Why do people wear hats at the Kentucky Derby?

Elaborate hats are as evocative of the Kentucky Derby as mint juleps and, well, horse racing. But why do women wear hats to the Derby at all?

According to the Kentucky Derby’s website, the extravagant hat tradition began with Col. Meriwether Lewis Clark Jr., who instituted a “full morning dress” code for the race to mimic the high-class standards of European races. That the fashion of the hats escalated to today’s modern spectacle can be attributed to, like much of 2018 culture, TV.

The Kentucky Derby itself — the actual race — is only about two minutes. (It’s called the Greatest Two Minutes in Sports, after all.) As such, most of the Kentucky Derby fanfare and excitement surrounds the rest of the weekend’s festivities and general culture of the event. Namely, hats and mint juleps.

Back in the day, when the Derby was founded in 1875, a lady going without a hat to the races — or in public, generally, was considered both a fashion faux pas and indecent. The Derby was always intended to be a fashion showcase and that included hats.

Since the inaugural Kentucky Derby, 143 races ago, there were two landmark moments that really made the hat parade what it is today. One was the arrival of television crews, which prompted attendees to raise their hat game, given as it was and is that so many around the world are watching. (It helped, too, that around this time — circa the 1960s — fashion norms were loosening so the upper class Derby guests were more accepting of larger, brighter and bigger hats.)

More recently, hats at the Derby took another leap after William and Kate’s Royal Wedding in 2011, which exposed Americans to the wonders of millinery and fascinators. Since there was no eminent or imminent royal wedding for Americans to attend, embracing the hat tradition of the Kentucky Derby was the next best thing. And so, in addition to those on Millionaire’s Row, Derby hats became a real thing for just about everyone in attendance.

Sometime during all of this, men got in on the action too. Unfortunately, the most popular men’s hat at the Derby remains the fedora.

So, why do people wear elaborate hats to the Kentucky Derby? European mimicry, television vanity and Royal Wedding envy. Also: Because they’re fun and silly and let’s not take this all too seriously.

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