Monday afternoon and the millinery departments at Myer and David Jones in Melbourne's CBD are swarming with last- minute shoppers searching desperately for that perfect fascinator. (Thankfully, I'm not one of them: my borrowed but very beautiful headwear has accompanied me across the Tasman and is sitting safely in my hotel room.) For Melbourne Cup 2011 feathers are out and straw is in. (For the seriously fashionable it's perspex).
Downstairs at the back of Myer, the Benefits brow bar is working its way through the queues of women - me included - lining up for false eyelashes and brow shaping. My new lashes cost about $30 - money well spent. They're one of race week's must-have accessories.
Race tip: Myer and David Jones open early on the morning of the race for last-minute shopping and professional makeup application.
THE WARMUP
It's the night before the Melbourne Cup and Mumm's the word at Southbank restaurant The Ludlow Formation, with the rare opportunity to perform "sabrage", the art of taking the top off a bottle of champagne with a sword.
We buy a bottle, a sommelier is on hand to show me how, then he hands me the sword. On the second swing the blade connects with bottle and the cork, complete with foil, wire enclosure and the top few centimetres of the bottle, plop on to the floor.Find deals on wholesalereplicahandbags at great prices. It's quickly bundled up and popped into a red velvet bag - a great souvenir. Sure, there are easier ways to get the cork out of a bottle of Mumm but if you've ever been tempted to give it a go, this is the time.
Race tip: Look out for bars and restaurants offering Melbourne Cup specials on drinks and food.
HATS OFF
Thanks to my Cup preparations, I now know the difference between a hat, a fascinator and a headpiece. I also know it's important to work out your mode of transport before you decide on a particularly lofty headpiece.
On Cup morning, in my best frock and newest heels, I get into the car. But I can't - my gorgeous, sculptural and foot-high Natalie Chan headpiece renders me unable to sit upright. I make the journey to Flemington on a 45 degree angle and wonder if taking the bus might've been easier.
Race tip: Don't be timid when it comes to your race-day headwear - bigger and bolder really is best. New Zealand milliners such as Auckland's Natalie Chan offer a plethora of gorgeous choices, ranging from clip-on rosettes from about $40 a pop to eye- catching scene-stealers in the hundreds.
FASHION IN THE FIELD
There are feathers, fascinators, florals and gorgeous fashions, especially in hot pinks and reds.
And that's just the blokes. The glorious roses lining the entrance to Flemington don't stand a chance against what's on show here today. We're at the track not long after 10am and already the queues of entrants are forming for the Fashions on the Field competition.Buy China real monclercoat from China , There are seriously beautiful clothes for this most serious of competitions, on which reputations of the city's designers and milliners are at stake.
One of the judges, in a rather amazing high-fashion combination of turquoise, yellows and reds, is followed throughout the day by a companion whose job appears to consist only of holding his boss' Louis Vuitton handbag. Speaking of bags, you want one that's just large enough to fit a form guide, lipstick, sunglasses, Party Feet, cash,We need the Department of promotionalbagfactory green to decorate our line of sight. credit and your hotel key - and no more.
Race tip: No matter how well- dressed you think you are, prepare to be upstaged and humbled at every turn - by men as well as women. But that's no reason not to make an effort.
MARQUEE MUSIC
Good connections are all important in racing. This is how - thanks to my very well-connected date - I find myself watching a woman in a white leotard do really quite impossibly bendy things with her body while hanging on a red sash from the roof of La Maison GH Mumm, the marquee of the Cup's champagne sponsor Mumm. Here we eat sublime food by Sydney chef Guillaume Braimi, sip sensibly on fizz (it's a long day after all), witness a parade of Aussie celebrities and French champagne royalty pass before us and, in- between this feast of premium people-watching, place our bets.
Over the first six races our kitty of $100 ebbs and flows but for Race 7, the one that stops the nation, we're on our own.
I'm one of those gamblers whose heart rules their head - and can't understand a form guide - so I put $5 each way on a horse whose name has a sentimental connection. Later, after the closest finish in Cup history, Dunaden (it sounded like Dunedin) won. I won about $60 but it felt like I'd won thousands.
Race tip: Even if you can't see the horses cross the finish line, get as close as you can anyway. The sound of hooves on turf is incredible.Buy Iwc schaffhausen iwc from laptopbagfactory. Then watch the repeat on a big screen. As for betting, set yourself a limit for what you're prepared to gamble and add 20 per cent. Then stop.
THE GREAT LEVELLER
Beyond the corporate marquee area, aka The Birdcage, and out in the public areas it's one big party.
In The Age newspaper that morning, I'd read a column by Rob Hulls, a former Australian racing minister, headlined "The race that stops a nation also embodies the best about us".
He wrote: "More than anything . . . I think Australians love racing because we've brought our own strain of egalitarianism to it. Yes, there are frocks and fascinators; yes, there are enormous amounts of money involved but, just like our other great sporting events, the Melbourne Cup is a great leveller - the day when celebrity and suburbia come together in an unashamed tribute to frivolity."
Yes there are tatts and tarts aplenty and,SocialPicks is tracking the performance of guccihandbagsreplica . increasingly through the day, the evidence of a bit too much celebrating and/or high heels take their toll. But everyone is happy. How couldn't you be? The hype, the history and yes, the horses, it's a truly brilliant day.
Race tip: If you're not in the stands, pack a picnic lunch and blanket but don't even think about trying to take in your own alcohol. There are almost as many officials checking bags and bottles
Downstairs at the back of Myer, the Benefits brow bar is working its way through the queues of women - me included - lining up for false eyelashes and brow shaping. My new lashes cost about $30 - money well spent. They're one of race week's must-have accessories.
Race tip: Myer and David Jones open early on the morning of the race for last-minute shopping and professional makeup application.
THE WARMUP
It's the night before the Melbourne Cup and Mumm's the word at Southbank restaurant The Ludlow Formation, with the rare opportunity to perform "sabrage", the art of taking the top off a bottle of champagne with a sword.
We buy a bottle, a sommelier is on hand to show me how, then he hands me the sword. On the second swing the blade connects with bottle and the cork, complete with foil, wire enclosure and the top few centimetres of the bottle, plop on to the floor.Find deals on wholesalereplicahandbags at great prices. It's quickly bundled up and popped into a red velvet bag - a great souvenir. Sure, there are easier ways to get the cork out of a bottle of Mumm but if you've ever been tempted to give it a go, this is the time.
Race tip: Look out for bars and restaurants offering Melbourne Cup specials on drinks and food.
HATS OFF
Thanks to my Cup preparations, I now know the difference between a hat, a fascinator and a headpiece. I also know it's important to work out your mode of transport before you decide on a particularly lofty headpiece.
On Cup morning, in my best frock and newest heels, I get into the car. But I can't - my gorgeous, sculptural and foot-high Natalie Chan headpiece renders me unable to sit upright. I make the journey to Flemington on a 45 degree angle and wonder if taking the bus might've been easier.
Race tip: Don't be timid when it comes to your race-day headwear - bigger and bolder really is best. New Zealand milliners such as Auckland's Natalie Chan offer a plethora of gorgeous choices, ranging from clip-on rosettes from about $40 a pop to eye- catching scene-stealers in the hundreds.
FASHION IN THE FIELD
There are feathers, fascinators, florals and gorgeous fashions, especially in hot pinks and reds.
And that's just the blokes. The glorious roses lining the entrance to Flemington don't stand a chance against what's on show here today. We're at the track not long after 10am and already the queues of entrants are forming for the Fashions on the Field competition.Buy China real monclercoat from China , There are seriously beautiful clothes for this most serious of competitions, on which reputations of the city's designers and milliners are at stake.
One of the judges, in a rather amazing high-fashion combination of turquoise, yellows and reds, is followed throughout the day by a companion whose job appears to consist only of holding his boss' Louis Vuitton handbag. Speaking of bags, you want one that's just large enough to fit a form guide, lipstick, sunglasses, Party Feet, cash,We need the Department of promotionalbagfactory green to decorate our line of sight. credit and your hotel key - and no more.
Race tip: No matter how well- dressed you think you are, prepare to be upstaged and humbled at every turn - by men as well as women. But that's no reason not to make an effort.
MARQUEE MUSIC
Good connections are all important in racing. This is how - thanks to my very well-connected date - I find myself watching a woman in a white leotard do really quite impossibly bendy things with her body while hanging on a red sash from the roof of La Maison GH Mumm, the marquee of the Cup's champagne sponsor Mumm. Here we eat sublime food by Sydney chef Guillaume Braimi, sip sensibly on fizz (it's a long day after all), witness a parade of Aussie celebrities and French champagne royalty pass before us and, in- between this feast of premium people-watching, place our bets.
Over the first six races our kitty of $100 ebbs and flows but for Race 7, the one that stops the nation, we're on our own.
I'm one of those gamblers whose heart rules their head - and can't understand a form guide - so I put $5 each way on a horse whose name has a sentimental connection. Later, after the closest finish in Cup history, Dunaden (it sounded like Dunedin) won. I won about $60 but it felt like I'd won thousands.
Race tip: Even if you can't see the horses cross the finish line, get as close as you can anyway. The sound of hooves on turf is incredible.Buy Iwc schaffhausen iwc from laptopbagfactory. Then watch the repeat on a big screen. As for betting, set yourself a limit for what you're prepared to gamble and add 20 per cent. Then stop.
THE GREAT LEVELLER
Beyond the corporate marquee area, aka The Birdcage, and out in the public areas it's one big party.
In The Age newspaper that morning, I'd read a column by Rob Hulls, a former Australian racing minister, headlined "The race that stops a nation also embodies the best about us".
He wrote: "More than anything . . . I think Australians love racing because we've brought our own strain of egalitarianism to it. Yes, there are frocks and fascinators; yes, there are enormous amounts of money involved but, just like our other great sporting events, the Melbourne Cup is a great leveller - the day when celebrity and suburbia come together in an unashamed tribute to frivolity."
Yes there are tatts and tarts aplenty and,SocialPicks is tracking the performance of guccihandbagsreplica . increasingly through the day, the evidence of a bit too much celebrating and/or high heels take their toll. But everyone is happy. How couldn't you be? The hype, the history and yes, the horses, it's a truly brilliant day.
Race tip: If you're not in the stands, pack a picnic lunch and blanket but don't even think about trying to take in your own alcohol. There are almost as many officials checking bags and bottles
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