Gentlemen concerned about meeting the stringent dress code imposed by Ascot this year need look no further than Oliver Brown.
Oliver Brown is a ladies and gentlemen’s outfitters based on Lower Sloane Street in Chelsea. Long established, Oliver Brown has been selling and hiring men’s formalwear, dinner jackets, white tie and smoking jackets for over thirty years.
The 2012 Royal Ascot Dress Code states that “….it is a requirement to wear either black or grey morning dress which must include: a waistcoat and tie, a black or grey top hat, and black shoes….. the customisation of top hats…. is not permitted…”
Oliver Brown sells and hires out all items for correct dress at Ascot. Oliver Brown is proud to sell its silk top hats as part of the Royal Ascot shop adjacent to the Parade Ring, and has been selling Top Hats for over 30 years and is the oldest independent silk top hat dealer in London. Gentlemen (and ladies – Daphne Guinness is a customer) seeking something special can find extremely rare items such a Gold Beaver Fur Top Hat from the 1830’s.
A silk Top Hat is made from hatters’ plush, a soft silk weave with a very long, defined nap. These are now very rare, as it is no longer in general production, and it is thought that there no looms existing capable of producing the traditional material any more. This has driven an expensive market for original silk Top Hats, and those in mint condition and in a modern day hat size (larger than old fashioned heads) can reach tens of thousand of pounds. Nowadays, top hats are made in stiff wool felt, soft wool and cotton velour.
Get your top hat and tail here: http://www.oliverbrown.org.uk/
Absolutely fug. And completely unflattering. Look, if you’re going to do a platform boot, go knee high.
the ankle length boot is completely passe now. 20 pounds, sounds about right for these eyesores.