Grand National 2013: high stakes for freezing fillies The fashions are traditionally the focus of attention at Aintree - it is the biggest style event in Liverpool's calendar, with 50,000 glamorous racegoers descending on the course each day. There isn't an official dress code; instead, organisers describe the effect as "a spectacle of colours," which some suggest only encourages the more outrageous outfits on show. Ladies Day has been a fixture here since the 19th century. It was introduced at Royal Ascot in the 1700s, when a day set aside for decadently dressed aristocrats started to attract well-to-do women in search of an eligible husband. In that era, the sexes (and classes) were segregated and fashions were very formal. An anonymous poet, writing in 1823, coined the term "Ladies Day," to describe an occasion "when women, like angels, look sweetly divine." Almost two centuries later, things are a little different. "You come to Ladies Day to stand out; not to blend in," says 36-year-old Kelly Fairweather from Wigan, who is kitted out in a tiny slip of a dress that looks like a nightie and long false eyelashes and blonde hair extensions. All around me are similarly eye-catching outfits: designer dresses slashed to the thigh, perilously low necklines, wobbly platform heels and fascinators spouting exotic feathers. A silver-haired woman in her seventies is wearing what looks like a whole stuffed pheasant on her head. A group of big-haired, loud-mouthed beauties from the MTV show The Valleys, clad in corsets and skirts made from the Welsh flag, are flashing their underwear in front of the Queen Mother Stand. "I'm wearing granny pants!" squeals one. Kerry Maher, 19, is wearing a luminous green dress. "I always wear black so I thought I'd try something different," she smiles, teeth chattering. Don't you have a coat, I ask? She frowns. If I had a coat on, nobody would be able to see my dress. I can see few familiar faces in the crowd this year. Aintree regular Coleen Rooney, queen of the Wags, is missing her first race meeting in 10 years. Rooney, who normally steals the show in a striking outfit and skyscraper heels, is due to give birth next month so decided to give the arctic conditions a miss. Champagne and cocktails have been flowing all morning - and although drink isn't to blame for the extreme outfits on display, it certainly helps some girls wear them with confidence. "We're hoping it will warm us up, too," admits Jessica Lavin, 22, who is gulping down a lurid blue concoction from a plastic beaker. Most of the looks have taken months to put together. This week alone, Liverpool One, the city's biggest shopping centre, sold 38,700 pairs of shoes, 10,000 clutch bags and 2,000 litres of fake tan for the event. Last-minute appointments for hair, make-up and beauty treatments were booked out months in advance. "We open specially at 6am on Ladies Day and we see up to 70 customers," reveals Nicola Smith, owner of Peaches and Cream beauty boutique. Tricia Davies, manager of Herbert of Liverpool hair salon, says appointments have been "back-to-back" all week. Scouse girls are very fashion conscious, so they're well-organised. Some of them even leave the salon with their rollers still in; they take them out in the taxi outside the racecourse. My DIY attempts are pitiful when compared to the efforts of these girls. The wind has picked up and one of my false eyelashes is fluttering in the breeze. Beside me, Jessica Colderley-Dale, 20, from Manchester, is chasing after her hat, which keeps blowing off her head across the concourse. "It's my grandma's, so I don't want to lose it," she yells. Mimi Theobald, 28, from Inverness, has come more prepared, wearing an elegant red fur stole, gloves and a hat she made herself, which is pinned to her hair. "I came down to show the girls of Liverpool that it's not just them who can look glamorous," she says, shyly. The scantily clad ladies of Aintree have acquired a bad reputation over the years, both for their adventurous dress-sense and their raucous race-day behaviour. Last year, a Merseyside police officer compared the day to "Halloween," branding ticket-holders "tramps" - and the revealing photographs splashed across tabloid newspapers are now notorious. In truth, the racegoers are an eclectic mix. A family, dressed in tweeds and green wellies, is rubbing shoulders with a group of elderly women wearing vintage jewellery and furs. Small girls are dressed as princesses; others are wearing smart trouser suits and flowing ankle-length skirts. Rachael Thompson, 41, from West Sussex, has brought her teenage daughter along for the third year. "This is the coldest we've seen it," she grins, "but the outfits are even madder than last year." Local fashion experts, however, vigorously defend Liverpudlian styles. "I used to judge the best-dressed competition at Ladies Day, so I know how diverse the looks at the races can be," explains Justine Mills, co-founder of the well-known clothing store Cricket. Simone Patterson, of Elle 17 ladies" boutique, agrees. "Those monstrosities you see every year don't represent our girls; they dress nicely," she says. We do sell a few unusual pieces, but most of them are classic and pretty. Four hours after the gates open at Aintree, the barely-there fashions are still on show. Whatever you make of their style choices, one thing's for sure: these ladies are tough. My toes are numb, I can't stop shivering and my hands are so tightly clenched in my pockets that I've shed most of my fake nails. I ask a passing vision in pink what time the first race starts - in the vain hope that we might all move indoors to get warm. "What do you mean?!" she shrieks, with a flick of her fuchsia cape. It's Ladies Day! Nobody comes here for the horses. Today is all about the girls.