In honour of the Melbourne Cup, a national horse-racing event in Australia that happens on the first Tuesday of every November, I am going to post a selection of fabulous rainbow fascinators and hats I have come across in recent times.
This event is so important in Australia that almost every business holds a special Melbourne Cup luncheon for it's employees, and from 2-4pm the race will be watched on televisions across the country. It's correctly nicknamed "the race that stops the nation", and if you live in Melbourne the whole day is even a public holiday!
And the reason is this: as far as the general public is concerned, no one really cares that much about horse-racing. Or gambling; in fact an office sweep is probably the closest to betting that most people ever get. But EVERYONE gets a chance to dress up. Especially the women: FINALLY, they get to dress up in something fabulous! FINALLY, they get to wear an amazing hat! And what artistic creations many of them are!
INSANE hats are worn, in fact. You wonder how some of the wearer's even fit into a building or don't collapse with a neck-strain headache!
Below is a selection of some rainbow winners. (I won't call them favourites... those are hard to come by!) But to be honest, the art isn't as in them as in other hats. Rainbows still aren't as popular in racewear fashion as every other colour, separated. Perhaps after the race day I will put up some favourites from this year's selection.
Until then... enjoy! :-)

Hat by Aussie girl Amanda Macor.


Fascinator by Jo Morgan, exclusive to Flights of Fancy on Tamborine Mountain.

...And reminds me of a Russian fur hat.
Original creation by Monique Lee.


I have to say, I LOVE Princess Beatrice for her bold and experimental wearing of hats! She doesn't always get it right, but who cares? She's having fun! That girl has confidence and guts. A very attractive combination!



I completed this while doing a Certificate II in Millinery at TAFE. Gosh, I'd love to pursue that! It's an expensive hobby though... and I'd need more spare space, time and money to do it PROPERLY (next level up is in Sydney; a fair way to travel with all that equipment)!

I AM sorry I don't have anything brighter finished though. Maybe one day I'll get around to it... my main issue is lack of space, closely followed by time... I barely have enough to paint in, let alone any fashion production set-up!

And at the same time, it's marvellously common-sense.
If Fashion has taught me anything, it's to trust my instinct more... because I always want to do things "properly" & don't have confidence in my product until I know the official way to do things... which is frequently exactly the same way as I did it intuitively or experimentally!
Soon, my pretties... I hope! There's a few things happening next year... you just never know where life may take me. I expect it would be a few years away yet though... but... who on earth knows?!! I sure can never predict where life will take me. I smile when I hear the saying "Man makes plans and God laughs at them", because it certainly feels true for me! I am trying to learn to let go and let life and ride the wave wherever it takes me, because it certainly doesn't ever seem to end up where I was taking it!!! Holding too close to stuff just brings stress. Maybe one day I'll get the balance right.
Wow, that got serious fast! Time to go and enjoy this beautiful day! Beautiful because even though the weather is crappy, I will finish my first self-made rainbow dress in my fashion production class today! :-D