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Next up: Festival Stakes Day, Sat 28 Nov

Racing Fashion Weekly

Date to be announced · a Saturday in the second half of March

Louisiana Derby Day

Fair Grounds Race Course & Slots, New Orleans, United States

major

The meet's richest day: spring dresses, hats, seersucker, New Orleans colour.

what to wear

The dress code

Dress standard
Smart
Millinery
encouraged
Season
Spring

Women

No current written dress code found on fairgroundsracecourse.com (read 2026-11-13). A Fair Grounds vice president told WWL the old clubhouse rules (no short sleeves or polos, sport coat required) are gone: 'we no longer have those stringent dress codes'. Thanksgiving custom is strong: the biggest, loudest hat you own.

Encouraged

  • statement hat (Thanksgiving)
  • dress or suit
  • flats or block heels

Men

No current written code; the old sport-coat rule in the clubhouse has been dropped (per a track VP, secondary). Thanksgiving custom: suit or sport coat, bow tie, fedora or top hat, often flamboyant.

Encouraged

  • suit or sport coat
  • hat

Styling notes

New Orleans dresses with humour: feathers, sequins, towering home-made hats, seersucker and second-line colour.

Weather

New Orleans late March: about 13-23 C.

History

Thanksgiving was the track's opening day for generations (the Thanksgiving Classic passed its 100th year); hats began as a display of wealth and are now deliberately outlandish.

where you are standing

Enclosure by enclosure

Clubhouse

Former rules (sport coat required, no short sleeves or polos) no longer apply, per a track vice president quoted by WWL/Audacy. No replacement code found.

Check the official details before you go: fairgroundsracecourse.com ↗

for the day

Shop the look

save the date

Coming up

  • majorFri 13 Nov 2026

    Bahrain International Trophy

    Rashid Equestrian & Horseracing Club, Sakhir (Riffa)

    Bahrain's Group 1 night and the kingdom's main social race meeting. The Bahrain Turf Club publishes no dress code; national dress or smart, modest evening wear is the norm.

  • majorFri 13 Nov 2026

    Show Day Races (Addington)

    Addington Raceway, Christchurch

    The Friday public-holiday harness meeting of Cup Week: a dressed-up crowd, looser than Cup Day.

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