A Guide to Ladies Cheltenham Dress Code with Alice Hare

A Guide to Ladies Cheltenham Dress Code with Alice Hare

Alice Hare is a London based stylist and fashion editor with a love of British style and all things country. We asked for her advice on what to wear to the Festival to look at feel your best.

Marmite and hot buttered toast. An energetic Labrador and an empty stretch of beach. Portmeirion and a country kitchen. Cheltenham Festival and tweed. Some things just go together. And ahead of the pinnacle in the flat season calendar, let us draw our attention to the latter combination. This year, the Festival (a favourite of the royals and whose prize money is second only to that of the Grand National) is set to take place from 11th -14th March, and naturally promises to serve up its usual dose of racing and style in spades.

A quick recap. Unlike other racing events (like the flat season’s Royal Ascot), there is no official dress code dictated by the Jockey Club for Cheltenham Festival. However, there very much is an unspoken dress code, so it’s important you get it right unless you wish to feel like, to put it precisely, a complete and utter lemon. This unspoken dress code can be summarised pithily. In one word, in fact. Yep, you guessed it. Tweed.

Why tweed? Warm, water-repellent and largely self-cleaning, it’s little wonder it’s been the camouflage of the countryside since time immemorial. Tweed’s practicality perfectly befits the Festival’s setting and timing in the annual calendar – I can tell you from experience that there’s something about the racecourse’s specific geography that makes it feel even in March less spring, more Siberia. Even if ten minutes from the racecourse the weather feels mild, heed my warning: do not be fooled.

There’s an ease to flat season dressing: a pretty dress is an outfit in itself. I therefore think the need for practicality during the jumps season scares many (how do I make sure my coat matches my outfit? What shoes do I wear that will be warm and sturdy enough in mud?), but in fact, it’s precisely in this need for practicality that the joy of Cheltenham dressing can be found. With practicality comes layers, and with layers comes an inherent drama that’s harder to achieve during the summer racing season – think Anna Karenina-style faux fur hats, Dracula worthy velvets, and Sherlock Holmes-esque tweeds. There’s a distinct, undiluted Britishness to the Festival’s fashion too – it provides the perfect stage for clothes that reflect our national obsession with things that not only look good but perform, that are functional, too. Practicality and style can and should be close friends.

There’s a fine line to tread, however, between adhering to the Festival’s unofficial tweed uniform, of fitting in, and simultaneously not looking like a clone of every other person there. How does one demonstrate individuality at an event with such a specific unspoken dress code? It’s all in the difference between wearing and styling. Anyone can wear clothes but styling them is how to inject individual flair. Read on for my guide to getting it right.

1. Tweed Made Modern

Part of the joy of dressing for Cheltenham is that many of the items you wear will turn into year-round wardrobe heroes. Take Cordings’s Wincanton suit, for example. It abounds with detail: the jacket (£325) boasts an opulent navy velvet storm tab collar, football button front closure and cuffs, and pockets trimmed in the same navy velvet as the collar. The Holy Trinity of details if you will.

Its matching pencil trousers (£179) look just as at home tucked into long socks in the field as they will lose with a slingback block heel at Cheltenham (emphasis on the block – the underfoot conditions at Cheltenham can resemble those of Shrek’s swamp and stilettos never fare well). Ditto the waistcoat (£199) – an extra layer of warmth alongside the matching jacket and trousers at Cheltenham, and equally good with cords at the weekend year round. Cording’s Donegal Fairisle jumper in navy (£150) draws out the blue of the jacket’s collar and adds to the look’s vintage-inspired aesthetic. Match your accessories to the burgundy in the fairisle and add a snaffle belt over the jacket for an equestrian nod. An insider trick? Long wool socks (Cordings’s merino country socks (£21) are just the ticket) with your slingbacks sneak in another layer of warmth under your trousers. My father said recently that it gave him a ‘secret thrill’ when he wore a short-sleeved shirt under morning dress to a wedding. I argue the thrill of a secret long wool sock under an elegant outfit is even better.

2. Wetherby

Your starting point here? Cording’s Wetherby suit. The tweed of its jacket (£325) and waistcoat (£189) is both soft and strong (whoever thought tweed was scratchy had clearly never encountered a Cordings’s tweed), while its herringbone pattern leans into the quintessentially British look of Cheltenham. The word ‘culottes’ terrifies many women – ‘I can’t pull them off!’, ‘they’re for fashion types!’, ‘I’ll look like a Tudor court jester!’, etc. etc. But these are all myths soon debunked as soon as you try a pair on. The high waist and knife-sharp pleats of the Wetherby culottes (£199) are supremely flattering and a shortcut to Katherine Hepburn-esque, swooshy elegance. And that swooshiness isn’t just for show: in the field, it provides a freedom of movement that’s all kinds of practical.

3. Earthy tones

One way to show you’re a Cheltenham newbie is to arrive wearing something bright. Follow the same rule of thumb you would in the country: you want to blend into your environment. If you’re overwhelmed at the prospect of choosing an outfit, make an earthy-toned coat your look’s focal point and build from there. Cordings’s Tadworth tweed duster coat (£495) has all the hallmarks of the classic trench – and the oh-so-cool borrowed-from-the-boys look that comes with that. Where cheaper claim-to-be ‘trench’ coats cut corners, this one doesn’t scrimp – its wonderfully wide collar and lapels are perfect to turn up for extra warmth around the neck. Pair with the Wetherby trouser (£179) and cream chunky roll neck (£152) and for a modern twist.

Four quickfire insider tips to finish?

i. If you’re wearing a dress, make sure your coat’s hem is as long or longer than your dress’s. A coat hem shorter than your dress’s suggests you’ve grabbed the same coat you throw on every day for the commute.

ii. Avoid raffia headpieces in the winter – look for felts and velvets instead. Raffia always looks out of place during the jumps season and suggests you’ve grabbed the same headpiece you wear for the flat season as an afterthought.

iii. M&S’s or Uniqlo’s fleece-lined thermals are the perfect base layer for added warmth
without the bulk.

iiii. A bag with a top handle that you can dangle from your wrist as opposed to a clutch bag is advisable – you’ll need your hands free for your drink and race card. And last of all, remember this: jumps season fashion is – whisper it – oftentimes more fun than dressing for flat season. The gloomy, seemingly endless winter months are when can most benefit from the escapist, mood-boosting power of fashion after all, so indulge in this wholeheartedly. There’s no better time than at Cheltenham come March.

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