A Leaving Certificate student had judges singing her praises at the Dublin Horse Show yesterday – with a self-designed outfit inspired by My Fair Lady.
Dubliner Tiffany Yang Fei beat stiff competition to be crowned the Very Best Dressed at Ladies Day with a flower power dress and headpiece.
And the 18-year-old from Dalkey who entered the competition as a fun day out with her boyfriend Joey, whilst nervously waiting for her exam results next month, bagged herself a €10,000 Very.ie gift card.
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She told Irish Daily Mirror: “I can’t believe this happened. I am so happy.
“This is my first Ladies Day. I was inspired by My Fair Lady and every time I think about horse shows I think about the scene with everyone dressed up with big fancy hats and I just wanted to add a twist with my own style to it.”
Tiffany planned to wear the winning dress to her Debs but decided to repurpose it and jazz it up for her first ever day at the event at Dublin’s RDS.
The design enthusiast, who plans to study economics in Trinity, explained: “I got this dress a few years ago and I planned to wear it to the Debs but when I realised I’m not going to it I thought it would be nicer to upcycle it and not waste the dress.
“So I made my hat myself first with some artificial flowers and added the leftovers to my dress so that it matched and it feels like the flowers fall out to the dress.
“I feel like life is quite dull with Covid and lockdowns and I wanted this to symbolise life blooming again.
“I’m really into fashion and design as a hobby. This is the first thing I’ve made but I love watching others make stuff so I plan to get some fabric and do it some more.”
Judges Bairbre Power and designer Olivia Ruben said the winning look “was outstanding and felt ethereal”.
Just under 400 people took to the stage throughout the day to showcase their looks and chat to hosts, Virgin Media’s Ru Paul Ryder and Laura Woods, with the hopes of winning the grand prize.
This year’s emphasis was placed on gender equality and inclusivity as the best dressed category was opened to all genders and Ryder said: “I am so excited to see the glamour.
“I am a big follower of fashion and ladies’ fashion in particular. I dress up as a sort of woman for a living. For the first time ever, the Very Best Dressed award will be open to everyone, no matter gender, and that’s a big thing for me. To be part of something so iconic is really amazing.”
Four runner-up awards were also handed out during the winners’ ceremony with Oyiuclamola Animashaun from
Blanchardstown, Vilhelmiina Huuskonen from Phibsboro, Mary O’Halloran from Finglas and Mary Stapleton-Foley, from Killarney, Co Kerry all taking home €1,000 vouchers.
The Longines Elegance is an Attitude winners were Stuart Montgomery from Mullingar, Co Westmeath and Joanne Eve Byrne from Naas, Co Kildare, who each won a watch. Stuart said: “I’m totally shocked. I’ve come to the horse show for years and never expected to win. I just love coming for the style. I’m thrilled.”
Elsewhere, Rita Kirwan and her son Matthew, six, from Sandymount, stood out from the crowd in fun outfits, with the youngster dressed as Super Mario’s Yoshi for the family day out. Rita told Irish Daily Mirror: “This is our first time coming. We live very near and it is my birthday in two days’ time, as Matthew just told the judges, and we just wanted to get all dressed up and come over to the horse show.
“And he helped me enter the Ladies day competition and pick out my outfit. We got the dress in New York last week. My sister gave me the jewellery and the bag is Zara.
Matthew added: “I picked mine because I brought my Yoshi teddy bear. He’s one of my favourites.”
Also kitted out for the occasion was RTE presenter James Patrice – head-to-toe in pink as he enjoyed watching the style with dad Jim.
Speaking at Very.ie’s celebrity lounge balcony, he said: “I came to the last one with my dad and that was our first time together and it was so much fun to get dressed up get the bit of style on.
“It’s lovely here too we have a great bird’s eye view of the style and people.
“Everyone looks incredible and I went for Barbie pink for a bit of block colours while my dad went for green.”
The Dublin Horse Show is widely considered among the best in the world. Organisers expect more than 100,000 people will attend over the five days to watch the national and international equine competitions, after it was forced to take a two-year break because of Covid-19.
And as thousands of people have flocked to the RDS since its return on Wednesday, even more are expected to take the historic grounds today for the highly anticipated Aga Khan.
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