Mother was terrified of her big giraffe hat Celebrated designer David Shilling tells Alan Tyers why no one could light up the royal meeting like glamorous Gertrude

• Published in: Daily telegraph (London, England : 1969)
• Main Author: Shilling, David
• Format: Newspaper Article
• Language: English
• Published: London (UK) Daily Telegraph 20.06.2017
• Subjects: Piggott, Lester
• ISSN: 0307-1235

The week Lester Piggott won his first Gold Cup here, Lonnie Donegan was top of the charts: that was 1957; the last time The Long Fellow triumphed in that race it was 1982 and punk rock had been and gone. Highlights over the years included "an amazing gold silk and ostrich feather concoction that was absolutely enormous" and "a giraffe hat - she was terrified of wearing that, but it become a real favourite." Shilling is as well placed as anyone to talk about Royal Ascot's place in the fashion world, and how this event has come to represent something more than sport. Lamenting that men have a much more limited palette with which to paint at Royal Ascot, Shilling attended the 2013 meeting in a flamboyant hat of his own: a flower wreath to go with his topper. "Boys can go off to the pub to have a whisky,...