The best looks from the 2020 L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate Racing Festival

On account of its emphasis on style and sophistication, the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate (LQP) social gathering has become the event to be seen at. Started in 1861, the race now enjoys pride of place as the oldest horse race in South Africa.

The sartorial standard for the event was set by Queen Victoria, whose influence was such that when she wore a white wedding dress to marry Prince Albert in 1840, she sparked a tradition that is still followed around the world today.

For years thereafter, the items she wore to the races and events at home trickled down to the Cape Town race course, where her looks were closely imitated.

Fast forward to 2020 and fashion has evolved significantly. Although the annual dress code has remained a smart blue and white look to match the event’s signature colours, it is still open enough to interpretation that one has no idea just what they will see on the day.

Among the more than 7,000 visitors who hit the racecourse over the L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate two-day festival were famous faces such as Luthando “Loot Love” Shosha, Liezl van der Westhuizen, Kamo Modisakeng, Jeannie D, Nambitha Ben-Mazwi, Da Les, Nandi Mbatha and professional rugby player Faf de Klerk.

Most of the female celebrities opted for the old Hollywood look in their hair and makeup, while their outfits were a little more modern.

Modisakeng was undoubtedly the best-dressed in her structured baby blue, asymmetrical Quiteria Atelier cocktail dress. Her fellow Quiteria Atelier muse, Nandi Mbatha, left much to be desired, however, with her ice-queen look in a similar fabric to Modisakeng’s dress.

Shosha again opted for her signature pantsuits, this time in lighter fabrics. However, her outfit looked better in photographs than in reality. The difference in materials throughout the outfit made it look less cohesive, but her flawless hair and makeup more than made up for it.

Shosha, who is known for her faux locs and short-cropped natural hairstyles, dazzled fans by switching things up and wearing a lace wig for the first time. “I saw a picture and I was like this is it, this is what I’m doing and I think it’s really healthy to just do what you want.

“I’m kind of refiguring out who I am because I think having kids kind of just reconfigures everything. And I just really wanted a different hairstyle. I was tired of the locs.

“Oh my God, they’re long, they’re a lot of work and though they’re not too heavy, it was just like okay, I’m over this. Let me do something interesting.”

She said the response to her new look has been overwhelmingly positive, but she owed that to the professionalism of her hairstylist and her photographer, who captured the look perfectly.

Shosha said her choice of fabric reflected that she was feeling more feminine since becoming a mother. As such, she wanted to show off that side of herself and turned to LawrenSon Junior of LSJ Designs to do so.

“I wanted to feel like a feather and a fascinator, very light and very chilled and very relaxed, but I still wanted a suit so I played around and we came up with this. Pleats are a thing in my life right now. I love them, I’m obsessed, so we incorporated them in the suit.”

All these looks were paraded around the Style Village which was part of the event’s curated lifestyle attractions alongside a beauty bar, a vintage car display featuring a Bugatti valued at R4 million and the LQP carousel installation.

This year’s best dressed and best hat competitions saw Zinzi Ntoyiwa, Charles Samuels and Roxy Joubert walk away with luxurious prizes.

Saturday’s card kept racegoers enthralled as South Africa’s finest jockeys and their mounts battled for glory in an unparalleled day of racing.

Vardy and jockey Craig Zackey took the R1.5 million L’Ormarins Queen’s Plate (Grade 1).

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