Dressing for the Galway Races

wendydoll

Hey fellow ladies,

Group of pals have decided we'll go to the Galway races this year. We are going from Ladies day until the end of racing week. We are complete racing novices.

We seem sorted for Ladies Day but wondering what to wear after Ladies day?? I've been googling it and some people are saying Ladies Day onwards are dressy days and others are saying you'd look out of place if you are dressed up.

We don't want to look over dressed but don't want to be undressed either. Would be grateful for any advice from ladies that went in the last few years

Lucyfur

Hi wendydoll,

I've moved your thread to Fashion and Appearance as I feel you'll get better answers here.

Enjoy the races

Lucy

XxMCRxBabyxX

I don't know about Galway specifically but I've worked at Leopardstown and you generally find a mix of the two most days. Some will really dress up while others are very casual so maybe somewhere in the middle would suit?

convert

What you wear to the races is really up to you: you can dress up or down and you won't be out of place. With regards to choosing an outfit for any day at the races, I would strongly recommend that you dress for the weather. If it's cool and/or wet (as Ireland can be in late July/August), bring a coat and umbrella. You can easily find one to match your outfit, or put together your outfit to match your coat.

I posted in a similar thread a while back, here's the link to the post: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showpost.php?p=73186106&postcount=2

And here's a summary of the main things to take into consideration:

The great thing about going to the races is that there's no dress code (unless going to Royal Ascot in the UK). You can dress up or down as much as you want. Hats are, of course, optional.

However, the following are some main points that I would recommend:

1. Dress in something in which you're comfortable, and something that you won't be afraid will fall down/rise up, etc. etc.

2. Dress for the weather and always bring a jacket/coat/cardigan/wrap to pull on if it gets cold.

3. An umbrella, whether part of your outfit or squished into a bag is always a good idea, especially given the unreliable Irish weather.

4. And finally, comfortable shoes and/or shoes that you're able to walk in are an absolutely necessary (unless you bring a pair of flats in your bag that you can put on when your feet get sore). (And don't forget, comfortable does not mean that they can't be stylish, too!)

JillyQ

Op Thursday day of race week is ladies day, and it is very much dress up. For the rest of the weekend it is more casual.
Have you booked your accommodation, if you haven't you need to book that now.

wendydoll

Thanks for the link to the other thread convert, it was one that I had read already. And then I spotted on a thread (not on boards) that someone commented "Whatever you do, don't turn up after Thursday dressed up - it is very casual and wearing a hat will be very OTT"

Would many people wear hats/fascinators after ladies day? At the end of the day we don't want to stick out like sore thumbs

JillyQ

Wear a hat or a fascinators on Thursday. Friday is an evening meeting and is casual dressy, saturday and sunday are family days.

purplecow1977

It's not until July?!?!?!

Ladies Day is probably the most 'stylish' day - fascinators etc.

Heels are a pain on the grass at times though!

wendydoll

purplecow1977 wrote: »

It's not until July?!?!?!

Yeah its not until July :rolleyes: but its nice to know what you need to buy so you can grab bargains and get your hands on unusual pieces

JillyQ wrote: »

Op Thursday day of race week is ladies day, and it is very much dress up. For the rest of the weekend it is more casual.
Have you booked your accommodation, if you haven't you need to book that now.

Thanks for the advice JillyQ. We'll keep hats to the Thursday only so. Yeah we booked our accommodation a few weeks ago so that's one less thing to worry about

gossipgirl10

No matter what day you go to the races in Galway there will be some people very dressed up wearing hats etc and some people totally casual - anything goes. Wednesday and Thursday would probably be the dressiest two days out of the week but you definitely won't look out of place if you are dressed up on other days (especially if you are in a group and all the group is dressed up).

There are other competitions on throughout the week for best dressed, most appropriately dressed etc not just the official ladies day competition on the Thursday so often people will be dressed up for those. On the Tuesday of race week the NBCRI hold a fund raising lunch which everyone gets just as dressed up for as they would for Ladies Day and all those ladies head to the racecourse for the evening meeting afterwards.

There is also the fact that since everyone is so dressed up on Ladies Day you tend to blend into the crowd no matter how much effort you have made so some people like to get dressed up on the quieter days to draw more attention (if that's your thing... )