Hey y’all- hope you’ve had a great week! This past weekend I went to a super fun Kentucky Derby party at The City Club in downtown Raleigh with two of my closest girlfriends. It was actually the first time I went out for the Kentucky Derby in five years. Back in 2016 I had a very small Derby get-together at my place. But the past couple years I didn’t do much of anything other than watch the Derby at home. So this year I was incredibly excited when of my BSF friends invited me to come to a Derby party with her. Today I’m going to share a little recap of our Derby-themed girls’ night out, including what I wore, of course! Talk Derby to me!
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Lilly Pulitzer Shift
Nothing says Kentucky Derby Party attire like a classic Lilly Pulitzer shift dress. I wore my Lilly Pulitzer Liz Shift in the “Crazy Cat House” print. (You may remember it from this post last year.) The Liz Shift has such a classic Lilly look, and I especially love the lace appliqué trim. Bonus that it shares my name! My friend Diane wore a Lilly dress as well, and we definitely saw some other Lilly dresses at the City Club. I’ve actually had this dress for five years now, but I found a couple on eBay (size 00, size 2, size 8, and size 10). You can shop currently available Lilly Pulitzers shift dresses here.
Gotta Have a Derby Hat!
I took advantage of the opportunity to wear my trusty Lilly Pulitzer hat, because I don’t get too many of those. I’ve featured this hat on the blog before, but if you’re new around here, it was a Lilly Pulitzer gift with purchase back in 2013. However, Draper James has a colorblock sun hat that looks very similar, except it doesn’t have a Lilly print band around it! Who else loves the fact that the Kentucky Derby is a perfect opportunity to break out a cute floppy hat?
Jelly Jacks
There was chance of rain last Saturday, so my new Jack Rogers Georgica Jellies were the perfect shoes to wear. They were still a cute and preppy complement to my LIlly shift dress and floppy hat, but I didn’t have to worry about messing them up in the rain. I highly recommend the pearlized pewter color because they go with everything. You can shop all Jack Rogers here.
More Derby Party Fun
One of the highlights of the Kentucky Derby Party was enjoying my first ever mint julep. For those of y’all who might not be aware, the mint julep is the official drink of the Kentucky Derby. It contains mint, sugar, bourbon, and crushed ice. The best part about the mint julep is that it came in an official commemorative glass of the 145th Kentucky Derby. Somehow the City Club got their hands on these official Kentucky Derby glasses, and we got to keep them as souvenirs.
Another fun aspect of this Kentucky Derby party was the view of Raleigh we got to enjoy. Since The City Club is on the 25th floor of a building downtown, you get a nice birds-eye view of the city when you look out the window!
Overall, Derby Day 2019 was such a fun and festive girls’ night out, and it made up for not doing much for the Kentucky Derby the past couple years. I know the Kentucky Derby is technically an event, but I see it more as a holiday. Who’s with me?
What did you do for Kentucky Derby 2019? Sound off below!
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-xoxo Liz
