My mum used to watch the Royal Ascot coverage every year purely for the outfits. Not the racing, never the racing. She couldn’t have told you which horse won what, but she could describe in detail what someone wore in the parade ring three years ago. I thought it was a bit mad until I went and realised she was completely right to treat it that way. The fashion at Ascot is genuinely its own thing.

It’s one of those events that people who have never been still somehow know about. You mention Ascot and even someone with zero interest in horses immediately pictures the hats. That’s not an accident, it’s just what the place has become over a very long time. Queen Anne apparently spotted the land in 1711 and thought it looked good for racing. Over three hundred years later people are still showing up, the Royal Family included, and the procession that opens each day looks the same as it always has. Very British, very committed to tradition, completely unbothered about changing anything that doesn’t need changing.

The first time you attend it hits differently than you expect. There’s champagne everywhere and hospitality tents and people clearly having a very good time, but there’s also this underlying formality that you can feel. Certain enclosures take the dress code genuinely seriously and if you haven’t investigated what that means specifically for where you’re sitting you can end up in an awkward conversation at the entrance. First timers tend to either massively overdress or slightly underdress. The people who’ve been before just look right without appearing to have tried too hard, which is the whole goal really.

The fashion coverage started getting serious in the twentieth century when newspapers realised people were as interested in what was being worn as who was winning. It snowballed from there. Now certain milliners are booked out months in advance because of Ascot alone and people treat finding the right hat with the same weight as finding the actual dress. Royal Ascot outfits get planned, reconsidered, changed completely and planned again. My friend has a notes app she starts in January. January. For an event in June.

Weather is the thing nobody talks about enough until it ruins their day. British summer being what it is, you can leave the house in sunshine and spend the afternoon huddled under an umbrella wondering why you didn’t bring a jacket. The women who always look good at these things almost always have something with them, a blazer, a lightweight coat, something that doesn’t destroy the outfit but means they’re not completely at the mercy of whatever the sky decides to do at three in the afternoon.

Midi dresses have basically taken over race day fashion, and it makes complete sense when you think about it. They work for most dress codes, they don’t need constant adjusting when you’re walking around all day, and they photograph well which people care about more than they’ll usually admit. Softer colours tend to dominate because they feel appropriate for the setting, but a deep green or a rich burgundy in a crowd full of pastels and florals can look really striking. The outfits that tend to get remembered aren’t usually the most dramatic ones. More often it’s something fairly simple that just fits the person wearing it well.

Ascot has somehow managed to stay relevant for over three hundred years without losing the thing that makes it feel special. The racing is serious, the history is real, and the fashion has grown into something that draws people in who genuinely couldn’t care less about horses. That’s a difficult balance to maintain and yet there it is every June, hats and all, completely itself.