Tea at Trianon: The Origins of the Royal Ascot Dress Code

John Wilson Croker on Marie-Antoinette

"We have followed the history of Marie Antoinette with the greatest diligence and scrupulosity. We have lived in those times. We have talked with some of her friends and some of her enemies; we have read, certainly not all, but hundreds of the libels written against her; and we have, in short, examined her life with– if we may be allowed to say so of ourselves– something of the accuracy of contemporaries, the diligence of inquirers, and the impartiality of historians, all combined; and we feel it our duty to declare, in as a solemn a manner as literature admits of, our well-matured opinion that every reproach against the morals of the queen was a gross calumny– that she was, as we have said, one of the purest of human beings."

~from History of the Guillotine by John Wilson Croker, 1844

Edmund Burke on Marie-Antoinette

"It is now sixteen or seventeen years since I saw the queen of France, then dauphiness, at Versailles; and surely there never lighted on this orb, which she hardly seemed to touch, a more delightful vision. I saw her just above the horizon, decorating and cheering the elevated sphere she had just begun to move in, glittering like a morning star full of life and splendor and joy. Oh, what a revolution....Little did I dream that I should have lived to see such disasters fall upon her, in a nation of gallant men, in a nation of men of honor and of cavaliers! I thought ten thousand swords must have leaped from their scabbards, to avenge even a look which threatened her with insult. But the age of chivalry is gone; that of sophisters, economists, and calculators has succeeded...."

~Edmund Burke, October 1790

Saturday, June 8, 2019

The Origins of the Royal Ascot Dress Code

From Tatler:

Royal Ascot is one of the smartest events on the social calendar, with a rigorous dress code to match. Decoding what you can wear by each enclosure is a minefield, with tops and tails required for some, while others are a little looser. Unsurprisingly, it is the Royal Enclosure that has one of the strictest sets of rules, requiring men to wear morning dress and a top hat, while ladies must wear their finest dresses and hats.

In recent years, the dress code has made headlines for relaxing a little, although organisers are keen to emphasise that their strict rules still aren’t for breaking. As recently as 2019, it announced changes that allow for women to wear men’s dress, as well as midriff-bearing and sheer tops, although every enclosure is different. While things have gotten a little freer and modern in the Queen Anne enclosure, fascinators are now mandatory at the Windsor Enclosure.

But where did this prescriptive dress code originate? When the racing meet was inaugurated by Queen Anne as ‘Her Majesty’s Plate’ in 1711, there was no dress code as such, but as it grew to become the prestigious event it is today in the 19th century, it became the place to see and be seen. This was when famous dandy Beau Brummell, a close friend of the Prince Regent (the future King George IV), reportedly decreed that ‘men of elegance’ should wear ‘waisted black coats and white cravats with pantaloons’. (Read more.)