What to Wear for The Races 2017: Men

Dressing for the races can be a stressful time, firstly there could be different dress codes for different tickets, plus everyone tends to make a big sartorial effort, so you have up your game. So here are a few tips of mine and a couple of example outfit choices for you to up your sartorial game whilst dressing for any horse racing event in 2017. 

Firstly, always make an effort but not a token effort...go big and try wearing something that you might not normally wear - an option here would be to ditch the single breasted blazer for a double-breasted one. Not only will it become a talking point but you'll also look a hell of a lot better than anyone at the event whose chosen to wear a standard single breasted suit or blazer. 

The style of blazer is a personal choice. For horse racing I tend to go for more tweed, earth tone colours just because I think it suits the event better. So this blazer I have chosen for this particular look is from Steel & Jelly, double-breasted and in a camel, brown colour. In my second look you'll see how I have styled a more tonal grey blazer.

Horse racing is a classy event, so think classic tailoring and focus on an understated colour palette, what would David Beckham, Tom Ford or David Clooney wear, I can imagine sublime fabrics and clean lines? Don't wear bold horrendous pocket squares, ties and in particular multi-coloured, over engineered shirts that are cheap Turkish imports - you know the shirts, different coloured front placket with multi-coloured thread everywhere, buttons all over the place...no no no. Think Italian or City of London style, plain whites, blues and elegant in look.

Accessorising is important, as mentioned pick a classic colour tie which matches your shirt and blazer. Excellent choices would be navy or even a medium or dark grey colour. Wool ties look great for horse racing as they can seem more outdoorsy than silk ties which I would attribute more to office wear. If you are going to add a little touch of personality or boldness to your outfit, I would do it in the socks and wear a pair of trousers that you can roll up or down depending on the feel of the event when you are there. I love wearing brogues, just becasue they are a hardy pair of shoes and always look great in smart or smart-casual attire, plus if you have worn them a few times before - they look great without any socks.

HOW TO DRESS FOR THE RACES: MEN OUTFIT 1

Adding another option if you are a little unsure about wearing an outdoorsy tan/brown blazer and would prefer to invest in a piece of clothing that you could also wear out afterwards, to work the next day or even in bars or clubs.

Everyone looks great in grey but you have to style it slightly different to the first outfit. With greys, it is best to stick to a monochrome or tonal colour scheme....so think, grey, white, black. 

I've paired the grey double-breasted blazer again from Steel & Jelly with a plain white button-down shirt from Hawkins & Shepherd. Alternatively if you wanted to go a bit smarter, this outfit would work great with a white pin collar shirt and grey wool tie or even a black tie come to think of it. 

I've finalised this look with a pair of skinny black jeans and black brogues with no socks as I'm expecting it to be warm at the races and of course horse number 2 to make me some money so I can pay for this new outfit!

HOW TO DRESS FOR THE RACES: MEN OUTFIT 2

Photography by Rebecca Spencer

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