York Racecourse’s most famous racing festival is the York Ebor The Festival is from Wednesday 20th until Saturday 23rd August 2025. That’s four days of festival fun and four days to show off your summer fashion flair. All of the days are a glamorous affair with fabulous prizes to be won across all the four days!! This is held on the Grantley Hall Ebor Fashion Lawn complete with a catwalk!. The eye-catching, flower-clad catwalk is set in the picturesque surroundings in front of the Edwardian Weighing Room. Categories for the fashion prizes are : Most Stylish, Most Stylish Runner Up, Most Stylish Couple, Best Hat and Best Dressed Child

Official Dress Codes

The County Stand: Unlike for the gentlemen, there is no formal dress code for the ladies, but most choose to dress up. Think ‘wedding guest’ attire, with many ladies wearing dresses, high heels and a hat or fascinator.

The Grandstand and Paddock: No formal dress code and feel free to dress as you wish and feel comfortable.However, taking the lead from the County Stand dress code, many racegoers in this enclosure do like to use a day at the races as an excuse to get glammed up.Fancy dress (within bounds of decency) is not unusual but please ensure it is family friendly.

The Clocktower Enclosure:This is a relaxed area in which to enjoy picnics with family and friends whilst watching the racing.It is their most relaxed enclosure and they suggest comfortable, practical, weather appropriate clothing and footwear, as the area is outside and therefore exposed to the elements.

All prices are correct at time of publishing.

Ebor Festival Fashion Partners 

8th Sign and George Durdy Millinery are the fashion partners this year and are providing prizes. 8th Sign for the Most Stylish and Most Stylish Runner Up categories and George Durdy Milliner for the Best Hat.  8th Sign offers a great choice of dresses and George Durdy some fantastic hats for a day at the races. 

Most Stylish and Most Stylish Runner Up

Have a stand out style with glamour in Jacquard-trimmed maxi dress by GR London Paris  As a subtle nod to wearing lingerie as outerwear, this dress has a bustier bra style front. The silhouette with a drop waist and wide ruffle skirt is vintage inspired. £790.00. Bring out the blue in the pattern with Pauline Navy Designer Headband by Merve Bayindir £1400.00. The “S” shaped navy sateen headband is decorated with a wild rose bouquet on the right side.

Elevate your style with Santoni’s gold leather high-heel sandal with platform and a flash of orange showing on the sole to match the dress. Crafted from thin nappa leather cords and styled with two bands that cross over and embrace the foot to gently support your every stride. £790.00. Hopefully no horses will fall down at the races, so keep your Downed Horse firmly on your arm with  PATT OFFICIAL Downed Horse handbag in an orange, gold and yellow colour block. £469.00 Accessorise with orange GUESS® Originals Rectangular sunglasses £100.00 

Wear The Pegasus III Necklace by Ece London to help your winnings get off to a flying start. Crafted from hand-engraved lapis lazuli gemstone, with the flying Pegasus horse motif hand-sculpted in 22k gold vermeil on 925 sterling silver £450.00. Complete the look with their Drop Earrings in 22k gold vermeil on 925 sterling silver with drop-shaped Blue Topaz Tanzanite and Zircon attached to the drops. £345.00  Inspired by the rainmaker in Greek mythology, Hyades, but let’s hope the rain stays mainly on the earrings.

Look fresh and cool wearing  Sapphira Midi Dress by Rebecca Vallance £570.00 In a bright blue floral print on a crisp white background with a scoop neckline and fitted bodice, supported with boning, convenient side seam pockets, self-belt to cinch in the waist and a circular midi skirt. Keep the floral theme with Jenny Roberts Millinery’s Cobalt Blue Parasisal Button with Silk Abaca Lily Vine   A cobalt blue percher hat in parasisal straw, trimmed with handmade and hand-dyed silk abaca lilies and a cobalt blue crin veil is draped around the hat to create a dramatic finish. £94.00 to hire for a week. Sparkle from head to toe with silver laminated leather high-heel sandal by Santoni Shoes Crafted from crystal-encrusted metallic leather in blue and silver. £790.00, Felline Concavo earrings by Sif Jakobs Jewellery were £169.00 now £84.50 and their matching Felline Concavo pendant  Was £129.00 now £64.50 Both made from 925 Sterling Silver with rhodium, polished surface, and handset with facet cut gradient tones of blue and white zirconia.

Complete the look with Mi Bolsa London Carnaby Top Handle handbag in Baby Blue Was £169.00 now £129.00 and Tom Ford GUILLIANA SUNGLASSES in shiny blue. £330.00

Best Hat

The prize for this category is a £250.00 voucher from Yorkshire based milliner George Durdy. Pieces are bespoke. The above image shows a few of George Dundy’s headpieces. Website link is George Durdy

Most Stylish Couple

Whether you enter with a friend or your partner, for the most stylish couple, both your outfits should complement each other, however the whole outfits do not have to be completely matchy-matchy. 

Pretty in pink is 8th Sign’s DIANA 1 SHOULDER RUCHE MIDI DRESS in soft pink with flecks of gold £130.00, Kat Maconie’s vintage inspired  Amaya Pumps with its hour glass shaped mid heel and soft pink applique flowers £344.35, GUESS® Petra earrings £100.00 and vintage style Cat eye sunglasses by GUESS Jeans® £70.00. To complement the man’s suit, green is introduced with   GUESS® Amys Mini Handbag £115.00 and Jenny Roberts Millinery’s Pink Silk Halo Headband with Green Crin Looped Detail which can be hired for £94.00 for the week. This halo headband has been blocked using a rich fuchsia pink coloured silk. Loops of green and pink intertwining crin have been used to adorn the design. 

It’s summer, so gentlemen opt for a light coloured suit such as Brook Taverner’s Hardy Green Textured Occasion Suit Was £149.00 Now £134.10 Wear with their matching Hardy Green Textured Waistcoat for that extra sartorial look. A subtle way to complement each other would be for the gentleman to wear a tie or a shirt the same colour as the ladies dress. Here we have styled the green suit with a pink stripe shirt  Formal Shirt Was £49.95 now £44.96 but have kept his tie in a mint green Mint Polkadot Textured Silk Tie Was £19.95 now £17.96 An elegant loafer will complete the outfit such as Loake Lynch Leather Penny Loafers in Scotch patina £199.00. Add a splash of grenadine and lime with Geoff Stocker’s SAXON HOARD pocket square £45.00, and a glistening dark green beaded Mosaic Bracelet In IP Black by Tateossian £189.00 Look cool in GUESS® Round sunglasses in tortoiseshell with brown polarised lenses and silver metal Were £135.00 now £94.50

Best Dressed Child

For the little lady, Marks and Spencer’s Embroidered Tulle Dress ranges from 2 to 16 years. The layered tulle mesh dress is embellished with delicate blue embroidered flowers and lined with smooth fabric for comfort. £28.00  Add sparkle with their Butterfly Beaded Necklace Multipack Set £12 and their Kids’ Glitter Mary Jane Shoes £22.00 which are also available in other colours. Wear the shoes with 4pk Cotton Rich School Socks with blue trim for style and comfort. Accessorise with Kids’ Polarised Sunglasses in blue £6.00 and their Embroidered Butterfly Bag £12.50. No little lady outfit would be complete without a fascinator. Pale Pink and White Chiffon Flower Headpiece by Jenny Roberts Millinery £94.00 for a week’s hire.

8th sign images provided by 8th sign

George Durdy Millinery images provided by Georgina Durdy

GR London Paris, Merve Bayindir Millinery, PATT , ECE London and Mi Bolsa images provided by pr agency Black PR

Rebecca Vallance and Santoni images provided by pr agency Purple PR

Sif Jakobs images provided by pr agency We Are UK PR

Kat Maconie images provided by Kat Maconie

Jenny Roberts Millinery images provided by Jenny Roberts

Guess images provided by pr agency Trace Publicity

Marks and Spencer images provided by M&S in house press team

Brook Taverner images provided by Brook Taverner

Loake images provided by Brook Taverner 

Geoff Stocker images provided by Geoff Stocker

Tateossian images provided by pr agency Task PR

View of York Racecourse provided by Canva.com