The Kentucky Derby is awesome for three reasons: the race itself (often called “the 2 most exciting minutes in sports”), the drinking (everything from bud-light -to- Moet bottles of champagne with sipping tops -to- $1,000 mint juleps served in a 24k gold cup), and of of course, the FASHION! The Kentucky derby is the one sporting event that socialites and “common folk” come to show-off, drink, and gamble… AND nobody thinks it’s weird.
The Kentucky derby, since its founding in 1875, has been an event in which men and women come dressed in their best. It is a horse racing tradition for women to wear outlandish hats or fascinators. Many of you might recall the scene in the musical My Fair Lady in which Eliza Doolittle is taken to the races and dressed in a oversized flamboyant hat. Classic!
It wasn’t until the 70’s that big derby hats started getting bigger and bigger… and pricier for that matter!
This year the hats were just as crazy and I can’t say that I have a favorite. I know that big hats are a big deal at the kentucky derby and I’m all for that… but sometimes big hats can be a little bit much.
For example:
Simple fascinators,classic straws hats, and the “rebellious hatless” were the real winning looks this year.
For Example:
My Fashion winner was Jill Baffert, the wife of Bob Baffert (Bodimester’s trainer). Unfortunately, photos of her on derby day are very hard to find. Jill looked chic with a simple,to the knee, fitted, black, deep v-neck dress. Big sunglasses and a cream clutch where her only accessories. In a world were everyone is trying to stand out by wearing large, crazy hats, those who took it a notch down made the real statements this year.
Hat designers to check out:
The Image Crunch 