This weekend, I am mostly dressing casual...

click to enlarge

...like the irrepressible Mrs Shilling, doyenne of Royal Ascot Races' Ladies' Day (wearing the millinery creations of her son David) for three decades!

Gertrude Ethel T. Shilling (3rd March 1910 - 13th October 1999)

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Footnote:

I was prompted to post this arising from a comment exchange over at Inexplicable Device, where the lovely Dinahmow compared me to the dearly-missed Gertrude...

Racing Ladies, pt 2

The belle of the ball of Royal Ascot every year is the lovely Mrs Florence Claridge.

A veteran of the event for more than 25 years, Mrs C has been adopted as a form of "unofficial mascot" of the races - dressed as she always is by the maestro of big eye-catching hats David Shilling (whose mother Gertrude was a fixture of Ladies' Day for many years until her death in 1999).

Let us just stand back and admire this amazing woman and her oustanding headgear...













"It's Ladies' Day, isn't it? You have to stand out." is Florence Claridge's motto.

I think she succeeds!

David Shilling