The Coltons Point Times: Kentucky Derby Update - Fox Features Fashionable Fun Derby Hats

Thursday, May 03, 2018

Kentucky Derby Update - Fox Features Fashionable Fun Derby Hats - So do I!

If the Mad Hatter could only see this - then again Lewis Carroll, born January 27, 1832, Daresbury, UK, died January 14, 1898, Guildford, UK, did have an overlapping life with the Kentucky Derby, born 1874 and continuing 2018.

By my math Carroll and the Derby shared the Earth for twenty-four years. Maybe those hats were inspired by Alice's Wonderland.

These are my Derby favorites over the years followed by the Fox News version of the History of Derby Hats.

Kentucky Derby hats through the years, from the boldest to brightest

By Kaitlyn Schallhorn | Fox News

A race fan checks her phone before the 138th running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs in Louisville, Kentucky, May 5, 2012. (Reuters/Jeff Haynes)

It’s off to the races for Kentucky Derby fans. And those truly committed to the May event know that the fashion -- particularly women’s hats -- is just as important as the thoroughbreds racing.

From the beginning, fashion was associated with the Kentucky Derby as Col. Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr., who founded Churchill Downs, hoped to make the race a high-class event, according to the Kentucky Derby notes on its website. But the hats didn’t really come into play until about the 1960s “when social fashion norms loosened up and the presence of television gave women a reason to stand out,” the Derby said.

Hats are also supposed to bring good luck.

The Kentucky Derby says it doesn’t have any “hard and fast rules” when it comes to apparel, but the event is a chance for every woman’s Southern belle to come out with pastel dresses, bows and Lilly Pulitzer prints. For the hats, the Kentucky Derby suggests those in seated areas of Churchill Downs wear more traditionally southern, wide-brimmed hats. But in the infield area, where the parties happen, hats tend to be a little more curious.

Recently, thanks in part to Kate Middleton, fascinators have also become a trend at the Kentucky Derby.

Men, too, typically, don their best pastels, seersucker and floral print bow ties. But the gentlemen can wear hats as well.

Here’s a look at some of the more extravagant -- and unusual -- hats worn at the famous horse race.

A patron wears a derby hat before the 2017 Kentucky Oaks at Churchill Downs. (Reuters/Mark Zerof - USA Today Sports)

Horse racing fan Ellen Palmer wears a derby hat in the infield during the 142nd running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs. (Reuters/Aaron Borton/Louisville Courier-Journal)

Monique Rosteing poses with her derby hat before the 142nd running of the Kentucky Derby at Churchill Downs. (Reuters/David Lee Hartlage/Louisville Courier-Journal)