BY ITV RACING STYLIST SARAH KATE BYRNE
It’s the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee Year, so what better time to channel Regal vibes, dress like a royal and do justice to the history and prestige of the UK’s most famous race meets. Race meetings such as the Cazoo St. Leger Festival lend themselves perfectly to high fashion and the most elegant and formal of attire. The Queen herself owned a winner - Dunfermline with Willie Carson on board – who in 1977 won two of the five British Classic Races - Epsom Oaks and the St. Leger Stakes. Even more poignantly 1977 was the year of Queen Elizabeth II's Silver Jubilee.
The Royal family, particularly the female members, have been style icons and trendsetters for generations. What each of these glamourous women wore and wear still influences the fashion choices of Britain and is the perfect reference point from which to start putting together a winning contemporary look.
King George VI and Queen Elizabeth, (later the Queen Mother) visited Doncaster race course in 1948 with the Queen wearing an elegant veiled hat and he a bowler hat. These days the bowler hat has been replaced by panama hats and trilbys for the chaps while a modern version of the Queen Mothers side percher bonnet with delicate veiling would make for a very Royal appearance.
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So with a whole summer of excitement ahead and the inevitable build up as the Flat horseracing season unfolds, you have plenty of time to look to royal style at the races for inspiration ahead of this years meeting.
DOWNSIZE THE HAT
Her majesty’s choice of headwear is quite deliberate and there’s a lot to be said for adopting her stance. According to one of the Queen’s favourite milliners, Rachel Trevor-Morgan “The Queen doesn’t want to have hat brims that are too big as she’s got to get in and out of cars and she wants people to see her”. So whether you arrive to this years meeting by plane, train or automobile make sure your hat choice makes you stand out from the crowd to be seen by the all -important judges, but don’t go mad with flamboyant oversized designs!
TRY A HEADBAND
When Queen Elizabeth II attended Doncaster in 1955 she sported a very contemporary headband that would look as good today as it did then. Recently both the Duchess of Cambridge and Princess Beatrice have both showcased an array of elegant headbands and headpieces that move away from traditional millinery. These pieces are young, fresh and modern and their styles makes them so versatile for re-wearing for weddings and other race-days so are a solid wardrobe investment.