Best dressed competition launched

CLARE fashionistas hoping to scoop the coveted title of Best Dressed Lady at The Galway Races have just two weeks left to prepare ahead of the course’s summer festival.
Judging this year’s competition are three of the best known names in the Irish fashion industry, Bairbre Power, fashion editor of the Irish Independent and executive editor of the Irish Independent Weekend magazine; broadcaster and Off the Rails presenter Brendan Courtney and PJ Gibbons, editor, Social and Personal Magazine.
They will be joined by well-known faces from the Galway fashion scene, Patricia McCrossan, managing director of  Galway NOW and Mandy Maher of Catwalk Model Agency.
Anthony Ryan’s Galway has just announced details of this year’s event, which takes place on Ladies Day, Thursday, July 28. The Anthony Ryan’s Best Dressed Competition boasts a prize fund of €20,000, with the best-dressed lady set to scoop a prize worth over €12,000.
This year’s best-dressed lady will walk away with a one-carat diamond solitaire pendant valued at €8,500, a shopping spree worth €1,500 in Anthony Ryan’s, Galway and €1,000 cash. She will also receive a Lancôme presentation gift hamper worth over €500 and a corporate hospitality package for Galway Races October Bank Holiday Racing Festival to include dinner and a champagne reception.
The prize for the winner of the best hat competition is a €1,500 shopping spree at Anthony Ryan’s and all finalists at the best dressed marquee will be presented with a special collection of Lancôme cosmetics, compliments of University Pharmacy, Galway.
Ladies interested in taking part in this year’s Best Dressed Lady Competition are asked to arrive early, as the finalists will be chosen by 2.30pm.
There is no entry required for the competition. Anthony Ryan’s scouts and judges will mingle through the crowd and will invite selected finalists to the judging marquee, which is located adjacent to the champagne tent in the race enclosure.
The winning outfits will be announced at 3.30pm and the prize-giving ceremony will take place in the enclosure immediately after the fifth race.