The Fascinator

November 2nd in America is known as Election Day. Here in Australia, it’s the Melbourne Cup Carnival…well at least this year and it's celebrating 150 years! It takes place on the first Tuesday of November.

Australia’s most anticipated day next to the AFL footy Grand Final (Aussie version of the Super Bowl) has arrived. For weeks, the media has been following race day fashion and top race horse picks. They’ve featured Gai Waterhouse – the revered female trainer. They’ve featured Jennifer Hawkins’ fashion – the former Miss Australia/ Miss Universe. Lately, the media has been featuring Bart Cummings and his old age – the owner of ‘So You Think’, the #1 Melbourne Cup pick. What I’ve been fascinated with is the Fascinator.

Examples of Celebs Dawning Fascinators

Oliva Newton-John, Jennifer Hawkins and Rebecca Twigley

*Courtesy of the Herald Sun

The fascinator, otherwise an elaborate decorative headband or hair piece, has filled every clothing and accessory shop. Since spring begun on September 20th, the fashion pages and store front windows have featured these accessories as common as scarves in the fall. I thought these headbands were just ‘trendy’ in the last 2 years when I saw them as regular hair pieces on Gossip Girl. Apparently, these head pieces are a key ingredient along with the perfect race dress and high heels. The race even awards the top dressers with careful scrutiny of the fascinator at each race. The most recognised prize is the Best Dressed at the Birdcage or on the field at the Melbourne Cup Carnival racetrack.

With all the attention on fashion, Australia seems to stop when the race is on. Even the city of Melbourne has declared this day as a paid holiday! Apparently, the race is costing the Australian economy $1 billion! According to Randstad Recruitment, Australia will incur high productivity losses due to the public’s diverted attention to the race. According to the report, 47 percent will take part in an office function, 45 percent will take more than thee and half hours off work and 12.1 percent will take the entire day off. Despite high losses in productivity, high staff morale is bolstered. If managers didn’t comply with this trend, they could damage their company culture, reputation and ability to retain staff.


Thank goodness for the Taurus Marketing staff! We’re exercising the 45 percent above and taking off of work at 1:30pm although the race is at 3pm. All over town, there are hefty packages where groups can pay anywhere between $50-$300 for a couple hours of food, drink and of course atmosphere. We’re paying $99 per person for unlimited champers (champagne in Aussie speak), Heineken and canapés for 3 hours at The Ivy – Sydney’s version of Butter in NYC.

The Taurus Team at The Ivy
Melbourne Cup Carnival 2 November 2010

After listening in on conversations at work of what to wear, I’ve become a little insecure of my Melbourne Cup Carnival debut outfit. Being an expat, new to Australia and heavily fined for overweight check-in baggage prior to arriving, I’m left with very little dress options. If you knew me at all in high school or college, you know I had an outfit for everything. Now, I’m worried that I won’t be dressed appropriately or with the cute enough fascinator. I scavenged the new $3bn Westfield Sydney flagship shopping centre that opened in October for an appropriate fascinator. Now that race season is at a close, fascinators are on sale. They ranged from $40 to $150! Thankfully, I already have a white headband with a white flower from Forever 21 in Seoul, Korea that I bought during the Gossip Girl headband craze. Will it do? Looking at my 3 dress options, all bought circa senior year of university, I am not sure white will go with them. In a panic, I texted my colleague Monique to bring me some options. What better advisor than a resident Aussie who has experienced the Melbourne Cup 6 times!

The Lovely Taurus Babes with Fascinators

Rachel, Me, Monique and Sharon

On the big day, hardly any attention was paid to actual work. All we could think about was stopping mid-day to start putting make-up on. For an hour before we left, Taurus changed into what looked like highschool girls getting ready for prom. The boys went out to make their wagers on the race. Not sure what to bet for, I looked at their names and who’s had the most media attention. So You Think was an obvious choice since it’s won so many races lately and represents Australia. The next horse I went for is Americain – can it be more obvious? I chose 2 other horses based on the previous performance. With $40, I betted for 4 horses to take first or to place. In the end, I won $90 for choosing Americain – the winner! And So You Think for placing 3rd. What a race! The same horses were leading until the last 100 meters. Out of nowhere, a French jockey donning red, white and blue blazed through the pack and beat the rest by a huge margin.

Front Row Seats and Watching With Anticipation

Melbourne Cup Carnival at The Ivy

 

I can't wait for next year. Maybe I should go buy some fascinators now for next year's race day since their on sale!