Chester Races' best dressed lady won £10,000 prize wearing £25 Vinted bargain

Wearing a stunning multi-coloured maxi dress and hand-made hat, Stephanie Corlett's stylish look helped her to stand out from the crowds at Chester Races.

And it was a bargain £25 find off Vinted that clinched her the coveted title of Best Dressed at the Ladies Day event at Chester Races' popular Boodles May Festival.

Stephanie, 36, was stunned when she was crowned winner of the stylish racegoer competition - scooping a £10,000 top prize in the process. Especially as her entire outfit only cost £49 after a number of bargain finds.

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She spotted the multi-coloured maxi dress while browsing reselling app Vinted last week, and loved it, buying it for £25. It was only after spying the old Topshop dress on Vinted that she made the last minute decision to book tickets for Chester Races for her and her husband to enjoy a day out.

Stephanie makes her own hats and decided to create a bespoke headband to match the dress while she waited for it to arrive in the post. Although when it did arrive, she realised the yellow colour she'd gone for didn't actually match - so she stayed up all through the night to create a new red hat instead.

The husband and wife headed on the train from their home in Maghull, Liverpool, to Chester and were enjoying their day out around the racecourse when Stephanie decided to enter the Best Dressed racegoer competition.

She was later told she's been shortlisted as a finalist and to head to the parade ring - but was stunned to then be crowned the winner. The prize included an £8,000 Boodles diamond necklace, a £500 shopping voucher for Cheshire Oaks, Ted Baker handbag and Chester Races hospitality tickets.

Stephanie says: "I only bought the tickets to come on Tuesday night, because the dress still hadn't turned up at that point. I'd bought it last week on Vinted and the lady who I bought off said it would definitely arrive in the post by Wednesday so I took a chance and bought the tickets.

"Thankfully the dress did arrive, but it's only when I got it that I realised the yellow hat that I'd made didn't match it, so then I was up all night unpicking the yellow hat I'd made to make it into red!

"I'm still buzzing to be honest that I won."

Stephanie said she's only recently discovered Vinted, but has loved finding unique outfits on the app. She teamed her £25 dress with some more bargain items to accessorise - a blue £9 belt she found on Amazon, and pretty yellow bag for £10 and strappy red heels £5 on ASOS.

She said: "Vinted is quite new to me, but people have been saying how good it is. I don't sell anything on there I just like to look and pick up a few bargains.

"It's always in your mind if you buy a new dress that's on sale now that there's a chance someone else be wearing it as well, so I always try and find something different to wear as the last thing you want is to see someone else in the same dress.

"I can't believe I managed to find such a bargain outfit, usually I'm the one who is last minute and spending a fortune with a panic buy."

Stephanie is mum to two step sons and her five year-old daughter with husband Daniel, 49. She only began making hats during lockdown, but now runs her own business Stephanie Elizabeth Millinery, growing by word-of-mouth on Instagram and Facebook.

She says: "I had just started a one day course in millinery the week before lockdown, and I was absolutely gutted because I couldn't do my hobby anymore face to face. But I got talking to a lady in Australia who was a milliner and she set up some live zoom classes, so I'd stay up through the night to do these zoom classes with her.

"From then on I was hooked, and millinery kept me focussed through lockdown really. Before that I was working as a PA, but now I've been able to turn my hobby into my own business.

"I set up an Instagram page and put photos of what I'd made on Facebook, and once I got my first customer, she told someone they knew and then it's just built up from there by word of mouth."

After being named winner of the Best Dressed event by Cheshire Life editor Joanne Goodwin, Stephanie and husband Daniel celebrated with a glass of champagne in the winner's lounge.

And family and friends have been delighted in her new found fashion fame.

Stephanie laughs: "My mum and dad fully believe that I am famous now! My sister is sharing every photo on her instagram! My mum works for a charity shop so she's been telling all their volunteers about it."

She's already been getting floods of messages on her instagram page asking about her outfit. Some have even asked if they can BUY her Vinted dress off her!

She said: "I've had some lovely messages from people who have followed me from the start who have messaged me to say well done. A lot of people have been asking where the outfit is from and whether I'd be willing to sell it! It's been really nice, it's just really lifted me it's been great."

Chester Races May Festival is one of the most popular races events on the social calendar, and runs with three days of horse racing and events concluding with Friday's historic Chester Cup Day in its 200th anniversary year.

Established in 1539, Chester is the oldest racecourse still in operation in the world.