This years Kentucky Derby all seemed a bit crazy to me as it came up so fast! It was winter in January and poof! all of a sudden we were only a week away from Derby. Seriously, where does all the time go?
As always, my intentions are to start planning months out, find some beautiful designer dress (on sale somewhere), pair it with the perfect hat or have a hat made, and then add the accessories to really tie the entire outfit together. Wellllllll that did not happen. Not even close.
I had my eye on my ‘perfect’ Oaks dress for a while but never bit the bullet and purchased it. Once it got close to game time, I decided that was an easy pick, purchased that and then turned to focus on the Derby dress. Ps-I’ll be showing the Oaks outfit in a couple days!
For colors, I wanted to stay along the lines of the GH Mumm fabulous bubbly brand and decided that red, like their red sash across their newly designed bottles, would be the color to grab. I decided to pick a hat first and then match the dress.
This Carol Kennelly piece really stuck out and even made me a little nervous. Now- when I say makes me nervous- I’ve come to find out that is a good thing. My Breeders Cup hat last year made me SUPER nervous because of its size and that piece had some raving reviews! This piece has amazing floral details, beautiful bright colors, and sits light as a feather attached by an elastic band.
Outfit Details: Shoshanna Dress | Carol Kennelly Millinery |BCBG Shoes | Longines Watch | Lagos Jewelry
The dress was a lucky find from Neiman Marcus. I picked out two red dresses and actually thought I was going to wear the other one. When they came (which was Thursday of Derby week by the way…) I put this one on first and knew it was the one. I ordered a size up which actually fit me perfectly because for the first time, I wasn’t worried about wearing spanx or pulling it down, sucking it in..etc etc. I wasn’t as form fitting as some of my past dresses but to be honest, it was a relief to have it be just a tick loose!
I decided there was no embellishments needed as the focus would be the hat. The dress was a strong piece too but it complimented my millinery in just the right way.
This year I was super excited to wear some new jewelry which had a ‘Kentucky Derby’ theme. Lagos, a gorgeous jewlery brand came out with a Derby edition that has a ton of beautiful options of earrings, necklaces, bracelets and rings! I kept it simple (as always) and wore the earrings, bracelet and ring on the red carpet. I had my beautiful Longines watch to make sure I wasn’t late (which I was early this year!!) and let the silvers glisten against my bright red.
There will be one year that I won’t be able to pull it off, but thankfully I was able to round out a winning outfit for this years Kentucky Derby!
Click to shop the pieces here:
If you’d like to purchase this amazing hat, head to: store.fashionattheraces.com
