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When it comes to fashion at the Kentucky Derby, there is no such thing as 'over the top' although classic styles usually lead. Elaborate chapeaus, bright spring silks, seersuckers suits, pastel linens, classic bow ties (no clip-ons), race-themed accessories, feathers, flowers and fancy shoes. It's all part of the panoramic people display unique to the Derby. As for the hats? Women don't merely wear them, they flaunt them ...and with good reason. (See my Derby hat and fashion photos here.)
The Derby's founding father, Colonel M. Lewis Clark, Jr., wanted to recreate an elegant atmosphere, a semblance of refined European horse racing right here on American soil. Col. Clark set a sartorial tone that was luxurious but relaxed, classy but not stuffy. In the late 19th and early 20th century, ladies and gents of means wore the latest spring fashions on Derby Day and the tradition continues. NASCAR it isn't.
"The seats in the grandstand were filled with gaily dressed women and men. The mass of green, pink, red, yellow, blue, all the colors of the rainbow, blending into one harmonious whole was as beautiful a sight as His Eminence in the lead."
--from a 1901 article in the Louisville Courier-Journal covering the Kentucky Derby
While Derby fashions have evolved throughout the years - from bustles to parasols to gloves - hats have become a mainstay. In the 30s and 40s, formal dress suits for women seemed to surpass dresses. In the 50s, Derby fashions matched the rest of the country - fitted bodice dresses with billowing petticoats along with gloves and hat. The turbulent 60s fittingly brought more outlandish fashion choices to the Derby; the hats got bigger and louder - high society was loosening up a bit. From there, the hats stayed on ... and grew.
"From the 1990s to today, the dress at the Derby is slowly replacing the suit, especially with younger women. While gloves are out of fashion, a hat never is, and they tend to get wilder and more expensive every year."
--Katherine Veitschegger, Curator of Collections, Kentucky Derby Museum
I can personally attest to the sheer size of these hats. There were a few awkward elevator moments that involved some careful maneuvering of lady lids. Social greetings - air kisses and hugs - presented more than a few spatial challenges and some settled for polite handshakes. Nobody got sunburned, that's for sure.
I asked the ladies where they acquired their hats and many had been purchased from a specific designer, often custom made to match their ensemble. I met two young women on the plane home that had purchased two quintessential Derby hats (too big for hat boxes) in Louisville for $300 each - most likely, never to be worn again.
Some hats were purchased at auctions or boutiques, some on Craigslist but I met several women who had made their own. One Derby regular simply got tired of telling designers what she wanted and finally went ahead and did it herself. Her black straw hat with bright pink feathers and flowers turned out beautifully.
In fact, the most common color combos I saw this year were pink/green and pink/black though I saw lots of blue and aqua too. Still, the amount of black was unexpected and I didn't really care for it in this unique springtime context.
There were also elaborate headpieces called fascinators, I kid you not, and they are definitely fascinating to behold. Most sprout colorful feathers and hover over a lady's head without the weight of a full brim. There were also a number of feathered headbands and flowered headpieces - so delicate and feminine. I spotted butterfly accents, peacock and ostrich feathers and a few veils too.
I'd faced my own quandary in this department pre-Derby. Me being of the no-day-job status, I couldn't afford to go all out in the hat department. Also, a wide brim would get in the way of my camera lens, which was more important than anything else.
In the end, I had my mother ship one of my old bridesmaid hats that had been decorating her living room for a decade. I took it to a local milliner, Erin Saboe of Go-Go Chapeaux here in Denver, and she gave it a much-needed makeover for just $25. I then dug up an old hat
