I realize there should be other pressing matters to occupy my time but since the weekend at Loon Lake with Bryan and Sue, a lot of my thoughts are about what we should wear to the horse races. We are all attending the Virginia Gold Cup horse races and one night at the lake house, Sue and I began plotting our outfits.
You see, horse racing is a fashion event with its own set of standards. Don't believe me? Google it. Find out for yourself. There are even blogs dedicated to the fashion at the race in Virgina with photo after photo of fashionable attendees. Who would have thought it would be so easy to get sucked into the fashion of horse racing?
The first consideration for women is the hat. Wear a hat or not? There are a LOT of websites dedicated to hats for horse races. A LOT! A TON! On these hats for horseracing sites you can even find out which hat best suits your face. Should you wear a fascinator, a short brimmed hat, a tall hat or a wide brimmed hat? It depends on the shape of your face, the width of your shoulders and how tall you are. I found out I can wear just about any shaped hat I want. Could I really pass up this opportunity? ANY HAT SHAPE? There was a whole world of hats for horse races to explore and Sue and I only touched the tip of the iceberg that night.
In my "research" I read that the fashionable hat at last year's race was the fascinator, probably because the races were just after the royal wedding. This year, the weather is expected to be warm, possible rain but some sunshine. The horse-racing fashionistas are calling for wide-brimmed hats.
Lucky for me it was my first hat choice. I'm of the philosophy, "Go big, or go home." The bigger the better. I became a lady on a mission for a wide brimmed hat with cute grosgrain ribbon and one obnoxiously large flower.
Of course, in all my "research" I discovered that it is debatable whether you should have the dress before the hat or vice versa. I thought I knew which side of the argument I was on. I had the dress already hanging in my closet...
all I needed to do was find the over the top hat to go with it. But, then you see all these hats, and that one is oh so cute but wouldn't match the dress, and you begin to rethink the whole thing. Should I have picked the hat before the dress? Before I rushed out for a personal shopper, I just had to make a decision. So I went with the original hat I saw for the original dress.
If it were only so easy for the rest of the family.
Tuesday morning, Matt wakes up and says, "What do I have to wear to this race? Do I have to look nice?" I went on "red alert" for what should Matt wear to the races. Wednesday morning I scoured his closet and then searched the upstairs attic. I needed help in finding something preppy for the hubs to wear. One shop popped in my mind---
Oliver and I got in the car and drove to the nearest store. Upon entering we were greeted by the nicest ladies who helped plan it all out. One entertained Oliver and the other put together outfit ideas for me to look at. They were all so nice, I had to go the whole hog and ask them to find outfits for the kids. Can we say SUCKER? This time they SQUEALED with delight.
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| Matt's outfit--seersucker shorts, green button down shirt and navy critter tie from their Derby collection. What luck they have a "Derby collection". |
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| Chloe's outfit---I did have a plaid dress picked out but she turned up her nose. She'll be wearing a pink seersucker skirt, white polo, and plaid flip-flops. In my dream world she will not stain the shirt 5 seconds after putting it on. |
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| Oliver's outfit-- Large gingham shirt, blue toddler bow tie (with fish print) and the critter shorts. Thank heavens he isn't old enough to tell me this is the most ridiculous ensemble and he won't be wearing it because I don't think it is. He can tell me that many years down the road when he is looking at his photo in the VV catalog. In my dream world he won't rip the bow tie off and will keep it on. |
They seriously were nice in the store (of course, why shouldn't they be when crazy woman and child let them have free reign on picking outfits for three people) and it was the best shopping experience in a store with Oliver ever. They demanded I take photos and send them to be on the website and catalog. They also requested I mail one to the store of Oliver so they can display it. Seriously nice ladies.
So now the outfits are complete and the stage is set. Lets see if we can do these clothes justice. I'll post photos after the event.
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