“We’re going to reward people who brought in something new and different,” said Dublin Horse Show’s Best Dressed 2023 judge Bairbre Power at the opening of the event at the RDS arena.
Maria De Leon Castillejo, Best Dressed 2023 winner, came all the way from Seville to bring “something different” and said “99 per cent” of her outfit is from Spain. Her dark red jumpsuit, by Spanish fashion designer Adolfo Dominguez, was matched by a red and white coat she bought in India.
“I am a travel writer, and wherever I go I like to support local shops and crafts,” she explained.
Her fascinator then brought sentimental value too to her outfit, as it was specifically made for the event by a milliner friend working for Madrid brand Mimoki.
Last but not least, her bag is from Spanish brand Paris 64, and her earrings from Malababa, a design brand of handmade accessories in Spain. De Leon’s bond with Ireland started as a kid, when she was sent over to learn English by her parents, and now she comes often to visit her lifelong friends.
“They asked me to participate but I wasn’t expecting to win at all,” she said.
Equally surprised was Hariharan Rajendran, male winner of the Longines Elegance is an Attitude prize.
Most of his outfit came from high fashion brands renowned for their elegance: his suit is Cavalli – he got it in Hanley Menswear suit shop in Galway – and his lucky shoes are Louis Vuitton, “an investment which I can say now paid back,” he laughed. For the most elegant man, “simplicity is also very important”: his red bow tie is a bargain picked up during a trip to Romania.
A doctor from Malaysia now based in Dublin, Mr Rajendran was also persuaded to compete by his friends. “There were so many contestants I would never think I’d win, I cannot believe it” he said.
Besides the remarkable four outfits who made it to the four 2023 prizes, “new and different” wasn’t hard to find among this year’s contestants, as many of them proved they have brought out all of their fashion creativity, mixing it with sustainable ideas and with a personal tailoring of their clothing.
Eva Hayes Morrissey, a teacher from Ahane, Co Limerick, bought two ASOS green and white velvet dresses to mix them into the perfect one: “This dress was originally too short, and I thought the horse show would need something more appropriate,” she said.
She then unravelled the sleeves of the second dress and assembled the fabric to the first one to make it a medium-length dress. A green hat by Caithriona King, a milliner from Galway, matched the dress.
“She took out pearls from another piece to make mine even more special,” explained Hayes Morrissey. Sparkling silver shoes were the final touch for her, who said her attendance to the Dublin Horse Show “is the only little getaway” for her and her husband this year.
Florist Emma Davison from Dunboyne, Co Meath, decided to match her dress with a proper garland rather than a simple hat and had it assembled by another professional florist in London where she lives. “I had this idea at the beginning of the summer thinking about this event,” she said. Her garnet dress is a rental by Drobey, a fashion rental company in South Dublin.
Two Polish visual artists living in Swords, Joanna Figasinska and Karolina Diduca, have made their whole princess-like outfits by themselves, from preloved white fabric and decorated them with other materials they found in their Did Art Studio.
“Karolina is just so good with these things,” said Figasinska, who explained how they put all of their daily artistic work in the creation of dresses for the event.
When choosing her outfit, Linda Malone from County Meath reflected on the fact that this was the first time after the pandemic she got to join this event again: “The red silk butterflies on my hat represent fire rising after those dark times – which are enacted by my black dress,” she explained. The hat, which she wore previously in other events, was shipped from Miss G Designs, a Californian head-dressing shop.
Support of families’ fashion experts was also requested for the adjustment of outfits: Deirdre Campbell’s mom, in Donegal, added flowers to her second-hand hat to match her rose New York dress and Aran sweater cardigan, while Chloe Keating’s aunt, in Waterford, customised a grey and turquoise fascinator for her TK Max pearl grey jumpsuit.
Deirdre Campbell’s boyfriend, Noel McNerney from Rathmines, went full sustainable with his outfit for the contest: “I bought the red bow tie and the shirt in a Dublin charity shop, and everything else was something I owned already,” he said.
A breath of international fashion was brought by Bizi Walsh, living in Cork, who honoured her Fijian-Indian heritage with a sari-style outfit adjusted by herself. Walsh said she chose the jade green colour to “make sure Ireland was incorporated in this fusion of cultures”.
“I love when people bring in a little bit of themselves to create a melting pot, and I think Dublin itself is a good representation of that,” she added.
