Yes, Caitlyn’s corset and the CFDA Awards might have made the beginning of this week’s fashion news but what will certainly make the end will be the trotting out of fancy hats, dresses and suits at this weekend’s Kentucky Derby. Fashion and horse racing mix in full opulence at what is the country’s most popular horse race.
Oh-so-distinctive couture has been a feature of derby day since its inception in 1875. Colonel M. Lewis Clark, Jr. envisioned the day at Churchill Downs as a grand event more akin to a European car racing Grand Prix then just any old horse race. As much as been made of triple crown winning horses (this year American Pharaoh is being slated to win the Belmont Stakes and becoming a Triple Crown winner) as the celebs who attend, to all the colorful dresses and of course the hats. (Here is Nordstrom’s Kentucky Derby Dresses page & J.C. Penny’s hat page.)
Though we certainly do have some colorful pieces we’d think perfect for the race (how about a Carmen Gown or even our Regal Jacket) certainly the long day in the sun, combined with the looks you’d garner from the overly smart dressed crowd may not make the derby the best place to reveal your latest alt. fashion. The prim and prospering boast the Kentucky Derby as their lifestyle event, so all the more power to them.
(Though which one of us wouldn’t admit to even the slightest tickle over some of the accoutrements a horse comes to wear or those items used to prompt him to move faster?)
Wide brim hats and flowing long colorful dresses, men in light weight suits, bow ties and straw hats, any manner of shoe and florid style, it all has a place at Churchill Downs and surely we will see a goodly amount of what passed by in the stands as much as what clomped through the track come Monday.