A Brief History of Kentucky Derby Hat

The hats are always on, though the gloves have been cast off by people long ago. “They’re-r-re more or less OFF!” marked TIME in a recapitulation of Kentucky Derby in 1926.

“The long and scared roars yelled like sounds of cannon, moaned like mounting sea-gushes through the hordes down the stretched pathways”, the piece remained relentless. “The stances looked so powerful, to inflate through it; hats and sunshades and fluffy faces soared up, shilly shallied for a moment atop the waves, and stabled gradually down into a rustle less quietness. The horses descended down the stretched pathways. It was a start-out of this world.”

“In Louisville”- this piece was the very first orientation to Kentucky Derby hats by the TIME—however, the hats were incredible and significant only by a hair’s breadth at that time.  Their existence was cited as a matter of fact. The photos of Kentucky Derby shown above gives an impression of outmoded styles and guises of these hats tell that such a situation was descended down to the history of entire race in much the same way. Several women and men from the race put on hats, but these hats look very graceful (and a lot outlandish). The race is very well-known for these hats in our days.

These days, nevertheless, elegant and intricate headwear is the probable trend in rarest places in America such as one of them is grandstand at Churchill Downs. At a race on the first weekend of May, hats were the considerate and pivotal point. What was the reason for this?

Kentucky Derby always considers the fashion and style as one of its integral part. Col. Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr. took a decision to inaugurate a very eminent and conspicuous horse race in America after he travelled to the renowned and legendary Derby races in England and the 1872 race of Grand Prix de Paris in France. He raised funds for the racetrack and designed a track outside of Louisville, Ky. The first Kentucky Derby race was alleged in 1875.

However, for the French and British society, Kentucky Derby races were the lifeblood but American women at the same time may dither to bypass and stay out of horse racing that comes along with gambling, gaming and drinking. Nonetheless, if wouldn’t do for new race to look dodgy and sordid. Hence, tracking down his vision, all the ladies of Louisville were counted on by Clark and his wife to grace their presence at the races to have a picnic with their friends and allies. These races were positioned as fashion events to create a charm and glamour for the spectators. So, they designed a dress code for all the men and women right from beginning which was marked as “full morning dress”.

All the women at those picnics used to wear hats and gloves along with their designed outfits. Although later, the costumes and outfits progressed to some extent with the period of time but the hats have remained to be a constant part of attire. During 1920s, the Kentucky Derby events in the hours of daylight although didn’t entice much of the dresses designed in flapper style, rather the ladies used to wear either formal suits or outfits with a wide range of stylish and trendy hat flairs, which is the unforgettable part of that era.

During the 1960s, people relaxed the rules of appearances and fashion to some extent across the nation and on the racecourses. A significant change happened as the Kentucky Derby hats were withdrawn from the class of day to day attire: people started to wear extreme outfits such as outfits with bigger ridges and gallant tones- these were the people who were not the regular users of Kentucky Derby hats. Attention and admiration were being gained by going all out.