Kentucky Derby Hat Stylish or Satirical

 Kentucky Derby 2024 is almost here.  The year is going quickly.  Spring has sprung and fighting for the right to be.  I am sitting here in Kentucky looking out at the tractors organizing some of the fields to prepare for planting.  In Kentucky there are many things that stand out Horse Racing, Bourbon and Hats.  The farmers need a place in there too.  But in this post I am talking Hats.  Women's headwear.

This May 4 (May the 4th be with you) is the 150th running of the Kentucky Derby.  In 1875 the first Derby was ran and it was a very formal affair.  It's a bit of a mystery as to what the people actually wore because I have not been able to find much written about it or any photos (yes photography already existed at this time).  Strange because most of the reason for running the Derby was bravado.  To show the world especially Europe that the U.S. was just as good as their pageantry.  

So let me indulge you in a bit of fashion style schooling as to what actually is a Kentucky Derby Hat.  Here are French Fashion Plates from 1875.  

Ok, so notice the headgear.  No traditional hats!  So more than likely Kentucky women did not wear hats that day.  They would have worn headgear similar to the above.  Many of the wealthy horse industry families had relatives in Europe.  It was still important to keep up with European Fashion as the United States had not firmly established a true Fashion Design Industry.  I recall reading story of one young woman who was from a very prominent Kentucky Family during the time, who went to visit friends in Massachusetts.  She was known in Louisville to be the Belle of the Ball wherever she went.  When she attended a party in Massachusetts as the guest of honor she wore a particular new Parisian style and was almost chased out of the state in which she did not return.  Many women in Kentucky, I believe would import their fashions from the French importers and dressmakers in New Orleans as well.  So this is why I chose to show Parisian Fashion Plates.  

Now let's get back to it.  In a book about Kentucky from around 1940s, I read about a newspaper reporter who briefly described what the women wore to the first Kentucky Derby.  The reporter did say they wore their spring finest and wore flowers and butterflies in their hair.  So there you have it.  

Well, why in the good gravey did the over exaggerated gregarious tacky beyond words extra large brim hats become the Kentucky Derby Hat?  Who really knows.  But my thinking is someone NOT from Kentucky decided this is what they should look like.  Then the press picked it up somehow and there you have it.  Even before social media, the media was social.

The Derby at it's inception was not created just for the sport of horses but as a day to celebrate Spring, Horse Racing and Kentucky.  Merriweather Lewis intended for everyone to wear their stylish best.  It was not meant to be an all out brawl of party with Satirical Hats and style.  

With that in mind wear what you want but know that an over exaggerated unstylish hat is NOT a Kentucky Derby Hat.  Be stylish!!!