Horses for courses

When it comes to fashion, Coleen McLoughlin and Alex Curran give Liverpool a bad name. I can say that because I'm from (near) there originally. It's not actually all fake tans, manicures, body-con mini-skirts and bleached blonde hair extensions, but you do have to know where to go - and that's not Concert bloody Square or Aintree Racecourse...

Yep, I was at the races on Saturday. I went for my friend Kate's birthday and while our crowd were (naturally) an exception to the rule, it riled me that there's such an overstated correlation between bad fashion sense and the infamous race track. Heightened unimaginably (although all too easy to imagine) by the whirling mass of ridiculous when-will-you-honestly-wear-that-again head-pieces, tattoos and bad tan lines poking out from under ruffled fuchsia one-shoulder dresses and enough clones of the same head-to-toe corsage-to-gladiator-heels to make you pass out with nausea. And that's just the wags...

So, without further ado, here's the exceptions to the rule.

Kate looked amazing in her vintage ruffled navy and white gown teamed with a pretty pale pink corsage to blow all the others out the water and delicate pink satin heels to match.

Corsages without the cliche: you can't really see my dress here but I was wearing a hand-made multi-layered, almost patchwork creation by new Berlin designer Ursula Pelt. I recommend checking out her website. Lovely pieces and not too expensive. If you're in Liverpool, Little Red Vintage is stocking her line.

Desperately seeking originality... Shame I didn't get closer as love this girl's canary yellow blazer and wide stripy culottes, but I only had my iphone (my decent camera didn't fit into my 1950s handbag, duh) and I was feeling too shy to approach. For that, I blame Coleen, Alex and the (above mentioned) crowds of clones...