After three long months without a race day to attend, I was seriously looking forward to letting my hair down (more like styled up) and putting my best fashion foot forward at Girl’s Day Out Race Day.
Image: Bob McGahan Photos
About my Outfit
As a self-proclaimed, serial outfit repeater (budget-woes), I raided my wardrobe for an outfit to restyle. To me, Girl’s Day Out calls for fun, flirty, pink outfits! I knew the exact headpiece I wanted to wear. In fact, I made it myself last year after attending Ian Bennett’s millinery workshop.
It has some pink, coral and red feathers which were cut, shaped and molded to form perfect feather flowers. I arranged them onto some wire so they would hug both sides of my face. Another reason I wanted to wear this piece was the potential cyclone consideration. A warning of strong winds called for a smaller headpiece.
Headpiece choice made, I wanted to contrast it with a white outfit. And I had just the dress! The Alex Perry gown I had cut up and altered last year to wear to Oaks Day in Melbourne. I love this dress, I think it’s so beautiful. And having a full skirt meant I could eat a bunch of snacks in the marquee and not have to worry about sucking everything in or looking bloated! Yes, these are the things I think about…shameful, but true.
My 2018 Oaks Day Outfit
The rest of my accessories I pulled from my wardrobe, including my mother of pearl Cult Gaia bag. Since my accidental $500 spend on this bag, I’ve really been trying to get my money’s worth. I wore a matching mother of pearl earrings, a pair of pink, green and orange heels purchased over five years ago from Zu, and, to finish my look, an on-trend pink and red Twilly Scarf from Bag Queen.
I had my hair done by my hair wizard Kirsten, who did me a soft, voluminous up-style and worked the wire of the headpiece into my hair to stop it blowing around. And also to hide the fact I used some sticky tape to stick the wire together haha.
At the Track
Girls Day Out is a super fun day to attend. There are fairy floss stations, makeup booths, spin the wheel, a drag show (hellooo!), hunky men, and lots of fun cocktail stations and marquees to play around in.
I was in the Summer Soiree Marquee, trying to sample as much of the delicious menu as I could in the hour I had spare before fashions started :D
There was a great turn out for Fashions, with plenty of beautifully, fun styled gals showing up. There were two categories; Best Dressed Woman’s Racewear and Best Dressed Girl Squad.
The BRC Fashion Committee ladies ready to welcome and register all the entrants.
Fashions on the Field Competition
The judging panel was made up of reality TV Personality and Journalist, Georgia Love; BRC Ambassador and blogger, Kayla Boyd; Sheike representatives, Jordan Guest and Courtney Ferdinand; and BRC Fashion Committee Member, Jessica Toms.
Wanting to film the heats for the Best Dressed Woman’s Racewear, I decided not to enter. But I thought it would be fun to enter the Girls Squad with my friends Brooke, Jess and Megan, as we all had a similar colour scheme of red, white, pink and black.
Tess asking Jess how we co-ordinated our outfits… “Umm… we just sort of… telepathically knew” aka- we just decided to enter together before the event hehe.
The winners were the super stylish (and well-coordinated) ladies in yellow and red, followed by a trio of pastel wearing beauties who were actually on a Hen’s Party <3
Photo: Bob McGahan Photo, @alifelikejess
There were six heats for the Woman’s Racewear category. Here is a small snippet from each heat, the full catwalk and video can be seen on my Instagram Highlights- @milanoimai
And the following image shows the top 10. I was super excited to see two Millinery Market hats in the top 10 too (2nd and 3rd from the right)!!
The winner was the always outstanding Amanda Maccor, in a green dress by Gail Taylor, Ian Bennett ombre pink crinoline hat with his signature feather flower and a pink ‘Everest’ bag from Bag Queen.
Renee Inness came runner up wearing a powder blue pencil dress with cute ribbon features and stunning hat by Melissa Gaye Designs.
Some Favourite Looks
I managed to snap a few outfit photos throughout the day. Here were some of my favourite looks from Girls Day Out…
Hope you enjoyed this Girls Day Out update!
If you enjoy getting dressed up and going to the races, make sure you join our 3,000+ members in the Field Fashion Community Facebook Group! It’s a positive, supportive community where you can meet new race friends, share ideas and ask for outfit advice.
