"It’s the opening day of the Royal Ascot horse races in the UK, which reliably unleashes a flood of photos of fancy folks dressed to the nines. It’s been wire service fodder for decades, and news archives are full of glamorous photos going back to the 1920s or even before.
But if you really want to see something special, you must to look to the looks of the late 1980s and early 1990s. First it was the era ofDynasty and Jilly Cooper and everybody was infatuated with enormous wealth; then the florals utterly hijack the proceedings. Consequently, the snapshots from Ladies Day in this particular stretch of time are astounding.
Every other picture looks like an advertisement for Virginia Slims.
Chris Cole/Allsport, via Getty Images.
You get to 1991 and suddenly the floppy hats appear, of course.
Chris Cole/Allsport, via Getty Images.
Don’t mind me, just leaning on my Rolls.
Simon Bruty/Allsport, via Getty Images.
Sure, this shot doesn’t feature any jaw-dropping designer hats, but it’s worth it because it’s a picnic spread out on the hood of a BMW. Pardon me, do you have any Grey Poupon? (Certainly not, they have something much fancier.)
Simon Bruty/Allsport
Cheerio, or whatever!
Simon Bruty/Allsport, via Getty Images.
You think people have adopted completely ridiculous ensembles purely for the sake of social media? Wrong.
Mike Hewitt/Allsport/Chris Cole, via Getty Images.
Nothing said “luxury” in 1992 like a cell phone on your hat. It was a more innocent time, obviously."
After leaving school at 15, Sir Phillip Green started his retail career by importing jeans from the Far East to sell on to retailers in London. Green went on to take over the Arcadia Group – owner of popular high-street chains including Burton, Miss Selfridge and Topshop
.
Mike Ashley, Sports Direct, worth £3.75bn
Started with: £10,000
After leaving school at 16, and following an injury, he became a county-level squash coach. In the 1980s Ashley opened his first Sport & Ski shop in Maidenhead, before hitting the big time with Sports Direct on a £10,000 loan.
Sir Richard Branson, Virgin, worth £3.6bn
Started with: £300
Branson created his first magazine aged just 16. In 1970 he founded a mail-order record company and within a year had opened his first shop on London’s Oxford Street, trading as Virgin Records. The Virgin brand now covers everything from telecommunications to space tourism.
Peter Hargreaves, Hargreaves Landsdowne, worth £2.39bn
Started with: £500
Hargreaves and his business partner began their investment broker business from a spare bedroom, with just £500 and their cars as company assets. In 2007 the company was floated on the London stock market valued at £800m.
Sir Anwar Pervez and family, Bestway Group,worth £1.31bn
Started with: £2,200
Born in Pakistan, Pervez moved to the UK aged 21 and later opened his first convenience store, which developed into Bestway Group."
