Pamela Ryan from Drimnagh in Dublin 12 was crowned the winner of the 2026 Dublin Horse Show Best Dressed competition on Thursday.
Her look included a gold headpiece and dramatic pastel dress rented from Galway company completelook.ie, shoes she picked up in a charity shop and a bag from Repeat Edit by Camila. Her ensemble was praised by judges for the texture of the dress and gold disc headpiece.
Now €10,000 richer, Ryan said: “I am so appreciative. I have been out of work for a year now so I would really love to take my lovely husband to a lovely brunch and treat him for being so wonderful to me today. And maybe take a little trip away. That would be lovely.”
Ryan is no stranger to the Ladies’ Day fashion circuit, having won Best Dressed Lady at the Irish Derby in May and a prize of a luxury Dubai holiday for two and €1,000 in spending money.
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When making her decision, judge Aoife McNamara said: “For me one thing I really look for is someone to have so much fun with their outfit. I want to hear a story.”
With more than 400 entrants preregistered online before the event, and 472 entrants on the day itself, the fashion designer says there are three elements she looks for in a winner: “a story through design, sustainability and Irish design”.
One of the youngest designers represented at Thursday’s Best Dressed competition was 12-year-old Alex Doolan, who designed a floral headpiece for his grandmother.
“I surprised my nanny with it,” the Roscommon native said. “I bought a ring of styrofoam and placed all these little flowers on it. There’s over five-and-a-half-thousand pieces on that.”
Alex says that the headpiece took about a week to make, which he said “was quite a quick process for all of that”.
Alex attended the Best Dressed day with his mother Laura Hanlon and his grandmother Brid Hanlon, who said they were “very proud of all the work” he put into the fascinator.
It’s not the first time he has designed a hat for family members, having designed a floral fascinator out of Lego pieces a few years ago for his mother.
Alex has aspirations to work in fashion when he is older, and says “my mum is a milliner so I want to follow her”.
The trio have done a circuit of Best Dressed racing days across the country this summer, attending Punchestown, Galway and the Curragh.
However, their interest lies mostly in fashion rather than horses.
“We won’t see a nose nor tail of a horse,” joked Laura Hanlon.
Lisa Walsh, from Co Meath, was there as the freshly minted winner of the 2026 Galway Races Ladies’ Day, though she did not think lightning would strike twice for her.
“I don’t know how the judges pick one person. Everybody is always incredible,” she said.
Although she is passionate about fashion, Walsh said the best part of being a regular at Best Dressed days was “definitely the social side”.
[ In pictures: Lisa Walsh scoops €10,000 prize on Ladies’ Day at the Galway RacesOpens in new window ]
“We have become such close friends and some of my best friends now are on the circuit. It’s nice to get out for a day and dress up. It’s great fun.”
Breda Butler from Tipperary is also a regular on the race day circuit and agreed.
“There’s a huge geographical spread here between us all but we have become great pals over the years. It’s a fabulous day to admire women in general and empower each other.”
Butler said that back-to-back Ladies’ Days and Best Dressed days are expensive and that sustainable fashion was a great way to keep costs down.
“I think there is a market now where we are trying to avoid paying the big bucks all the time,” she said.
“We are all on Vinted now. It is just fantastic to be sustainable and to rewear. We also swap a lot of bits and pieces between us as well.”
