It’s the day before the Weetwood Toowoomba Laser Clinics Fashions on the Field event.

I hadn’t planned on attending, in fact, I was meant to be having a quiet weekend and possibly a clothing sale on Saturday afternoon. But I was starting to feel the itch. You know that itch? The one where you are suddenly compelled to throw together a FOTF outfit and indulge in a whole bunch of DIY?

I had no outfit planned, nor did I have any suitable winter millinery. On top of that, I am the stereotypical terrible female Asian driver and the two-and-a-half-hour hour trip each way seemed like a disaster waiting to happen. Still, the itch was strong.

The Most Important Step…

I rushed home after work on Friday at 7:30 to put a plan in motion.

First of all, the most important step was to see if my hair wizard Kirsten could fit me in the following morning. This may sound lame, but I think if she was unable to do my hair, I would seriously consider not going- that’s how important good hair is on a race day! And also shows how bad I am at doing my own hair!!

As usual she was an absolute gem. Bless her!

Finding a Dress

Next… what the heck was I going to wear?

Being an avid outfit repeater (sustainability for the win!) I tried on the only two winter racing fashion outfits I own. A beige two piece set with powder blue trim and my monochrome jacquard fabric pencil dress with Kimono Sleeves.

My dog is a diva. As soon as he sees me getting my photo taken he rushes in to photobomb.

I asked my Japanese homestay and her boyfriend which outfit they liked better, and they said the monochromatic outfit. I was secretly very happy about this because the beige outfit is just so darn tight and I wouldn’t have been able to sit down (or eat hot chips).

Turning a Spring Hat into a Winter Hat

Ok so dress decided on, it was time to work out a hat. Normally I would go through Millinery Market to find the perfect hat, but time was not on my side. I would have to make do with what I already had… not many A/W appropriate hats at all!

Looking through them, I found an old sinamay round hat. It was one of the first hats I ever purchased from a hat shop when I started entering FOTF.

Here’s an old photo I found of the time I wore it…

Somewhere along the way I had spray painted it black.

I searched my sewing room for some black fluffy wintery fabric. Coming up empty handed I stumbled upon a scrap of black sequin fabric that was quite stretchy. Perfect for covering a hat base! I pinned it over my hat and stitched it in place.

Then I found some veiling I purchased on my Japan trip last year and had a play around with it. I attempted the typical style of letting it cover the face. Okay, not great. Then I found that having it folded in half and stitched at an ascending height around the hat looked best.

For embellishments I wired some pink silk leaves into flowers, similar looking to the flowers on my dress. I then spray painted them black and blow dried them before wiring them onto more wire and sewing it onto the hat base.

The finishing touch was some black felt arranged into a twist and sewn onto the side with the flowers.

I was quite impressed with how this hat turned out! I would totally buy it if seen in a shop!

Accessories & Hair

The hat complete, I tried on the outfit and loved it! I paired it with a Cue patent leather belt and patent pumps with clip on earrings from Zara and a small ring bag!

A quick paint of the nails in the car to match my veiling completed the look.

Outfit ready, the final and most important step was to call my mum, asking to borrow her car and if she thought I would die driving to Toowoomba by myself.

Her response was… ‘probably’.

Haha!

Still, I convinced myself to go. What kind of a racing fashion blogger would I be if I never attended any race days!

She wasn’t totally wrong though- driving her car to my hair dressers the next morning I accidentally had it in manual and drove all the way to her house on 6000 revs and going 50km/hour, freaking out the whole way! Kirsten’s husband had to show me what I was doing wrong. Oops.

Kirsten created this elegant side twist up-do. She really is a hair wizard!

At the Racecourse

Arriving at Toowoomba extra early, first in the fashion enclosure in fact, I relaxed with a wine and some hot chips. The competition this year had moved to a beautiful indoor tent with stage, Moet bar and white chairs set out for onlookers.

Photos of Some Fabulous Outfits

Ladies and men started to arrive and I managed to take a few snaps of some of the fabulous outfits on show.

Fashions on the Field Competition

There were about four heats for the women’s Best Dressed competition and a great turn out!

From the heats, the final six were chosen.

And then the winner announced…

…it was ME!! Super shocked and thrilled to be named best dressed!

Sheryl (left) was first runner up and Morgan (right) second runner up.

As part of my winner’s prize, I was invited into the marquees and spent the rest of the afternoon eating canapés and indulging in Moet before heading back to the Gold Coast.

A special thanks to Caren, for taking photos for me whilst I was on stage :)

And that’s my 2019 Weetwood wrap. Looking forward to next year’s event.

 

Are you planning to attend an upcoming Autumn/Winter race day? Next you might like to read:

 

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