Melbourne Cup Day, known as the “race that stops a nation,” is a renowned horse racing event and a showcase of fashion. Glamorous hats that complement vibrant and stylish dresses are a must! The style is generally of elegance with a focus on bold colours, intricate patterns, and tailored silhouettes. This year we lent into the vibrant pink tones of the day with three fabulous outfits.
Butterick 6556
Erin’s outfit was a top and tiered skirt with multi-coloured layers. The pattern used for the top was Butterick 6556 with the addition of a sleeve from Schultz Apparel. The skirt is a self-drafted skirt which is basically just lots of gathered rectangles together to create the wrap skirt.
The Inspiration
Early this year when we were in New York, just casually strolling along 5th Avenue, this fabulous outfit caught our eye. Thank you to the windows of Bergdorf Goodmans for providing us the inspiration!
Then the challenge began to find the fabric. It was important that it was all the same fabric type so we needed to find a supplier that had the same fabric type if a wide range of colours. We wanted to find a light taffeta to provide a luxe feel to the finish and a full body to the skirt.
We hunted far and wide and ended up finding a range of taffeta from Minerva based in the UK. See the fabric here.
Vogue 9357
Lauren’s dress was created as a polyester jacquard from Spotlight Pink for Cup Day, which was not a wise choice for such a humid day! Anyway, next year we will be wearing cotton. The dress was a combination of the top pattern Butterick 6134 with the skirt from Vogue 9357.
Vogue 1883
Lauren presented her entry for the VRC Lillian Frank AM MBE Millinery Award track side on Cup Day so we got to have the fabulous Molly Richardson with us! Molly wore a vibrant coral crepe from Fabric Minerva in a dress pattern Vogue 1883.
Photo Credits
Photographer: James Christie Media
Pattern: Butterick 6556 Vogue 9357 and Vogue 1883
Fabric: Taffeta from Homecraft Textiles, pink jacquard from Spotlight and crepe from Minerva
Millinery: Lauren J Ritchie Millinery
