The brighter the better. The bolder the better. Prints and bow ties and hats and something wild, something that might have you questioning if you’ll ever put it on again: it’s Triple Crown season, and that means it’s time to make a statement.
“You’ve got to embrace it and dive right in,” Van Smith said. A pause. “But you don’t have to go full throttle. You can do it a little bit at a time.” Another pause. “But there has to be something on your body that’s bright, colorful.”
Smith is owner of Lionel Smith Ltd. in downtown Aiken, and he’s talking Triple Crown.
Aiken’s spring horse season is already underway and continues March 15 with the 82nd Aiken Trials. Steeplechase follows, on March 22, and Pacers & Polo caps it all off March 29.
Smith’s directive to the gents to don some color is the same advice Teresa Cheek gave the ladies.
Need a more subtle print? Ties and bowties can be had at Lionel Smith Ltd., in downtown Aiken.
Cheek opened Local Threads on Laurens Street in February, a feat that’s put at least a temporary stopper on her own attendance: she’s gone to the Trials for more than 15 years, coordinating her party and trying to guess the weather.
“It’s going to be cold probably, and they will wear this,” she said, pulling a light summer dress from the rack. Just add boots: “It’s kind of like ‘chic meets Western,’” she said, and not quite so fancy as the Kentucky Derby. “We kind of put a bit of a Southern spin on it.”
One way to start might be with a hat. Martha Wise at White Rose Eclectics would be your go-to gal for that.
“We try to have every color and every style” this time of year, she said.
Satin, felt and sinamay hats (this latter fabric lightweight, capable of holding its shape well); and styles that run the gamut from Derby to western to 1930s starlet. She’s embellished some of the hats herself and also sells fascinators to attach to them or even to clothing to add some extra flair.
Martha Wise is the woman behind White Rose Eclectics in downtown Aiken, and it’s her hats that often make a scene at the Triple Crown.
And she’s got something for those who want a little less, too.
“If you don’t like a hat and you don’t like a fascinator but you want to do something, pop you a really cute headband on and you’re still dressed up a little bit,” Wise said.
Which comes to the question: Will I wear this again?
“It might be a one-time outfit in a way, but they try to find pieces that would go with something else in their wardrobe,” Smith at Lionel Smith said.
He might be in the business of clothing sales, but still he admitted, “I always think it’s a waste of money just to have a one-trick pony.”
And for the Triple Crown, the general rule is no, you’re not repeating an outfit year after year, Local Threads’ Cheek said. But the individual pieces can be worked into your year-round wardrobe.
Local Threads in downtown Aiken has numerous pieces for women to wear to the annual Triple Crown, and some of them, like the pink skirt pictured here, can be dressed up or down and last beyond the Steeplechase.
Cheek pulled a hot pink satin skirt from the rack: pair it with a white tee or a black suit coat after having it with a bold print at Steeplechase, she said.
Back at White Rose, Wise suggested investing in a neutral-hued hat and embellishing it differently or attaching a new fascinator for the next big event.
Another general rule? Shop early.
The outfit then serves as the foundation upon which the whole spread — tent or table — can be built. “I think it’s just gotten bigger and bigger and bigger as time goes on,” Cheek said. It all builds into a kind of “fantasy that day, a fairytale.”
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