Kentucky Derby Festival Princesses and the Fillies Ball

Today, I had the opportunity to meet the 2017 Kentucky Derby Festival Princesses. The Derby Princesses are a group of 5 college-aged women selected annually to reign over the Derby and the Derby Festival proceedings.

Me with the 2016 Kentucky Derby Festival Princesses

Tonight, one of the Derby Festival Princesses will be named Derby Festival Queen at the annual Fillies Ball. The Fillies, Inc., is a women's club founded in 1959 to further the mission of the Derby Festival Committee. All proceeds from the Fillies Ball will be donated to the Kentucky Derby Festival Foundation, which provides scholarships and grants throughout the community. 

To read a first-hand account of a Derby Festival Princess's schedule, check out this post that  fashion blogger Grace Wainwright of A Southern Drawl wrote for HerKentucky about her year on the Derby Festival Court.

Off Broadway Shoe Warehouse Kentucky Derby Trunk Show

Derby is just around the corner, y'all! If you're like me, as soon as April rolls around, you start thinking a lot about the right hat for all of your Derby season events. I'd love to see all of you next Saturday, April 8, at Off Broadway Shoe Warehouse in Shelbyville Road Plaza from 1-4 p.m. for a Kentucky Derby Trunk Show. You'll have the opportunity to shop hats from C.K. Nobles Millinery and enjoy special discounts including 20% off the purchase of all accessories as well as a Buy One Get One 50% off discount on all footwear!

I participated in the Off Broadway Derby Trunk Show a few years ago, and it is such a fun event! I loved watching the ladies who attended the show find the perfect hat for Derby or Oaks, and I may have even fallen in love with a hat or two!

As a fun bonus, the Kentucky Derby Princesses will be at the event for photos from 1 -2 p.m. It's always so much fun to get to meet the latest round of Derby royalty!

I look forward to seeing y'all at Off Broadway Shoe Warehouse (4600 Shelbyville Rd Suite 201) on Saturday the 8th, and I can't wait to see the hat you pick out! 

(This post was sponsored by Off Broadway Shoe Warehouse. All opinions are my own.)

Kentucky Derby Festival Princesses

Yesterday, the lovely ladies at The Peppermint Palm invited me to meet the Kentucky Derby Festival Princesses! Aren't they lovely?

With Derby approaching, and the Derby Princesses fulfilling their royal duties, I thought it would be fun to re-post this guest post by our friend Grace Wainwright, the gorgeous Louisville-based fashion blogger from A Southern Drawl. Back in 2014, Grace was kind enough to describe her experiences as a Derby Festival Princess for HerKentucky readers.

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Hey y’all! I’m Grace, the gal over at A Southern Drawl --my personal style blog of all things southern, stylish, and awkward.  I’d like to describe my style as preppy, classic, and feminine (yet very much unexpected at times).  My personality, on the other hand, is quite different.  Yes, I may say y’all and may be a George Strait fan, but I’m not the typical southern proper girl.  I come from a large Lebanese family that’s always in your business.  {There’s no such thing as privacy in my family.}  So, pretty much here’s the equation of my life: Lebanese + South = Comedy.  I’m sarcastic, loud, blunt, and despite “popular” belief, I’m not graceful, have no poise, and trip in public daily {if not more}.  Sounds tragic, right? Right.

…and then I became a Kentucky Derby Festival Princess.  Go ahead, gasp.  I was pretty shocked too, to be honest.  But, don’t worry, I’ll give you some background. 

Kentucky Derby Festival {KDF} kicks off with Thunder Over Louisville  {April 12} and consists of nearly 70 events leading up to the good ol’ Kentucky Derby {go baby go!}.  As for the KDF Royal Court {that’s me!}—we act as ambassadors for Louisville and represent the community at all of the functions and Derby Festival activities.  That means we attend nearly every event {and keep in mind that all the princesses are full-time students}.  The princesses are chosen out of more than 100 applicants with two interviews, the last being given by out-of-state judges. How are we selected? Knowledge of the Derby Festival, Poise, Intelligence, Personality, and Campus/Community Involvement.

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All of the Princesses; Photo Taken by Marvin Young

So, I’m a Derby Festival Princess.  What now?  First, I wear my crown and pray that I don’t trip and break its precious stones.  Chances are pretty high for that, y’all.  Second, the great sponsors, like Macy’s, Anthropologie,Dillard’s, Gretchen Scott , and many more dress us until we’re looking as fabulous as can be.  {I always love getting to do what I do best—try on clothes and shop}.  Third, we get to be ambassadors for the KDF events and functions and strut our stuff everywhere. A scholarship is also given to us by The Fillies, which is quite the perk too.  So here’s to me {and the other four gorgeous princesses} proceeding through these last couple of weeks without doing anything too traumatizing to the public and to us enjoying every fleeting second of this. Oh wait, and to always remembering that the soup spoon is scooped away from your body and not towards {etiquette lesson of the day}. 

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Fairy tales never included princesses taking selfies with the Governor... Pretty cool, eh? {Photo Taken By Marvin Young.}

Feel free to stop on by over here to get your daily dose of sarcasm and style from yours truly.  I promise I don’t bite…well, sometimes.