The fake tan will have been applied, the outfit carefully chosen, the hair coiffed to perfection and most importantly a hat selected….. it’s ladies day at Royal Ascot.

From the moment Beau Brummell introduced a formal dress code for the Royal Ascot enclosure in the 1800s, the drama on the tracks has been nothing campared to the fashion theatrics. From the flapper dresses of the ’20s to the risque Mary Quant miniskirts of the ’60s, Ascot has always been just as much about clothes as it is about the horses.

People have been pushing the boundaries between respectable head attire and  headline grabbing creative pieces  from the very beginning, with PR agencies making hats out of whatever they’re trying to promote in the hope that it’ll be photographed and appear across the broadsheets.

Fashions may come and go over the years, but  hopefully  there will always be a Royal Ascot so that Britain’s fashion savvy hoards can challenge the traditionalists and showcase our British sense of style humour.

Do remember ladies, there is a fine line between a chic yet dramatic ensemble and a tangoed WAG attacked by a flock of parrots.