Glam National as girls flash the flesh in a betting, boozing and ‘brows bonanza

There’s been a 65% explosion in trade in fake eyelashes as fans dared to bare at this year’s Aintree festival with 8,000 bottles of prosecco downed

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Ladies Day revellers turned Aintree into the Glam National as they flashed the flesh in a betting, boozing and ‘brows bonanza. Local boutiques expected a 600% rise in tanning lotion sales and 65% explosion in trade in fake eyelashes as fans dared to bare.

They quaffed 8,000 bottles of prosecco, 5,000 of champagne, 130,000 pints of Guinness and lager, 21,000 shots of vodka and 10 cocktails as they turned the racing festival into a party.

Aintree’s own Ibiza-style beach club was rammed as fans danced to club anthems between races. One glam racegoer revealed on TikTok how it had taken a month to get ready.

Georgia Williamson, from Cheshire, started her beauty appointments with a lip filler session on March 5 to make sure she looked her best for the second day of the festival. The next day she got her hair dyed and extensions put in.

Then on March 13 the interior designer got a facial, last Tuesday a manicure and on Wednesday this week she was busy waxing, shaving and exfoliating – finishing with a collagen face mask.

Then on Thursday she had her eyebrows done, a pedicure and a spray tan. She started Ladies Day at 5.45am with a peppermint tea.

M&S worker Emma O’Neill, 45, from St Helens, Merseyside, bought a bargain dress for £16 – then matched it with £865 Christian Louboutin heels

As she and sister Leah, 42, supped rose wine in O Beach – Aintree’s branch of Gary Lineker brother Wayne’s Ibiza club – she said: “This is just amazing. I never expected anything like this at the races. It’s a bit overwhelming. There are so many people and everybody is just out for a good time.

“There can’t be many events like this in the UK.”

Support worker Leah, who spent £12 on her dress but a ‘fortune’ on her handbag, added: “We’ve come with our mum but we’ve ditched her to go to the beach club. It’s brilliant.”

Social care worker Georgina Aindow, 22, from Southport, Merseyside, said: “Ladies Day was amazing anyway – but adding an Ibiza club is a fantastic idea.”

Her beautician pal Marni Gilmour, 21, said: “We’ve booked a holiday to Ibiza. We needn’t have bothered. It’s come to Liverpool”. Their bank worker friend Charlize Scanlan, 22, added: “Everyone has got really dressed up. They look amazing.”

Some of the sell-out 50,000 crowd branded the glam fest ‘Scouse Met Gala’. Charlotte Hawes, 32, from Wallasey, Wirral, said her hat, which was black and adorned with an arrangement of red roses, was ‘heavy’ but ‘secure’.

“Bigger is better I think,” she said. “You’ve got to go all out haven’t you? It’s once a year Ladies Day. I love everyone’s style. Everyone really makes an effort. It’s the Scouse Met Gala, as they say. All the girls of Liverpool are so stylish.”

Milliner Steph Corlett, 38, from Maghull, Merseyside, had been making her burgundy horse-shaped headpiece up until the night before the races and said it had been her busiest year yet for Ladies Day orders.

She said: “The hats have suddenly just become a big thing now. The last few years it’s just got bigger and bigger. I think since Covid people make more effort.”

Some racegoers tried to keep costs down while looking their best.

Hannah Mooney, 32, from Widnes, Cheshire, sourced her tweed and brown outfit with a camel-coloured trilby from charity shops and preloved selling app Vinted. “My aim was to spend as little as possible on an outfit so I could spend more on betting on the horses,” she said.

Her sister Jessica Mooney, 34, who wore a floral long-sleeved dress with a white headband, said: “You don’t see anything like this anywhere else.

“It’s definitely one of the best days of the year. Everyone puts so much effort in. The hats and the dresses are just incredible.”

Helen Scott-Allen, 46, from the Isle of Man, opted for vintage with a 1950s horse-racing themed Paganne dress bought from eBay. Her hat, which featured a horse and jockey, had been shipped from America.

She said: “It was well-packaged thankfully. As soon as this festival finishes I start planning it for next year.”

Her husband Dave Allen, 44, said his colour co-ordinated outfit was more last-minute.

“I do exactly as I’m told with about five minutes notice – so Helen puts a year’s worth of planning into it and I just do as I’m told on the morning of,” she said.

Leanne Kelly. 41, from Perth, Scotland, wore a huge floral and feathered headpiece to match her off-the-shoulder dress.

She said: “It’s all about the hat. I just love a hat. For me it’s got to be big, it’s got to be bold, it’s got to be something fun.”

Hannah Smith, 29, from Edinburgh, was named Best Dressed at The Style Awards – despite losing part of her outfit before she arrived at the racecourse.

She put together her look, a soft pink suit with flower-embellished fitted jacket and chiffon maxi skirt from Dutch fashion company Leyna Dresses, and a Millinery by Mel fascinator, for less than £400.

Hannah did not think she had a chance of a Style Awards victory after a petal on her fascinator fell off before she left her hotel on Friday morning but said it made her outfit look ‘more unique’.

She said: “I thought there was no way I was going to win. There are so many people here. I lost one of the petals on my hat this morning and I was really gutted. But nobody has actually noticed, so it’s fine.

“It was literally when I was coming down the lift in the hotel. It was meant to be for it to fall off. It made it more unique. Pink isn’t even my colour normally. I’m quite fresh but I thought I’d go out of my comfort zone. And I really liked it on.”

Also winning in the fashion stakes was Zara Tindall who wore a cream trouser suit with matching hat as she accompanied her husband Mike and daughter Mia.