The tradition of having a giggle.

June 21, 2015 11:55 AM

Bizarre. Floral. Witty. Futuristic. Avian. Not just for women, either. The hats of Royal Ascot 2015 are stunning works of millinery art. Just the Ladies Day pictures (cute).

Royal Ascot: A Milliner's Dream, Lauren Morris, The Bristol Magazine

"Britain can sometimes feel aristocratic and led by the stiff upper-classes, often unrelatable, always impenetrable. It is however always pleasant to see people having a giggle, poking fun at themselves, being happy and feeling confident. Although these hats are gorgeous, perfectly designed and impeccably crafted, they are also silly, which is endearing. It breaks down barriers, and it can make people seem approachable. The blatant contradiction between the traditional festivities and the lengths women go to stand out from the crowd is also commendable, as well as humorous. These ‘laws’, rules and regulations of Ascot have been put in place, yet a person’s headwear provides a sense of freedom, of individuality, of personality and of character. And that is why come the time of Royal Ascot, I’ll be flicking through magazines, oohing and ahhing at the beautiful designs and doffing my hat to them."

posted by joseph conrad is fully awesome (11 comments total)

There's a lady at my church (in Rhode Island) who wears a hat to Mass every weekend, and I honestly cannot remember a dupe in almost 15 years. The sight of them always makes me smile.
posted by wenestvedt at 12:42 PM on June 21, 2015 [2 favorites]

Why hats like those have gone out of fashion in the U.S. is beyond me. I blame the hair products cartel.
posted by still_wears_a_hat at 12:50 PM on June 21, 2015 [6 favorites]

You're really begging for 'eponysterical' there, aren't you?
posted by Segundus at 1:40 PM on June 21, 2015 [4 favorites]

I love that there is a lot of acknowledgment that wearing high heels for an entire day is pretty much unsustainable in the Ladies Day gallery.
posted by mynameisluka at 2:12 PM on June 21, 2015 [1 favorite]

Sometimes, it feels just right - I wouldn't say good - being part of the, you know, riffraff.
posted by nicolin at 2:20 PM on June 21, 2015

Sometimes, it feels just right - I wouldn't say good - being part of the, you know, riffraff.


COME ON, DOVER- MOVE YOUR BLOOMIN' ARSE!
posted by TheWhiteSkull at 2:53 PM on June 21, 2015 [5 favorites]

Toffs gotta toff.
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 3:09 PM on June 21, 2015 [2 favorites]

(Which is to say: the Royal Ascot coverage has always been a mutually-accepted voyeuristic view into upper-class life: they wear the hats, we watch them.)
posted by We had a deal, Kyle at 3:12 PM on June 21, 2015 [1 favorite]

HATS 👒
posted by The Whelk at 3:58 PM on June 21, 2015 [2 favorites]

We're all in these hats together.
posted by Devonian at 6:41 PM on June 21, 2015

Of course it would be Rarity in the MLP hat.
posted by mogget at 8:52 PM on June 21, 2015