The Royal Ascot Lookbook Is Back For 2025
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7 days ago
Creative Director Daniel Fletcher returns for a second year to curate Royal Ascot’s viral style guide, the Lookbook
Racegoers have been making their way to Royal Ascot for almost 300 years, pulling out their best dresses, suits and hats for a day of sporting celebration like no other. This year, Royal Ascot makes style history once more with the 2025 edition of its Lookbook, created once again by Creative Director Daniel Fletcher.
Royal Ascot Unveils 2025 Lookbook
Over the last few years, Royal Ascot has committed to shaking up its racing style. In 2023, organisers scrapped the event’s traditional style guide in favour of a new aspirational Lookbook; and in 2024, they brought on designer Daniel Fletcher as Royal Ascot’s first ever creative designer.
Now on its third iteration, the Lookbook is one of the most hotly anticipated pre-event rituals. Fletcher, now also in his second year as Creative Director, has poised 2025’s edition as an even bigger celebration of versatile, inclusive and innovative occasion dressing – while still honouring Royal Ascot’s timeless sartorial codes.
Comprised of four edits, the Lookbook showcases a range of outfits appropriate for all enclosures, with a focus on the interplay of British craftsmanship, international style and vintage revival.
‘Returning as Creative Director for a second year, I wanted to push the creative boundaries even further, balancing heritage with modernity and encouraging racegoers to see occasion dressing as an expression of individuality,’ said Fletcher. ‘I’m eager to see how racegoers make their own mark on Royal Ascot style in 2025.’
Fletcher curated this year’s Lookbook using a combination of premium and high street brands – think Chanel, Gucci, LK Bennett, Oxfam, Prada, Self Portrait, Vestiaire Collective, Zara and Zimmerman. The designer also chose to spotlight a number of key Spring/Summer 2025 trends, including polka dots, matcha green pastels and even Pantone’s Colour of the Year, Mocha Mousse.
‘Royal Ascot is an unparalleled moment in the social and sporting calendar, where tradition and fashion converge and Daniel’s vision for the 2025 Lookbook is a really exciting mix of heritage alongside modern trends,’ commented Felicity Barnard, CEO of Ascot Racecourse. ‘This year’s edits pay homage to everything that Ascot is celebrated for, including the global influences that are shaping contemporary fashion.’
What Is The Royal Ascot Lookbook?
In 2023, the organisers of Royal Ascot decided to update the traditional annual Style Guide and introduce a new inspirational guide – called the Lookbook – with ideas suitable for the Royal Enclosure, Queen Anne Enclosure and Village Enclosure. The guide is separate from the Official Royal Ascot Dress Code, which remains unchanged, and instead acts as a source of inspiration for racegoers.
The Royal Ascot Lookbook 2025
For style inspiration for this year’s races, flick through the official Royal Ascot Lookbook for 2025, below:
The Archive Edit
Contemporary style meets traditional sartorial codes in the Archive Edit, which explores Royal Ascot’s history through a focus on vintage, rental and borrowed pieces. Speaking on the edit, Fletcher noted how, ‘The Archive Edit felt like a natural evolution of last year’s sustainability focus, drawing inspiration from Ascot’s storied style while championing vintage and rental pieces.’
Best of British
This familiar edit made its debut in 2024, with Fletcher’s first Lookbook, and now takes an even bigger role in the latest style guide. ‘Best of British is more vibrant than ever,’ said Fletcher. ‘It embraces playful pairings and unexpected twists that highlight the depth of UK fashion.’ The edit showcases the finest homegrown talent, from esteemed heritage brands to dynamic high-street innovators, with playful styling, preppy aesthetics and a British summertime (offset by oversized strawberries, daisies and orchard fruits) setting the tone.
The International Edit
The Lookbook also goes global with the International Edit, which celebrates a worldwide network of designers as well as traditional national dress – which is welcomed within the dress codes – including the Scottish national dress of kilt and sporran.
Prints & Patterns
Fletcher’s exploration of bold pattern and colour led to this fresh edit, which embraces the waves of ‘joyous prints’ that define the style landscape of Royal Ascot each summer. A melting pot of stripes, florals, polka dots, statement graphics and appliqué, this is one of the more playful edits for 2025.
Who Is Daniel Fletcher?
Based in London, Daniel w. Fletcher is a prominent contemporary menswear designer who established his eponymous brand in 2015 after graduating from Central Saint Martins. He has design credits with a number of notable fashion houses, including Louis Vuitton, Lanvin, JW Anderson and Fiorucci (for which he acted as Artistic Director between 2019 and 2023).
More recently, the designer took on the role of Creative Director for London Fashion Week regular MITHRIDATE, where he helped refine the brand’s vision to combine British sartorial codes with Chinese craftsmanship.
Fletcher has also dressed a number of famous faces in the entertainment industry, from James McAvoy, Dua Lipa and Robert Pattinson, to Ncuti Gatwa, Nicholas Galitzine and Emerald Fennell.
You can find out more about Fletcher and his work with Royal Ascot here.
When Is Royal Ascot 2025?
This year, Royal Ascot will take place between Tuesday 17 and Saturday 21 June 2025. You can find out more about the event, and see the official schedule, at ascot.com
