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What to wear to the Dubai World Cup 2025: Your guide to race-day dressing
From Audrey Hepburn-inspired monochrome to modern-day Aussie flair, here’s your guide to dressing for Meydan’s most fashionable day
- PUBLISHED: Fri 28 Mar 2025, 6:04 PM UPDATED: Mon 2 Jun 2025, 5:29 PM
- By:
- Louise Nichol
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Over half a century ago, at the 1965 Academy Awards, the British photographer-turned-costume designer Cecil Beaton won the best costume design Oscar for the film adaptation of My Fair Lady. While his Edwardiana evening gowns still define after-dark elegance to this day, it is Beaton’s monochrome reimagining of the Ascot Derby that has immortalised race-day dressing.
Wearing a white embroidered mermaid gown, lavishly wrapped with a black grosgrain ribbon, and a hat that I am fairly sure weighed more than her, Audrey Hepburn’s Eliza Doolittle yelling profanities at Dover (unprintable here, even six decades later) makes for iconic cinema style. The ‘Ascot’ dress went on to be recreated for Barbie in 1995, while the original Beaton creation was sold at auction for $4.5 million (Dh16.5 million) in 2011.
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In the intervening 60 years, race day style has evolved. Hats have, for the most part, shrunk down to fascinator proportions (Royal Ascot in the UK now requires a minimum four-inch base for a headpiece to qualify for entry to the Royal Enclosure). At the Dubai World Cup, which takes place next weekend on April 5, headpieces are encouraged, but not mandatory. I am not a fan of the frippery of a fascinator, but a sleek trilby or fedora adds instant visual punch (a good thing, in fashion land). Hemlines should fall just above the knees or longer, while plunging necklines, bare midriffs and sheer fabrics will rule you out of the Dh275,000 Dubai World Cup Style Stakes prize pool.
For a day whose fashion priorities traditionally start top down, I am going to be controversial and advise planning your outfit from the ground up; heels over head. Race days are long, the terrain varies from endless concrete concourses to the bouncy turf of Meydan’s Parade Ring.
This rules out any form of slim heel, and unless it’s Aquazzura’s ‘Tati’ (Dh2,700 at Bloomingdale’s), can we please confine wedges to coastal Mediterranean villages? I like a block heel for formal daytime dressing, no higher than 85mm. Again, Aquazzura takes first place in the comfort-plus-aesthetic equation. I have worn the designer’s ‘So Nude’ to countless countryside weddings, navigating cobblestones and dancefloors with ease. At Dh2,300 from Level Shoes, they are an investment, but one that you will wear time and time again; go for a silver or gold, depending on your preferred undertone (silver for cool, gold for warm). Judging for Best Dressed Lady at the Dubai World Cup doesn’t take place until 6.50pm, so footwear that will go the distance is advised.
Unlike at Ascot, where the prospect of soggy ostrich feathers is an ever-present risk, Dubai’s racegoers need to balance heat (upper-30s by early April) with culturally appropriate coverage.
While Eliza Doolittle-style long sleeves are chic, anything too restrictive will feel hot and uncomfortable, and feeling uncomfortable is the antithesis of chic. This is where I would look to Australian brands. With similar climate conditions to us, Aussie fashion labels harness colour (jarring against grey English drizzle, gorgeous in the UAE sunshine), fabrics that won’t have you dripping (leave silk to the jockeys) and structural construction that brings a European couture sensibility without the price tag.
For years, the undisputed champion of Aussie designers has been Zimmermann, and its creations are still the stuff of dreams (I can lose hours in its Mall of the Emirates store), however, a slew of Antipodean brands are nipping at Zimmermann’s bohemian heels.
My current obsession is the Sydney-based brand Leo Lin (available at Etoile La Boutique, Ounass and Bloomingdale’s in Dubai) for its painterly and embellished details, razor-sharp cuts and a modern palette of pastels – think sage, buttercream and tangerine, rather than mother-of-the-bride pink and blue. Aje and Acler are also excellent with colour and construction.
On the other side of the world, the British label Solace London is best known for eveningwear (the Style Stakes judging guidelines caution against evening gowns) but modern eveningwear can work for a day at the races if you avoid trains and corsets and go for a midi length or a flowing fabric.
I like Solace’s ‘Cece’ scarf-neck dress (Dh3,350) and, if you are confident in the provision of air-conditioning, the long sleeve ‘Gaia’ dress (Dh 2,600) is effortlessly elegant. Also from the UK, but only available here online, is the va-va-voom occasionwear brand Nadine Merabi. Look to Merabi’s jumpsuits (the scarf-back ‘Lorrie’, Dh2,263, is my pick for the races) or trouser two-pieces. The romantic 3D florals of the ‘Pheobe’ top (Dh1,464) off-set the sleek lines of Merabi’s Charlotte trousers (Dh1,252) perfectly.
Another British brand, but with a Middle Eastern hub offering same day delivery in Dubai, is Odd Muse. Its black and white crystal embellished co-ord of corset top (Dh650) or tee (Dh750), worn with the contrasting maxi skirt (Dh840) is a modern way to have an Eliza Doolittle monochrome moment in the Meydan Grandstand in 2025 (just no swearing at the horses, please).
