Glamorous Royal Ascot racegoers kick off the weekend early

Revellers put on their best attire, creating a beautiful sea of vibrant colours and fabrics as they showed up for day two of the Royal Ascot this morning. 

As ever, flamboyant hats and gowns were front and centre as the society event in Berkshire kicked off on Friday.

Royal Ascot, the jewel in the crown of the UK racing calendar, started on Tuesday with the Queen Anne Stakes and will run until Saturday.

This year’s meeting will have an overall prize-money pot of £10million. This is a record amount for Royal Ascot. The minimum winnings for all eight Group 1 races will be £650,000.

It was founded by Queen Anne in 1711 after she declared Ascot ideal for ‘horses to gallop at full stretch’ and has today become a major social event as well as a sporting attraction.

Standards have not slipped from yesterday’s display of elegant fashion, and revellers have arrived dressed to the nines. 

Fashion designer Louise Roe kept things simple but sophisticated in a pale blue dress with corset-style detailing and a matching hat.

For the first time in its 313-year history, Ascot Racecourse announced this year the appointment of a creative director. 

British fashion designer Daniel Fletcher was responsible for the creation of the annual Lookbook and Millinery Collective in 2024, which set the style tone for the year and often inspire racegoers’ outfits.

He’s known for his classically tailored silhouettes and modern gender-fluid clothes; his Spring/Summer 2023 collection included corset designs for both men and women.

The Cheshire-born designer, whose first customer was the eccentric Harry Styles, told GQ in 2023: ‘The idea of an item of clothing being for a specific gender is such a funny one.

‘I understand that something like a bra is designed for function, but when it comes to a shirt, why would we apply gender to something like that? And for me, the same applies to the corset.’

Former One Direction member Harry whose style has included jumpsuits, feather boas, skirts and dresses, became Daniel’s first customer after buying all the boxy short-sleeved shirts from the designer’s graduate collection in 2015.

‘Harry had a huge impact on my career,’ Daniel admitted to GQ in 2020. ‘At 24 years old I couldn’t believe what was happening.’

Since then, the designer’s career has gone from strength to strength, with A-listers including James McAvoy, Robert Pattinson, Eddie Redmayne, Emma Corrin and Emerald Fennell wearing his looks.

The Central Saint Martins graduate has also designed for some of the world’s most prestigious houses including Louis Vuitton, Lanvin and JW Anderson and held the role of Artistic Director for Italian label Fiorucci between 2019 and 2023.

He was nominated for the LVMH prize in 2017, was a winner of the European Semi- Final of the International Woolmark Prize and named Breakthrough Designer of The Year in the 2020 GQ Men of The Year Awards.

After many successful seasons showing his collections on the London Fashion Week schedule, Daniel took part in Netflix’s ‘Next In Fashion’ series which saw him make it to the final.

Of his latest appointment, Daniel said: ‘I’m thrilled to be appointed as Ascot’s first Creative Director and have thrown myself into the new role.

‘I’m keen to encapsulate the rich heritage of the racecourse while embracing the unique dress codes, adding a contemporary twist to bring a flair that Ascot hasn’t seen before.

‘For 2024, I want to inspire racegoers to push the boundaries with their own unique style and immerse themselves in the opportunity to embrace their own creativity – and what better occasion than Royal Ascot!

‘I’m super excited to reveal the next evolution of style direction for the world- renowned brand and can’t wait for the vision to become a reality.’

The Best of British Edit takes inspiration from Daniel’s lifelong fascination with British Heritage and features clashing stripes and ties worn with whimsical silk dresses. 

He said the New Guard Edit is dedicated to the next generation of independent brands and designers, with a new take on occasion dressing. 

The Conscious Edit aims to showcase how racegoers can dress up whilst thinking about the impact their fashion choices have on the environment. This includes a custom suit designed and made in London by Fletcher using a deadstock lightweight tweed. 

Fletcher said the Luxury Edit is for racegoers who are looking to elevate their look and add a touch of glamour. 

Some pieces included have intricate and unique elements to the designs, for example, the intarsia knits in Missoni dresses, to pleating from Zimmerman, and draping from Marc Jacobs. 

Whilst the designer says you can never go wrong with a classic Top hat and Tails, the Tailoring Edit highlights other ways to incorporate tailoring into race day dressing.

The Albany Stakes, The Coronation Stakes, The Sandringham Stakes and The Duke of Edinburgh Stakes, The King Edward VII Stakes, The Palace of Holyroodhouse Stakes and the Commonwealth Cup will all take place today.