This year’s Prix de Diane Longines was a weekend of sartorial elegance and magnificent horse-riding, with guests calling upon the town’s best milliners for the bespoke hats that are de rigueur at one of the world’s top equine racing events.
Alongside the races, iconic Bollywood screen siren and Longines Ambassadress of Elegance Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan had the pleasure to give away the Prize of Elegance, or “Mademoiselle Diane par Longines”, to Valentine Simon.
Maxime Guyon, on Golden Lilac, won the group I race and received his trophy, as well as a Longines Column-Wheel watch, from the hands of Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan and Walter Von Känel, President of Longines. Equestrian glamour and graceful hats dotted the lawn of Chantilly’s racecourse, as style hunters scoured the racecourse in search of the most elegant woman of the day for the special “Mademoiselle Diane par Longines” award. A panel of judges, made up of Aiswarya Rai-Bachchan as well of representatives of France Galop, Longines and Grazia magazine, eventually selected Ms Valentine Simon to be the winner of the Longines Prize of Elegance.
The arrival of Longines guests on the Chantilly racecourse for the 2011 edition of le Prix de Diane Longines
Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan, Longines Ambassadress of Elegance, at her arrival in a horse carriage on the Chantilly racecourse
The lead singer of Cœur de Pirate, Béatrice Martin, and her Longines DolceVita in steel and rose gold
Charles-Henri de Moussac, Vice president of France Galop, Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan, Longines Ambassadress of Elegance and Walter Von Känel, President of Longines
Prize-giving ceremony for the first race of the day, the Prix de la Reine Marie-Amélie. The winner, Sally-Ann Grassick, received a Longines PrimaLuna from Florence Ollivier-Lamarque, General Director Swatch Group France, with Hubert Monzat, Director of France Galop
Valentine Simon was elected most elegant woman of the day by a jury made up of Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan and representatives of France Galop and Longines. She received a Longines DolceVita, the official watch of the event
Valentine Simon poses next to Aishwarya Rai-Bachchan, Longines Ambassadress of Elegance
