Gabriela Hearst turns archive prints into Magnolia Cup jockey silks

Gabriela Hearst turned archive prints into 12 jockey silks for the Magnolia Cup, folding her label into Goodwood’s Ladies’ Day, one of the summer calendar’s most aristocratic stages. At a meeting where dresses, hats and enclosure politics matter as much as the racing, the move gave Hearst’s work a rare kind of access: not a runway audience, but a place inside the sport itself.

The Magnolia Cup is Goodwood’s ladies-only charity race at the Qatar Goodwood Festival, the five-day meeting known as Glorious Goodwood. Goodwood says the race brings together 12 inspirational women, none of whom are licensed or professional jockeys, and that each rider spends months training and practicing before taking part. The 2026 Markel Magnolia Cup is scheduled for Thursday 30 July on Ladies’ Day.

Hearst follows a notable line of designers who have created silks for the race, including Vivienne Westwood, Roksanda Ilincic, Sarah Burton, Alice Temperley, Lisou and RIXO. That roster matters because the Magnolia Cup has become a fashion and philanthropy crossover with real reach, not a decorative side event. Goodwood says the race has raised more than £3.5 million since its launch in 2011, with a record year in 2022 bringing in more than £324,000.

The charity tie-up changes each season, but the structure stays constant: 12 women, one race, and a set of silks that turn a designer’s language into something kinetic and public. For 2025, the beneficiary was The King’s Trust International’s Project Lehar, which supports adolescent girls through vocational training and skills development in Bihar and Uttar Pradesh, India. In 2026, the money will go to Education Above All Foundation, which Goodwood says has supported more than 18 million children and young people across 77 countries since 2012.

For Hearst, the significance lies in the double register. Her archive prints do not simply decorate jockey silks; they move her brand from the private codes of fashion into Goodwood’s visible, highly policed social world, where heritage, sport and charity still carry serious status. At the Magnolia Cup, that is the real prize.