It’s the sport of kings and a day of winners. The real spectacle of race-day, however, is the fashion.
The age-old tradition of wearing hats to the races is as old as the racing itself. Race day has long been synonymous with high fashion and elaborate couture, with hats and fine millinery a key part of the dress code. Once an indicator of the elite and the affluent, wearing hats on race day is now a rare opportunity to astonish the fashion flock.
And astonish they do! From the exquisite and extraordinary to the extravagant and eccentric, in that parallel universe of fashion known as race-wear, it really does seem that more is just, well, more.
Now that The Spring Racing Carnival is in full swing and The Melbourne Cup set to stop the nation next Tuesday, it’s a fitting time to take a look back at the history of the race-goers hat.
The first Melbourne Cup was run at Flemington Racecourse in 1861 and from the start, women’s race-wear became a subject of interest for journalists and the public alike. As hats continued to fade from mainstream fashion, increasingly more extravagant types popped up at race days. For both men and women, the races became a chance to flaunt fabulous hats and a sense of one-upmanship and competition ensued. Many often-outrageous takes on race-day fashion became integral to the event, capturing both the public and media’s interest. As one of the few remaining social occasions that require ladies to wear hats, in recent years, race-goers have raised the bar with extravagant sculptural designs that are works of art in their own right.
With Australian’s set to spend almost a billion dollars on celebrating the Melbourne Cup, we have an inkling it won’t be the racegoers having the last laugh, but the milliners themselves. Queen of the crowns (fashion’s latest answer to racing headwear), Viktoria Novak, has been busy creating over 200 pieces for up to $2,600 each. Speaking to Confidential, Novak revealed she spends three months purely focussing on her mass of spring racing clients. The designer will be flying her pieces from Sydney to Melbourne, via Virgin Australia’s hat valet service to satisfy her growing client base.
From home-made wild concoctions to the über chic and the classic, here’s a roundup of racing’s wildest headpieces:
What style of headwear will you be donning for this year’s Melbourne Cup festivities? Let us know below!
