Pilaf was ‘moved’ by Tom Holland’s West End performance in Romeo and Juliet .
” Although the actor has other dogs, she has a special bond with Pilaf, who is often—quite literally—attached to her hip via a sling. For Moore, it’s simple: “She was meant to be with me, and I was meant to be with her.” Below, Demi Moore answers Vogue ’s Dogue questionnaire.
Vogue : What is Pilaf’s best quality? Demi Moore: She’s comfortable and confident wherever she is. Who would voice your dog in a movie? Her voice is so unique that there isn’t anybody that I’ve heard yet. She has a little bit of my voice, but it’s a small voice.
Describe the voice you use to talk to your dog. We all do have a voice when we talk to our dogs, but I don’t know how you would describe it. How would you put into words? She’s such a magical creature, so I don’t know.
What is your dog’s weirdest nickname, and how did you come up with it? Her name is Pilaf. I added “the Little Mouse” because I was working in France and it was sometimes difficult to say “Pilaf” and have it understood. Because she’s so tiny, I was referring to her as “Little Mouse” and realized in French that is petite souris .
So then she became Little Mouse, then the nickname became Mouseketeer because she’s my sidekick, and then with all of her recent write-ups, we also nicknamed her Mouse Couture. Where is one place you wish you could take Pilaf? I can take Pilaf everywhere. She’s literally been to Broadway shows, museums, the French Open, art openings, restaurants.
She’s a service animal, so she’s allowed to go everywhere. She’s flown to Europe 14 times. Where is the strangest place you’ve taken her? We almost got thrown out of the Sisi Museum in Vienna [until] I found her official card because I didn’t register her.
She saw Romeo and Juliet with Tom Holland—loved it. She saw Funny Girl and Appropriate with Sarah Paulson. The most stressful was the very first show I took her to—which I wasn’t planning on, but I had to go straight to the airport and was traveling alone—which was the Versace show.
And I was so relieved because Pierpaolo [Piccioli] and his wife had their dog there. If you could tell your dog one thing, what would it be? That I feel so grateful and blessed that she’s in my life. A veterinarian osteopath, who has a gift of speaking with animals, said that Pilaf told her that she’s a star and she’s here to teach me a new way to walk, which I think she has.
What is the most human thing your dog does? What is the most dog thing your dog does? One of her favorite things is carpeting down a hotel hallway because she can really run without slipping. That’s probably one of her human things. What’s her most dog? Dominating her teddy bear.
What is her full name? Pilaf the Little Mouse Moore. Astrological sign? November 9, 2020. Scorpio.
Favorite toy? Teddy bear. Favorite meal? She likes her meal mixers by Stella & Chewy. She has special food called Lucky Dog soft food because her one challenge in this life was that she didn’t get a full set of teeth, which is why the tongue comes out.
Worst habit? She doesn’t have any bad habits. She’s literally the best trained of all of my dogs. Her one preference, I would say—not a bad habit—is that she only wants to pee on grass.
Strangest habit? Humping her teddy bear. What would Pilaf say is your worst habit? Everything is built around Pilaf, so there is no bad habit. In this story: Set design, Jordan Mixon.
See all the cover Dogues here ..
