Ascot HELP!

[Tiacasey]

My daughter is going to Ascot for her first time - Anne’s Enclosure - what can she actually wear?

If it's an ordinary raceday rather than Royal Ascot (which I assume it is as you're asking at this time of year!) then technically anything goes, bar fancy dress and football shirts. So pretty much whatever she wants to wear won't be a problem from an admission point of view. She'll probably see a real mix of people there, from horsey types/punters who are really only there for the sport and dressed very casually/scruffily, to extremely smart outfits with full hats etc. based on what you'd wear for Royal Ascot who are there for champagne and glamour. So she should probably check with the rest of her party if she's not too sure what end of the spectrum they sit!

However in the summer, I would say the majority of people especially younger racegoers are about as a dressy as they would be for an summer daytime wedding or formal garden party, so women usually wear pretty summer day dresses, court heels or smart sandals with a pashmina or smart jacket as cover-up. Hats are not universally worn so she doesn't need one but a small hat or fascinator can look smart. Men would wear an ordinary lounge or business suit, or a more casual linen/summer suit or just chinos and a blazer is quite common too.

Some of the (ahem!) less classy racegoers may be dressed more for clubbing in short tight cocktail type dresses and stilettos, particularly if there's a concert on after racing, but I would advise for comfort (she may need to walk on grass and if she wants to see the horses and watch the races needs to be prepared to be outside and standing for at least some of the day) she might want to avoid that. So (boring mumsy advice!) shoes she can walk in and a weather appropriate jacket or coat are advisable!

Hope she enjoys, it's a great day out.

www.ascot.co.uk/what-to-wearssss/what-to-wear/royal-ascot/queen-anne-and-village-enclosure/ladies

Dee - that’s royal ascot.
Outside Royal Ascot, I usually wear a dress and wedges (thin heels sink into the grass).

The link above ^ is for Royal Ascot. Unless OP is planning really far in advance for June 2020, she'll be going on a normal raceday where the dresscode is different (of course some people like to dress to Royal Ascot standards for any time they go to Ascot races, but it's not necessary and I wouldn't say the majority do, certainly not in autumn/winter!). This is the link for normal raceday dress code:

www.ascot.co.uk/what-to-wear/flat-season/queen-anne-enclosure

Queen Anne’s is less dressy than King George. She can wear whatever she wants pretty much. I don’t wear dresses or skirts ever so do black trousers and a plain top.

Oh and I’m going to disagree with a PP, I personally would dress up more for a wedding than for a standard race day at Ascot in Queen Anne

Sorry, my mistake. I didn't look for Royal Ascot but I obviously clicked on the wrong link!

Oh me too, Wheelie, I've been known to go to the races in jeans, trainers and a t-shirt. I was just making an assumption (possibly incorrectly) that OP's DD is quite young and my observation of many racegoers in their 20s (both male and female) is that they seem to be quite dressy, definitely heels and the kind of dress you might wear to a wedding (perhaps a more casual kind of wedding)- maybe because the younger racegoer isn't jaded by the experience of too many weddings and still like the opportunity to dress up, who knows ? But absolutely she doesn't need to be that smart, there will be lots of people there who aren't...

Good point Max. I think my viewpoint might be biased because I grew up going racing and have always gone with family. I know some of my friends are always surprised to hear a hat isn’t a must on a normal race day.

We go racing regularly. I would suggest she takes flat shoes to change into if she does decide to dress up and also take a jacket and pack something warm to wear because there's lots of standing around outside and the wind can really whip round. I always feel sorry for the women who dress up in thin dresses and high heels for race days, when the men are comfortably dressed.