In what Mies van der Rohe, coiner of the expression “less is more,” would surely decry as an affront to modernism, the fascinator has been axed from this year’s Royal Ascot.For those who understandably might not know what a fascinator is, it’s basically the decoration of a normal fancy hat, meaning the kind Eliza Doolittle wore to that dressiest of horse races, stuck directly on the hair.  It’s bits of feathers. Or a web of lace.  A flattened silk flower.

We’re blaming Princess Beatrice, of course.  The minute she walked into Westminster Abbey for the last Royal Wedding wearing that bit of pink stucco molding off a Sicilian baroque palace, the queen must have turned to the Lord Chamberlain and said, “Memo to the Court: We are not fascinated. Tell those bitches to wear proper hats from now on.”

Read more here at the BBC.