If you’re like a lot of people, you’re not really watching the Kentucky Derby for the animals. Maybe you will watch the actual event.
You may have even researched 2026 Kentucky Derby betting offers by Twinspires. Nevertheless, the general audience, which consists of more than 20 million people globally, is focused not just on the race, which generates almost seven times the attention of any other event on the calendar year, but also on the culture surrounding it.
The outfits, the celebrities, the mint juleps. How have these factors evolved over the years to contribute to the present-day scenario?
Early years
It’s important to keep in mind that the Kentucky Derby started in 1875. At the time, fashion was essentially incomparable to the way people dress now.
Despite the timeless look that many people wear to the Kentucky Derby, time actually is a factor. In 1875, folks weren’t dressing like Easter eggs.
They wore dark suits, made of wool, and frock coats. They might have accessorized with pocket watches, gloves, and cravats. Women wore long, flowing gowns. They prioritized corsets and necklines.
Possibly, they elaborated on these designs with ribbons, flowers, and bonnets, along with plenty of lace. That’s just the way things were in the 19th century.
Early 20th Century
By the 20s and 30s, things had become slightly less formal. Men would still wear suits to the Kentucky Derby, but the materials were lighter, and top hats were replaced by slightly less formal fedoras.
Women, meanwhile, were in their flapper era, wearing dresses that were shortened to the scandalously revealing calf length.
This is around the time that wide-brimmed hats entered the equation, a detail still worn by many at the Kentucky Derby.
This was also the Jazz Age, which was a time of experimentation with colors and patterns. The looks began to get a little more daring.
1940s to the 50s
The 40s and 50s were a time of darker suits for men, with tailoring that highlighted shoulders.
Ties and pocket squares were a significant symbol of refinement. Fedoras were still in the mix, along with homburg hats.
Women, meanwhile, were still accentuating post-World War II domesticity. They wore cinched waists, A-line skirts, and outfits that were carefully coordinated with gloves and colorful handbags.
1960s-1970s
It was in the 1960s and 1970s that fashion trends at the derby began to more closely resemble what we see today.
At this point, suits began to lighten in color. Women also gravitated towards bolder designs and patterns along with shorter hemlines. Dramatic, floral, feathered, or netted outfits began to take center stage.
1980s-1990s
In the 1980s and 1990s, darker suits and double-breasted jackets were popular, though pastels were still getting integrated into the mix.
Hats were no longer generally socially prevalent for formal wear, but would still appear at the derby as they do today.
Women’s dresses were getting increasingly more floral, bright, and loud, and the cultural impact of fashion was beginning to reach its modern form.
This was because TV coverage was becoming more extensive. Now, fans were tuning in not just for the event but for the fashion. With more eyes came an incentive to go big, creative, and unique.
21st Century Derby
Well, if you’ve watched the Derby in recent years, you have a pretty good idea of what happened around the turn of the century as fashion became a more widely circulated element of the event.
Attendees became very thoughtful about how they dressed at the Derby. Pastel colors became, if not mandatory, then at least the expected norm.
Men dressed in slim-fit light colors and continued the tradition of fedoras or other classic derby-style hats. Accessories like pocket squares, bow ties, or thematic ties that express racing motifs began to appear more widely.
Women, meanwhile, wear equally bright-colored dresses and often choose impractically large hats with feathers, netting, flowers, and so on.
At this stage, of course, none of these clothing choices are culturally current, which is to say that any other day of the year, these clothes would look absurd.
At the Derby, they’re part of the experience. It’s fun to dress up and equally enjoyable to watch coverage from home and see what celebrities and athletes have decided to wear to the event.
What Does the Future Hold for the Derby?
It’s, of course, hard to say exactly how people will be dressing for the Kentucky Derby in the years to come.
The event is unique in that the fashion trends that take place there exist in a cultural vacuum.
Outfits don’t need to be current in a general sense; they just need to be consistent with what people are getting themselves up to during that particular year.
Bright, bold, and beautiful is the through line that has united Derby outfits over the last 140 years.
We can’t say what people will be wearing in the future, but we can say that it will be lots of fun to find out.
