Showing posts with label Races. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Races. Show all posts

Thursday, May 2, 2013

Derby Day Autumn Carnival 2013!

If you follow my Twitter feed you'll remember I was originally really sad about not being able to go to Derby Day and see Black Caviar potentially run her last race. I love the races and usually only go with Members tickets (free entry, yay!) but this time there was such demand I wasn't able to get my tickets. Never fear, I managed to get last minute tickets on the morning of and my sister gave me a call while I was at dance class saying I had to get back, get changed and go go go!

So with that, I got home and had to come up with a headpiece, black and white outfit and accessories, quickly do my make up and head out within 1 hr! Luckily I have a collection of millinery ready to go for any racewear outfit and occasion and I went simple black shift dress for the occasion. If the weather had been cooler, I would have worn a white with black trim blazer I've been dying to wear on Derby.

Here's a rare headshot of me (you won't usually see my headshot on my blog!). I'm wearing a felt headpiece by Fiona Powell (which I posted about here) and YSL sunglasses. My hair is a bit messy because I've had it cut recently and it was too short for my normal chignon and as you can imagine, I was madly pinning it in 5 minutes!

Anyway, the weather was amazing. In fact, it felt more like summer carnival weather, and with that came the cringeworthy ubiquity of straw, strappy shoes and of course the always present eveningwear party dresses. Argh. I even whinged about it here if you recall!

It was so awesome to see Randwick Racecourse reopened after the refurbishment - its been a few years since I used to sit my university exams there and how has it changed! It looks really good and I think it will really herald a new racing culture that will match the new, fancy surrounds. Sydney just doesn't have a racing culture that Melbourne has and I think that is such a pity! Excuse all the dodgy pics - my clutch bag could only fit flats OR camera, not both so I went with flats and iPhone photos all day :)

I bumped into my super fashionable friend who works for Vogue pottering about as part of Vogue Style Stakes (i.e. Fashions on the Field). Here are the finalists lined up with Samantha Harris. Doesn't Samantha Harris look divine? She looked even more glamorous in real life!

I wasn't too happy with the girl on the far left being included in the finalists but I could tell she was included for the 'on trend' pick with the cat ears and cute collared dress. Don't get me wrong, I think she looked amazing and loved her outfit (and cat ears) and her accent red was great if I do say so myself...more on that later. However, I do feel like rules are in place at the Races for a reason as it is a very traditional fashion playground. Not to say you can't play and have fun with the fashion you do wear there, but it did seem a little too far. Anyway I will jump off my soapbox now :) In case you're interested, the girl second from left won!

Here's a random shot of my shoes for the day. So I went with the accent red accessories (belt and shoes) which I wasn't really wanting to do as I prefer to stick to the black/white but my outfit felt boring for the day so I needed something to make it look more polished. They're the Jimmy Choos I bought from the sample sale and posted about in December.

Enough about the random races going ons, the main event was clearly the racing of Black Caviar. And wow did the crowd go crazy. This was my sister's cute cocktail - Black Caviar inspired!

And the famous darling of the day!

We managed to get up to the barrier but on one of the furthest ends of the course but it allowed for a spectacular viewing both before the race (as they galloped past to get to the starting barriers) and also during the race of course.

All in all, a fabulous day out and I'm determined to find more time to go to the races this year :)

Saturday, October 29, 2011

Derby Day 2011

I had a quick squiz of the Derby Day photos from today and just had to post about it. Derby Day is always one of my favourites to watch because I love the black and white tradition associated with it. People say it's boring and you know how everyone doesn't like to be confined, but I think the best judge of style is when someone can still look unique in a sea of monochrome black and white.

Anyway. I'll get off my soap box (yes, inappropriate Race wear is one of my pet peeves). I can't wait to see more pics but so far I'm so disappointed in Dita Von Teese. She looked stunningly manicured, but she wasn't in black and white! Blasphemy, I say! I started to think perhaps it's a Lavazza sponsorship thing...but I don't think so.

I mean her outfit would have been perfect for Cup day or really any other day of the Spring Carnival...but not Derby!

Jen Hawkins
And a few other celeb pics, because I love a bit of celeb spotting. Jen Hawkins looked a bit boring, but still I like the outfit. White based outfits are my favourite, but I think she could have made it look a little more unique given she had everything on offer at Myer! When I was in Melbourne Myer I saw some lovely millinery appropriate for Derby Day...

J Alexander
Alexandra Richards
And for some Internationals - really loved Alexandra Richard's headpiece - it looks like a Philip Treacy creation to me but I can't be sure. I like how demure her outfit is too! I think many a race goer can learn a little something from her style!

And J Alexander - kudos for an awesomely flamboyant piece of millinery. Love!

And for some Fashions on the Field judgement....without having seen the full line up of contestants I can't pass too much comment but once again I'm disappointed with the judge's choice for winner. Every few years they get it really wrong (in my opinion) on Derby Day, awarding the prize to someone who steps a little too far from the tradition of Derby Day. I think the winner's outfit this year is a little...blah? Like it's just missing a little something - you know some perfectly matched gloves perhaps? Anyway that's just my opinion, she still looks great but not to my taste.
FOTF Winner - Jess Coad
3rd Place Winner
As for the third place winner - I'm liking the red accent (a little typical, but pulled off well) but I'm not really sure what's going on with her shoes? But I like the effort she went to!

Images thanks to Gettyimages and smh.com.au