Royal Ascot was a riot of colour yesterday for the annual festival of fashion that is Ladies' Day.

But some of the headgear looked decidedly uncomfortable – including hats made from Lego bricks worn by Anna Carradine-French and Jonathan James.

Ms Carradine-French, whose hat included a Lego Big Ben and London Eye, said of the 2kg creation, made of 1,400 plastic bricks: "I'm wearing it all day. It's very heavy."

Her hat, and a traditional top hat worn by Mr James, were designed by Leicester College fashion student Charlotte Samuel.

Charlotte's design was built by professional Lego builder Duncan Titmarsh, of Brickin-it. He has been collecting Lego for more than 18 years.

The woman's hat took him 14 hours to build, while the top hat was made from 1,000 bricks and was produced in eight hours.

Each year, the Ascot crowds consume some 170,000 bottles of champagne, around 10,000 lobsters, 5,000 oysters and 18,000 punnets of strawberries during the five-day event.

Racing at Ascot dates from 1711, when Queen Anne drove from nearby Windsor Castle with her entourage for a day's sport organised at her command.