Love Island-style Cuban collars loosen the reins at Royal Ascot
WHILE ladies have always dressed to the nines for Royal Ascot, gentlemen’s fashion has been a bit of an afterthought. However, not this year.
Ascot is encouraging male racegoers to embrace “bold and daring” style, including “prints, pops of colour and Cuban collar shirts”.
They are among the official Royal Ascot Style Guide recommendations for the Windsor Enclosure, where ties are not mandatory but the dress code remains “smart daywear”.
In the Village Enclosure, ties must be worn but suggested looks include suits in purple pinstripe or salmon pink velvet.
Organisers invited Rachel Bakewell, a stylist who has worked with the actresses Helena Bonham Carter and Florence Pugh, to put together this year’s guide and take the dress code in “a new creative direction”.
The dress code for the Royal Enclosure is unchanged – morning suits for men and formal daywear with a hat or large headpiece for women. Bakewell’s looks stretch from designs by Simone Rocha, Emilia Wickstead and The Vampire’s Wife, to high street outfits from Reiss and LK Bennett. In the Windsor and Village enclosures there are no rules about hemlines, and the guide includes a thigh-grazing minidress.
Scott Wimsett, fashion commentator for Royal Ascot TV, said the guide was a barometer of the national mood in the wake of the pandemic. “It’s the start of a new age. All of us want to have fun, and grab the opportunity to wear something colourful. It’s a tonic,” said Wimsett, who added that the Cuban collars are a way to “celebrate summer”.
While Cuban shirts may appeal to a younger crowd – they have been sported on Love Island – the pink velvet and purple striped suits would suit older men, he said. “I’ve got some eccentric uncles who would look great in those suits.”
For the formal Royal Enclosure, the guide also has advice. Kristian Fernerrobson, of Oliver Brown, the Chelsea and Jermyn Street tailor, said: “With men’s dressing for the Royal Enclosure, it’s about the top hat – never tilted back, avoid tilting it forward, and it is very polite to take it off when saying hello.”