For my dedicated "Linda's Walkabout" blog readers, you'll recall that in my first visit to the races in Australia I dressed casually which I later learned was a total faux pas. Well I've certainly learned since then to dress up and I even have a fancy headband and fascinator to prove that I now know about appropriate racing attire. Yet in preparing to head to the Spring Carnival in Melbourne, I learned this was racing taken to a whole new level!
While I've watched the Melbourne Cup on TV for many years now, I had never been to the race course where it all takes place - Flemington Race Course - owned and operated by the Victoria Racing Club (a Cisco customer that last year we did some PR with).
Did you know that while the Melbourne Cup is the most popular of the races (always the first Tuesday of November, it's also an official holiday in the state of Victoria), there are special races all week-long, collectively called "Spring Carnival"? Derby Day takes place the Saturday prior and then there's also Crown Oaks Day (more widely known as Ladies Day) which is the Thursday after Melbourne Cup.
Did you also know that each of these races has its own separate dress code? Derby Day is black and white, Ladies Day is when you get decked out in your more feminine pastel and pink dresses with lace and floral patterns. And Melbourne Cup is bright, dress to impress colors.
This was all news to me!
So while incredibly excited to be going to Derby Day (Nov. 2, 2013), I was also a bit anxious about finding the right black and white dress and hat/fascinator to wear.
Walking around Melbourne during Spring Carnival, is like walking around New York before Christmas. Signs that it's Spring Carnival are EVERYWHERE! All the shops are selling colorful dresses, hats, fascinators (fancy headbands) and on the corners leading to the train stations there are hawkers selling programs and boutonnieres for the men. Not being a big hat wearing culture in the US, when I went into a Myer Department Store in Melbourne looking for a fascinator or hat to wear, I was so surprised to see loads and loads of hats of every color, style, and size - guaranteed to match any dress. It was also quite shocking to see the price tags - on the low end fascinators were $30-$45 with the nicer ones well over $100 and the hats were at the low end starting at $110!
When you take a look at my photos and videos of Derby Day (pronounced Darby Day, with an Aussie accent), keep in mind that my baseline experience in horse racing is Arlington Race Course near my home growing up in Illinois. Here's a photo I found online that shows that it's not very crowded and everyone is very casually dressed in shorts and skirts.
Nobody's in heels and nobody's laying out a picnic in the grass and drinking champagne. And any hats you see are for the specific purpose of providing protection from the sun, nothing fashionable at all. And absolutely no color theme. I think the only time you'd see this is at a football or baseball game and the fans are wearing the sports team jerseys.
Here I am in "black and white" with my fascinator (fancy headband) at Flemington Race Course, gorgeous roses!
As we had general admission tickets (no reserved seats) and had come prepared to spread out our picnic blankets on the grass, we got to the races very early. You can see that it's not very crowded, yet by the start of the races you can't see any grass as it's all covered with picnic blankets. We were close to the finish line and right up next to the railing so we had an amazing view not only of the races but of the track as the jockeys came by at the start and end of the race.
Fancy meeting some Oompa Loompas from Willy Wonka's Chocolate Factory! These very clever race goers not only dressed in "black and white" but also green.
My friend Kim looking gorgeous!
This is Myer's Fashion-on-the-Fields contest, these are the finalists, note that they're all dressed in black and white for Derby Day. I was seated upstairs with this young lady's parents, evidently she's appeared in Jetstar Airline commercials.
This was also a runner up.
The lady in the middle, all in white, won. I suspect the judges were impressed that she designed and sewed this dress herself. I saw fraying on the hem, so think she might have run out of time at the end.
It's incredibly crowded on Derby Day, it was also a very hot sunny day and as there was no shade where we were set up on the grass, we had to be careful to head inside every so often to place our bets and for some relief.
My colleagues Nes and Suzanne were in the "Bird Cage" which is the area that the big sponsors such as Emirates Airlines and the various hotel and liquor brands have their fancy tents with catered food and alcohol. It's invite only, so all I could do was look longingly over at the Bird Cage...
They also had Men's Fashion on the Field. The trends I picked up on were colored suits, loafers with no socks and bow ties.
This gentleman was quite suave, posed with his pen and pad of paper
so really put on a good look for the judges.
Is there a flood coming?
As the afternoon wore on, it got messier and messier with young people drinking lots of champagne in the heat and then stretching out on the picnic blankets passed out.
I'm so blessed to have Kim for a friend, it was wonderful to join her, Chris
and their friends for Derby Day!
Just arrived at Derby Day
Race #8 of Derby Day
The final race on Derby Day.
Loved this place for breakfast, very fresh and different breakfast dishes. Will definitely come back to Top Paddock.
The Melbourne Museum had a special exhibit on the Fashion of James Bond (Nov. 3, 2013) which was fascinating! They also had many of the props from the James Bond movies.
Cisco's a major sponsor of the MAD Ball Foundation which had a Great Gatsby theme (Nov. 4, 2013), so I was honored to go to yet another black and white ball to enjoy an amazing dinner, dancing and exciting live auctions.
I was sad to leave Melbourne, but I needed to return to Sydney where I hosted a Ladies Melbourne Cup Lunch (Nov. 5, 2013) at The Establishment. Phew, what a busy weekend!
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