This year I was lucky enough to be involved in the Melbourne Cup Carnival ‘Racing Royalty’ campaign. I was featured in the main image, along with James Cummings, grandson of 12-time Melbourne Cup winning trainer Bart Cummings, Gai Waterhouse, Emirates Melbourne Cup-winning trainer, Dom Bagnato, Myer menswear designer, Glen Boss, winner of three consecutive Emirates Melbourne Cups aboard Makybe Diva (2003-2005) Michael Rodd, 2007 Emirates Melbourne Cup-winning jockey, Alison Saville, Black Caviar connection and former Myer Fashions on the Field ambassador, Greg Miles, Melbourne race caller, Mark Cumming, racehorse farrier with his dog, Archie.
I am also in the Fashions on the Field image, which has to be one of my favourite modelling shoots to date!
The Melbourne Cup Carnival is the world’s most vibrant racing event, held at heritage listed Flemington over four days each spring.
The Emirates Melbourne Cup, a 3200m Group 1 staying race, is one of the world’s richest, offering A$6.2 million in prize money. It is the richest prize in Australian sport, the world’s richest handicap race and the world’s richest 3200m (two mile) race. Unsurprisingly it draws competitors from across the globe with the annual invasion of northern hemisphere-trained stayers making it a truly international event.
But is much more than just a horse race; it is a 154-year-old social and cultural tradition that literally brings Australia to a standstill.
The Emirates Melbourne Cup is universally known in Australia as “the race that stops a nation”, because almost the entire country stops to watch the race at 3pm (Australian EST) on the first Tuesday of each November. Remarkably, Emirates Melbourne Cup Day is even a public holiday in its home city while the day before the race the city streets are closed for a parade celebrating the race’s trainers and jockeys – such is the significance of the race to Melburnians.
The Melbourne Cup Carnival was attended by more than 69,000 visitors to the state of Victoria and injected A$374.2 million of gross economic benefit into the state economy in 2014 alone.
In 2014, Melbourne Cup Carnival racegoers spent more than A$31.4 million on more than 375,000 fashion items to wear to the Melbourne Cup Carnival. In total, more than 75,000 hats and fascinators, 61,000 dresses, 59,000 pairs of shoes, 30,000 handbags, 17,000 shirts and 15,000 suits were purchased specifically to wear to the four days at Flemington, highlighting the event’s importance to the local retail and fashion industries.
The Victoria Racing Club at Flemington is the world’s largest member-based racing club in the world, with more than 30,000 members.
While the undisputed heroes of the Melbourne Cup Carnival are the stars of the turf, the accompanying fashion frenzy that seizes Melbourne in spring is truly spectacular. Men and woman alike relish the opportunity to dress in their finest racewear and head to Flemington as the racecourse becomes the place to see and be seen.
Over the years some of the world’s most fashionable people have graced the lawns of Flemington including Princess Diana, Nicole Kidman, Sarah-Jessica Parker, Philip Treacy, Elizabeth Hurley, Kim Cattrall, Stephen Jones, Kate Bosworth, Jerry Hall, Georgia May Jagger, Stevie Nicks, Eva Longoria, Chloe Sevigny, Naomi Campbell, Paris Hilton, Dita Von Teese, Kate Upton, Gigi Hadid and Coco Rocha.
However, it was Jean Shrimpton’s appearance in 1965 that caused the greatest stir. The Melbourne Cup Carnival’s most famous fashion spectacle took place when the English model attended Victoria Derby Day wearing a one-piece shift four inches above the knee with no hat, gloves or stockings. Despite causing outrage among fashion traditionalists, Shrimpton instantly turned the world fashion spotlight on Flemington and it has remained there ever since.
In 1962, the VRC Committee introduced a competition designed to ‘woo more women to the races’ during the Carnival. Today, Myer Fashions on the Field at Flemington is not just an institution of the Melbourne Cup Carnival; it has established its place as Australia’s largest and most prestigious outdoor fashion event. Myer Fashions on the Field - a Flemington icon that has been replicated the world over - is showing no sign of losing relevance after more than 50 years.
Entries for the Myer Fashions on the Field competition are now OPEN! To register for your chance to win some incredible prizes go to: http://www.flemington.com.au/melbourne-cup-carnival/myer-fashions-on-the-field
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