How Do The Kentucky Derby Hats Steal the Spotlight?

Attending the Kentucky Derby without a gorgeously crafted hat is a serious fashion faux pas. As many say, Derby Day is a time to ‘see and be seen.’ Derby fashion is an age-old tradition where women and even a few men sport one-of-a-kind Derby hats in this annual extravaganza. On the first Saturday in May, more than 150,000 people attend the event at Louisville’s Churchill Downs. So, what’s special this year, you ask? This year marks the 150th anniversary of America’s longest continuously held sporting event.

Over the years, Kentucky Derby hats have become the most recognizable tradition of the “Run for the Roses.” As cheers fill the ground of 20 competing thoroughbreds putting up the “most exciting two minutes in sports,” the Kentucky Derby hat adds a lively flair to the action-packed atmosphere. Prior to this special edition, here’s all you need to know about the fashion mainstay’s cultural significance.

What is the history behind Kentucky Derby hats?

During the English horse races in 1711, it was ordered that guests inside the Royal Enclosure adhere to a strict dress code, which included hats for ladies. The hats were a symbol of status at first, but the same highbrow group ultimately felt proud wearing a feather or several feathers in their hats. Meanwhile, since 1875, patrons of the famed Kentucky Derby paraded, flaunting their fashion whimsy.

Derby hats have evolved over time. During the early years, most people wore modest headpieces or bonnets with netting, feathers, or other adornments. Later, in 1902, a tailor called Matt Winn took over the track, preserving the Derby’s fashion traditions. Winn positioned the Derby as a celebration of Civil War antebellum culture. Gibson Girl was the rage back then, exposing American ladies to larger, heavily decorated hats. Large hats embellished with flowers, feathers, ribbons, and pastel-colored clothes quickly became popular.

Even men wore brightly colored traditional seersucker suits, dress shirts, and slacks in red, green, yellow, and orange tones. Hats were already beginning to fade due to fashion mandates, therefore it was up to the ladies to restore the race’s splendor. And they did an excellent job!

In other news, well-to-do Boston tea parties turned into activist network meetings to capitalize on their social standing to pass laws to safeguard bird species across the United States that were nearly vanishing unless they were on the tops of women’s hats. This eventually evolved into the Audubon Society, and regulations such as the Migratory Bird Treaty Act and others were enacted. There have been various variations of Derby fashion tales throughout the years, but the one that remains true is that these hat types vary depending on your seat at the venue.

The seat you have dictates your hat style

In the Churchill Downs grandstand, if a woman sits right in front wearing a hat that blocks your vision, you will just have to roll with the punches and treat it like a norm. Unless others “outrank” her socially, in which case you could always accidentally spill your mint julep on her attire, forcing her to shift seats in more ways than one. However, in a different spot called the Infield, the hats are often wider. A while back, Jenny Pfanenstiel, a Louisville milliner noted, “people thought the bigger the hat, the bigger the luck.”

There are no strict rules for hats on the racetrack. However, there is an unwritten law to wear something on your head; otherwise, you would stick out like a sore thumb. So, what are you waiting for? Come grab your on-fleek hats today.