On Sunday 1st July I made my way to The Dubai Duty Free Derby Festival at the Curragh with my mum, sister and brother in law. I hadn’t been to the races since I was a child so didn’t know what to expect but I was bowled over by the extravagance and style! The Ladies had gone all out! I had decided to wear what I thought was one of my ‘bolder’ headpieces, but I quickly realised that ‘bold’ in racing terms is something quite different…

Anyway, the reason I went was to participate in The Who Wants To Be A Milliner competition run by Brendan Courtney (see previous post). After seeing the standard of hats around I was pretty sure that I didn’t stand a chance but I’d come all that way, so I decided to throw my name into the hat (no pun intended).

We spent the next hour or so in The Style Tent with the finalists for The Ultimate Ladies Day competition. All previous winners of other ladies days were in attendance to try become Queen of all ladies days! There were some amazing outfits, and a number of Philip Treacy hats in the mix too.

Around 3 o’clock I noticed a surge of hats enter the room – my competition had entered. It was time. Standing to one side, toward the back, I surveyed the room wondering who’d get called out as winners of The Curragh heat… There were a lot of beautiful hats, and a lot of hopeful faces. Needless to say I was stunned and thrilled when they called my name! Okay so I didn’t win, but I came third!

The ladies that followed looked fabulous and were wearing stunning hats, so I was delighted to be up on the stage along side them! Brendan Courtney came on then, who’s lovely by the way, and we were snapped.

It was such an incredible boost! The other two finalists are professional milliners and I since discovered that the milliner who won is a bit of a regular feature at race meets, she’s always winning Best Dressed and Best Hat so I was in good company.

So what next?… Well, I guess I have to keep going! If that wasn’t a vote of confidence, I don’t know what is! I’m going to try make it to some more racing festivals over the summer, get some exposure and make as many hats as I can.

I’ve attached some pictures of the day. Also check out The Who Wants To Be A Milliner Facebook page. I’m on it!