I have actually never been to the races before but I was invited to Ladies Day at Royal Ascot by Sky Bet on behalf of their Lucky Colour Generator so I thought I would give it a go.
When I think Royal Ascot, I think Eliza Dolittle…
…and of course, the famous “C’mon Dover! Move yer bloomin’ arse!” encouragement. Unfortuantly the British public don’t dress as they once use to, but Royal Ascot has kept some of the traditions, such as the top hats and waistcoats.
After reading the dress code, I was suddenly flung into a panic that I had nothing to wear. So I went shopping and finally found a dress that had both wide shoulder straps, was below the knee and with no area of your chest showing. Hats are also a must so I ran into Accessorize and picked up one of their headpieces too.
It wasn’t until I got home and re-read the email that I found out we were in the Silver stand with no dress code – and so any of my already-owned dresses would have been fine. But it is always fun to dress up for the races.
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| Next year I am going to look like this |
It was an early start to the day as I was heading down to Kings Road to be blow dried again by the fabulous Duck & Dry, as they kindly offered to do my hair for me for my first day at the races. If you haven’t already, you can read all about my first experience at Duck & Dry here.
The Before photo of my straight-up bed hair:
The selected style for the day, the Va Va Voom:
I was wisked off to have my hair washed and was then provided with a very much needed and very delicious coffee.
The After photo – sufficiently Va Va Voomed :
Sky had put on a lovely spread for us. Pink champagne, wine, strawberries, nibbles – is there a better picnic? I think not.
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| Bracelet, ring & necklace are all from the amazing Diamonfire |
The best part of going to events is meeting new people, who are such talented, interesting, friendly and beautiful bloggers. You will, however, always get outfit and shoe envy when you are with them though. Check out these total babes- Monica. Charlie. Rebecca.
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| The very beautiful Monica in my favourite dress of the summer. |
Ok, so if you look for a very small blue hat in a carriage, wearing it is the Queen.
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| Yes. There is Queenie. |
One can’t enjoy the summer weather and Queen spotting without one’s glass of Pimms.
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| The classic view-blocker at Ascot |
Sky Bet very kindly gave us some betting credit so we could places bet on the horses and hopefully win some money. I managed to not win anything. No that isn’t true, I won £1 and then lost it straight away.
Actually a few of the horses I bet on came last. In more than one race. Well done Jessica.
I think I went wrong by betting on the horses with the nicest names, and the jockeys with the nicest shirts.. I am not one for gambling – it stresses me out. But it really does make it more exciting when you are rooting for someone/somehorse to win. However, it does make it more depressing when your horse just never wins. I totally understand now why Eliza lost her cool.
Now, for my outfit for the day of horsing around. I brought my dress from Coast, my jewellery is all from Dimonfire – obsessed with this brand. Heels are from Topshop (LOVE these, but so bad for walking on uneven grass, almost broke my ankle 17 times) and headpiece is from Accessorise.
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| Papped. Thank you Ms. Cohen for these photos. |
For some reason, I totally forgot to bring my sunglasses. For a day in the sun. Who does that? But luckily there was an Accessorize at the station on my way there, so I picked up these bad boys. Life savers / eye shaders.
Out of all the photos from the day, the photo below is my favourite. But I can take no credit for it. The Loubs and the photo idea belong to Rebecca – her gorgeous Royal Ascot photos can be found here.
Louboutins and Hunters – you are basically equipped for anything and everything life throws at you.
It was such a great day, full of blow dries, sunshine, bubbles, shoes and horses. Thank you Sky Bet for inviting me, and Duck & Dry for my fab blow dry to kick start the day. Now remember kids – always gamble responsibly.
Cocoa Chelsea