EIGHTY white rabbits, 20 ballerinas, 500 outfits, 17 mirrored geese, 250 gold ostrich eggs and a room full of umbrellas: and so the Vogue pantomime was born, produced across 40 pages in the December issue, which is published on Monday.

It was shot in a Colchester wheat field and Chiswick Town Hall, over five hot days in July. Like any theatrical production, it had its backstage dramas — actors cancelling at the last minute, roles and clothes being rejected — and grew more complicated by the minute. Alan Rickman agreed to participate as long as he didn’t have to play a villain (he became the Lion King, wearing a £1,200 antique kimono); Nigella Lawson said yes (but only if she was photographed alone) — as the fairytale stepmother she wears a silk-satin bustier and skirt by Neil Cunningham, and an antique swan’s-down cape. Mackenzie Crook plays the knight in shining armour, wearing John Galliano; Sophie Dahl in a sequinned dress by YSL is the Genie of the Lamp.

Alexandra Shulman, Vogue’s editor, warned her staff of the daunting scale of the project but encouraged them. “I thought it was a wonderful idea though such a huge thing to accomplish. Much to my amazement, it all came together. The point of Vogue is to realise ideas that you won’t find anywhere else,” she said.

“I followed the rule that anything went as long as it had a theatrical twist,” says Kate Phelan, Vogue’s senior fashion editor who was in charge of the shoot.

Tim Walker, the photographer, would have preferred to do it in ten days rather than five: “That way we could have stopped for lunch.” And all those rabbits are meant to signify The Pied Piper — chosen instead of rats Walker says, because “rats are not very Vogue”.

The December issue of Vogue is on sale now

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