Kentucky: Kentucky Derby Fashion

Okay, so I covered the basics of the Kentucky Derby in my last post, but there's one thing I purposely left out. Kentucky Derby Fashion! It's so very southern, so very traditional, that I felt it deserved its own post. Now, I realize that my wedding is going to be in Kentucky, though not anywhere near the Derby. One of my friends suggested requesting "Kentucky Derby dress" as a dress code for my wedding. As much fun as it would be... no, just no. We're trying to avoid a theme wedding. But I'll show you what it looks like anyway!


I'm sure you've all seen the hats... oh, the hats. I could do pages and pages of hats! They range from classy:

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To a little bit crazier...

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To the downright insane:

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Most girls just wear cute sundresses. Honestly, I think the Derby Barbie is one of the cutest outfits I've seen. And my mom's old derby hat looks almost exactly like this!

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There's also a whole lot of seersucker going on. Beautiful for a summer wedding, yes, but also a little silly for anything other than the South. Some people would disagree and say "Hey, we wear it in Boston!" to which I say, "well, then stop it". Mr. KM is not the biggest fan of it, otherwise I would totally want him to wear it! I think it's so cute:

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There's some debate about whether the old guys up there are wearing it properly. Some would argue that the REAL proper way to wear seersucker is with a bowtie:

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Honestly, I'm a little torn. The picture with the bowtie is originally from Brooks Brothers, but I also like how it looks with the long ties. Really, I think it looks great either way.

What do you think? Bowtie or long tie? And would you wear one of those hats?