Hats off to the Galway Ladies’ Day milliners and fashionistas
IRISH milliners have been burning the midnight oil in the countdown to the Galway Races which kick off today, bringing millions in revenue into the City of the Tribes.
The seven-day summer stylefest also generates a lucrative ‘Ballybrit trickledown’ for all sections of the Irish fashion scene, from the high street and local boutiques to designers and the very busy milliners.
The biggest accolade will come on Thursday with the Best Dressed Lady competition which annually attracts serious style contenders, all chasing a valuable cache of prizes plus the honour and glory of scooping the coveted title.
The exposure of a ‘Galway style win’ has propelled a number of Ballybrit winners into new careers.
Carol Kennelly – the 2008 Best Dressed winner – from Tralee, Co Kerry, has probably made the most headway of all the recent victors.
The mother of two left her job in the hotel sector and now has an internationally respected millinery business with clients around the world, after investing her Ballybrit winnings into a millinery course with Lina Stein in Co Mayo.
Tullamore insurance broker Lisa McGowan initially suffered online bullying after winning the title in 2016.
But she has since turned it around into a lucrative profile with her Lisa Lust List blog. This week, she returns to Galway to judge the evening style event at the G Hotel, which is also sponsoring the daytime competition at the race course.
Galway style never fails to fascinate the country and over the years it has set several benchmarks for elegant dressing.
After the heady excesses of the Celtic Tiger excesses the 2010 winner, florist Ann Marie O’Leary from Dingle, wowed wearing a Karyn Moriarty cream bodycon dress with bow and a Carol Kennelly sequined hat.
Eight years later, the winning outfit is still a racing favourite because of its chic aesthetic. It is not unlike the pared back, all-cream look Kate Middleton has favoured for all three of her christenings and the wedding of Harry and Meghan.
Twins Dawn and Davina Knight, from Portarlington, Co Offaly, annually scoop newspaper front pages with their matching outfits.
They wore different outfits to Kilbeggan races this month which is a rarity but this week, they plan to return to ‘twinning’ with swing skirt outfits inspired by Grace Kelly.
However, in a Galway races first for the 33 year olds, they will be wearing hats they have made themselves and form part of their new sisterly venture – Knights Millinery.
“On big style days, we love twinning and it is quite a trend, even people who aren’t twins are doing it and dressing similar,” said Davina, who is a make-up artist.
“On Ladies’ Day we are not there to compete, just to enjoy the fashion and style and hopefully, with our own hats and our take on a vintage look, it will help our hat business and one day I’d love to get into fashion design,” said Dawn, who is an art and design graduate from Limerick School of Art and Design and who writes a blog, ‘Two Glamorous Knights’, with her sister.
“We put a lot of effort into our outfits,” said Dawn. “Milliners approach us to wear their hats but this year, we will be wearing our own.”
If they were ever invited to be in the finalists line-up for their hat design, Dawn said: “I’m sure the decision as to which one of us would go up would be made fairly quickly, and of course the prize would be halved.”
IN a new development, Wednesday racing has moved to an evening slot, a decision designed to boost local attendance from the greater Galway region and beyond.
This means many people will be coming from work or taking just a half day off but the change in times shouldn’t affect the style quotient at the course too much.
An evening meet does not mean evening dress so expect daytime looks with more jackets than pashminas.
The City of the Tribes has created a whole calendar of style competitions around race week glamour, including charity lunches with Best Dressed competitions factored in along with transport to the course.
These noon starts mean local hairdressing salons are opening their doors extra early and for Ladies Day’ this Thursday.