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Today was the annual horse race that stops the nation – I am not sure if there is anywhere in Australia where their workplace or school does not stop to watch the race…  To me its not only about the horses (although they are important) it is about the hats… I love to how amazing people look when they wear a hat… it is a pity they don’t choose to more often.

Early on cup day the commentators were saying that there were more hats than fascinators – although this makes sense – you need something to shade you from that strong burning Melbourne sun… fascinators may be beautiful and easy to wear but hats have that classic appeal and besides looking a bit more sophisticated they protect you from getting burnt.

Here are a few of the online photo galleries from the day so you can see how wonderful everyone looked in their headwear….

The Age newspapers - Melbourne Cup Fashion Photo Gallery

An article about the winner of the fashion the fields wearing a classic black flower fascinator.

The Herald Sun’s photo gallery sports some great hats and fascinators…

And a video C/O of The Age newspaper on early morning on Melbourne Cup Day..

And not quite Melbourne Cup day but a good photo gallery displaying hats and fascinators from Derby Day on the Age’s website….

ENJOY!

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• The Melbourne Cup The Race That Stops A Nation
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Materials for making my fascinator

First I got my dress and looked at the colours of feathers, crinoline and sinamay I had in my stash and choose the colours that went with my dress. The picture shows the materials I found. I always choose more than I will need because then I can disgard some as I create or decide to go in a different direction if I choose to.

I  got a hair comb that I was using as the base for my fascinator and some netting fabric that I cut thin bias strips off. I then wrapped the end of the comb with the netting fabric. This allowed me to sew parts of the fascinator onto the comb. The netting is wrapped along the top edge going between each of the teeth so that the top edge is completely covered. I glued the end down.

I decided to go with a mainly black base with some feathers to add some

Veiling Fabric attached to fascinator base

colour. I started with some veiling material and arranged it to form a background. I then sewed it onto the comb.

I then shaped some crinoline and pinned it with a safety pin to hold its shape while I checked to see how it looked on the top of the veiling. I played around with the crinoline quite a lot and came up with with a variety of interesting shapes – it really is an amazing hat making fabric and can add that little bit of sophistication to a fascinator.

Cinoline shaped to fit on the fascinator

I then sewed the crinoline piece onto the hair comb.

I decided to use the cream feathers that I had in my pile these feathers were straight biots. I used the back of my scissors to add a bit of curl to them and then glued them in the spaces between the loops in the crinoline.

I distressed the ends of the crinoline  and to finish the fascinator off – I added a flower brooch.

Completed fascinator

Fascinator made it into the Oxford Dictionary, Other new entries for this year include “slebs” – meaning celebrities – and “fascinators”, to describe an item of ladies millinery.

The Kansas City Royals baseball team are giving out hats to their loyal fans.

On Friday, the first 20,000 fans will get a cowboy hat. Some of these will be worn again, but probably not a lot. How many people do you see wearing cowboy hats around here? I suppose some of the Royals’ version will pop up on the golf course as sun hats.

On Saturday, the first 20,000 people get Santa Claus hats, which should be comfy on a hot night in July. Some may be stowed away and brought out at Christmas for years to come. More likely, they will end up at the bottom of closets or in garage sales.

Sunday is golf visor day. Again, the first 20,000 get the gift.

Hint Fashion Magazine have an Interview with Milliner Stephen Jones If you’ve watched a Marc Jacobs, Christian Dior, John Galliano or Comme des Garçons show in recent years, you’ve no doubt seen Stephen Jones’ creations bobbing down the runway. And to see even one of the English milliner’s fanciful creations is to see nothing less than a work of art—and art at work. For 25 years, Jones has been handcrafting truly avant-garde hats that run the gamut from eccentric tea-party fare to outré Schiaparelli-like surrealism.

The Mediterranean Trotting Cup held at the Zagreb Race Track was up there next to the Kentucky Derby and Royal Ascot when it comes to crazy hats. The photo gallery can be seen here

A ‘Hats from yesteryear exhibit’ is currently on at Tulare Historical Museum on until 31 August 2008. San Joaquin Valley in California.