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Life

28th Jul 2021

We’re catching up with our 2019 Her Best Dressed competition winner ahead of the Galway Races

Ann Cronin

Brought to you by Maltesers Biscuits

The Galway Races and Her Best Dressed are back, and we couldn’t be more excited to celebrate the occasion in style.

This year’s Galway Races, on Thursday, July 29th, will be a fully interactive and virtual experience for anybody who wants to take part – and for the lucky few who will be in attendance on the day.

But whether you’re tuning in from home or attending the action live, you can still take part in Her Best Dressed.

This year, Her Best Dressed is an exciting virtual extravaganza, with Louise O’Reilly (aka @StyleMeCurvy) judging all of the entries. This year, all entries will be accepted through Instagram and you can find full details on how to enter here.

To celebrate the occasion, we caught up with our 2019 Her Best Dressed winner Pamela Uba, to get her expert tips on dressing for this year’s Ladies Day. As well as winning the competition in 2019, Pamela was also a judge for last year’s Her Best Dressed so there really is no better woman to take some tips from.

Her Best Dressed

Since winning Her Best Dressed in 2019, Pamela has gone on to work with a number of incredible Irish brands including Gillian Duggan and Emily Jean. She was also crowned Miss Galway in 2020, and says winning Her Best Dressed gave her the confidence to seek out these new opportunities.

“It’s really opened doors for me within the fashion world and getting to work with loads of brands and, you know, putting me out there. And I think it was because of that, that gave me the courage to sign up for Miss Galway. I was like ‘Why not do this?’

Two years on from the competition, Pamela puts her winning outfit’s success down to how unique it was.

“It was different, it was young and fresh. I really liked the jumpsuit and the spiky hat, I thought it was really edgy and chic. So, it was just very different and I think that’s what it made it stand out. It was not the usual, you know, flowy dress or something like that.”

When it comes to sharing advice for this year’s entrants, Pamela says it’s so important to pick something that you like and feel comfortable in.

“I would say be you because I think the outfit, it looks better when it’s representing that person and representing your own unique style. Be comfortable. You can see that, if you’re comfortable in what you’re wearing, even if it’s through a picture it does still show.”

Having supported so many Irish fashion brands in her own winning outfit, it’s no surprise that Pamela recommends shopping Irish for this year’s Galway Races too.

“I definitely recommend going Irish if you’re going to go to something like the races, ’cause it’s good to represent our own designers and our local brands. I wore Phoenix V on the day and I absolutely adore them, all their pieces are always amazing.

“For hats, there’s loads of choice in there. I’ve worked with loads of them, I’ve worked Gillian Duggan, Emily Jean. My hat on the day was Laura Hanlon and she’s so amazing.”

Pamela also recommends looking through your wardrobe to see what you already own, and doesn’t believe you need to buy a whole new outfit to stun your competition on the day.

“In the light of being sustainable, you don’t have to go out and buy a whole new outfit either. Root through your wardrobe, ’cause a lot of people have stuff that they haven’t worn or didn’t get a chance to wear because we’ve been indoors for a long time. Have a root through and see what you have, and work with that as well. You don’t have to go and splash a whole load of money on it either.”

You can follow Pamela on Instagram here.

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Brought to you by Maltesers Biscuits