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

Chinese actress Yao Chen

Longines