Hats may be out of fashion this season but they were the favourite accessory at Galway races yesterday. A handful of women covered their heads for protection against the intensive sunshine. However, the majority of them were competitors for the prize of Most Creative Hat being offered by cosmetics company Estee Lauder. Note the emphasis on creativity here. No award was being made for most attractive, comfortable or practical hat. There were, it is true, a few straw cloches and floral-trimmed trilbys about but they were immediately classifiable as outside chances with little hope of winning.
Showing far better form were those women who appeared to have emptied their kitchen cupboard and then stuck the contents onto their scalps. That meant bits of leftover twine, plastic flower pots, a mixture of rather bedraggled bird feathers and even, in one instance, a cluster of Christmas-tree decorations, all found themselves being recycled. The results often looked as though contrived by a small child possessing more enthusiasm than taste.
Outside the judging tent, aspirants jostled for position; sadly, few of them could see what was happening inside, as their towering creations blocked one another's view. A privileged few were invited for a glass of champagne and some words with the adjudicators.
The winner, Ms Aoife Connolly, turned out not to be wearing a hat at all but a series of hair-pieces stiffened with lacquer and varnish. Died black and blue (perhaps in recognition of the buffeting crowds at the course), the hair had been arranged on her head in a series of radiating blades like those of the helicopters ferrying still more people to the races.
Ms Connolly's crowning glory had been created by Ms Maeve O'Healy-Harte from Athlone, holder of the Irish Hairdresser of the Year title. The latter was also responsible for the hair of Ms Sharon Kennedy, chosen as the Best Dressed Person, sponsored by Moons of Galway.
Having been pipped into second place in the same competition last year, she was always a likely favourite but still managed to look suitably surprised when her victory was announced.
"This is to show a mother of one can still do it," announced Ms Kennedy before plunging back into the fray. She remained easily identifiable, however, being one of the very few women still not wearing a hat.