By Rachelle Unreich
A young mother-of-two stands before the mirror at Kim Fletcher's millinery store in Elsternwick, adjusting a hat that will potentially complete her racewear outfit. It's an incongruous image: from the neck down, she is all tracksuited yummy mummy, but sitting atop her head is a massive thermoplastic bow, double the height of her face, surrounded by a spot of birdcage veiling.
Although she seems in danger of toppling over, she turns to Fletcher and asks, "Can you make this one bigger?" Fletcher dissuades her from the start: the hat in question was made with a Harajuku girl theme in mind, when the milliner travelled to Tokyo with the VRC promoting the Melbourne Cup Carnival, and wasn't meant to be worn outside of photo shoots.
Jewellery designer Samantha Wills at The Yellowglen Melbourne Cup pop-up in Paddington.Credit: Scott Ehler
"If you want one of those, I'd have to make it out of a lighter material," explains Fletcher, "or you'll end up needing a chiropractor."
Make no mistake about it: something wonderful – bigger! bolder! brighter! – is happening in the world of millinery this year. At last year's Melbourne Cup Carnival, there was a deluge of embellished bobby pins and sparkly headbands worn as headgear by the likes of Margot Robbie, uber-Instagrammer Nicole Warne and actress Jodi Gordon. But this year, millinery (which includes hats but also substantial headpieces) is making a massive comeback, whether it's Danica Erard Millinery's laser-cut perspex "Love" letters perched on a band, or Philip Treacy's gloriously feminine and gravity-defying hats – worn in past years by Naomi Campbell at the Lexus marquee and Dita Von Teese in Myer – that sit on the side of the head with silk flowers spilling out from underneath.
Christine Barro says people make the mistake of dressing for the races as if it were a cocktail party.Credit: Jesse Marlow
Hats, in all their fierce, flowery and feathery forms, are back with a vengeance, which is good news for Melbourne's creative milliners and fashion-forward racegoers alike.
As a mark of the celebrity that a milliner can achieve, the special guest of the English-themed Emirates marquee for this year's Melbourne Cup Carnival is Stephen Jones, British milliner extraordinaire, who once counted Diana, Princess of Wales, as a loyal customer.
He's expecting to see grander hats than ever this year at Flemington, because "when economics are down and there are so many troubles in the world … when people have a chance to dress up, hats are the ultimate expression of freedom."
Political statements aside, there's also the vanity aspect: "Hats can give you confidence if you don't have it, and they can be flattering and alluring. They do all those cosmetic things do: they can make the hips look smaller, they can make you look taller, there's a whole repertoire of things they can do."
Kristine Walker and Richard Nylon in their own creations at the Melbourne Cup Fashions on the Field last year. Credit: Simon Schluter
He should know: he has also made all manner of hatwear for the likes of Beyonce, Kylie Minogue, Jean Paul Gaultier and, Christian Dior.
"I've made a giant extravaganza of pink metal; I've done hats with dry ice in them. I once made a hat for a horse. My hats [usually] have that old-fashioned stately quality that's very much traditional English, but they have a punk quality which I grew up in, too. (Hey, the man shared a house with Boy George, for starters.)
Milliner Kristine Walker ('The Human Chameleon') in a 'Sophia' Hat by Richard Nylon Millinery. Shoes: Saint Laurent 'Tribute' Heels from Miss Louise.Credit: Simon Schluter
Looking towards these shores, he says, "I love how Australians really go for it. They really treat these [Melbourne Cup Carnival] days with respect."
And milliners have taken it to the next level this year, too. Danica Erard says that her latest crowns are "edgier and more regal", while Kim Fletcher has created a "visor veil" – her industrial answer to a modern classic, whereby she has wired her veils across the eyes, lending them a futuristic sunglasses look. "Last year, we saw a lot of girls shoving what was basically necklaces on their head, which to me was, why bother?" says Fletcher.
Racegoers were disappointed that Sarah Jessica Parker didn't wear a hat to the Crown Oaks Day at Flemington in 2011.Credit: Sebastian Costanzo
My milliner side says it's not much of a hat, but the other side says that maybe it's a gateway drug to a hat.
Milliner Richard Nylon
If those hat downsizers of years past realised the impact that a hat can make, they might not be so content with hair jewellery as racewear. Milliner Richard Nylon's assistant Kristine Walker, who also designs her own hats under "The Human Chameleon", once wore one of her boss' creations to Flemington. "Love Letter" is a hat that looks like a sculpture of a hand in mid-air, feather quill between fingers, writing a love letter, whose words you can actually read on the hat.
"My first experience in the Birdcage was when I wore this, and I wasn't prepared for what I encountered. Within seconds of entering, we were swarmed by paparazzi – cameras flashing, microphones being shoved in our faces. I felt like I was on tour with a rock star, and have referred to Richard as the Lady Gaga of the millinery world ever since," says Walker.
Shiva Singam recalls days at the races where women looked like the Royal Ascot scene in My Fair Lady.Credit: Sahlan Hayes
According to "Mr Gaga" himself, the hat is back with a vengeance. He's ambivalent about the glitzy headbands of old, saying, "My milliner side says it's not much of a hat, but the other side says that maybe it's a gateway drug to a hat."
Either way, those "bits of frippery," as Nylon calls them, are making way for bolder styles this year: boater hats, floppy '70s hats and the statement pieces made popular by local milliners such as Nylon (who Racing Fashion's Anna Mott says is "very avant-garde, and doesn't hold back") and Treacy, whose pieces are available in Australia exclusively at Christine in Melbourne.
Stephen Jones once counted Diana, Princess of Wales, as a customer.Credit: Peter Ashworth
Still, some racegoers are shy about going Full Hat. "People say, 'You look nice in hats,'" says Nylon, "before adding that they can't wear them themselves. I answer back and say, 'You've got a good head, that's a good start'." Nylon applauds anyone who opts for a hat at the races, saying, "There are always women who turn up, like Gabi Grecko. [At last year's Melbourne Cup, she wore a "McQueen-inspired" golden horned piece with feathers sticking out of its sides]. I admire her, because she says, 'I am going to wear this, and I don't care what people think, because I like it.' She styles herself, and I think that's cool."
At The Eternal Headonist, an online millinery store that has a pop-up shop in Prahran for the heavier spring racing period, owner-milliner Annabel Allen stocks some photo-worthy pieces: Keely Hunter's grey percher with Perspex rings orbiting around it, looking as though it's a relative of planet Saturn, and a wide-brimmed hat by Sophie Beale, with pressed petals suspended in plastic, giving the illusion that they are floating around the wearer, mid-air.
"A hat adds something special – it's the silhouette of it that gives the elegance," she says. "It's so much more flattering for your face, and gives you a really sophisticated and elegant feel."
Men shouldn't feel left out, either: "Men's Fashion on the Field competitions are getting bigger, and I think men are starting to take racing fashion more seriously. For men, you can wear a fedora or trilby and you've got that suave Sinatra look, or you can wear a bowler or top hat and instantly you're transformed into a dapper gent."
This year, no one is shying away from drama. Jill Humphries of Jill & Jack Millinery, who also won last year's Myer Millinery Award during the Melbourne Cup Carnival, says that she's noticed a big change in the demand for hats.
"My sales this year are [up] 100 per cent on last year, and I see that younger women are learning to take risks – the ones who are cashed-up and really love fashion. I've done some quite high pieces in leather that are structural, and have a strong silhouette. I've done one piece in black leather that's an elongated S, with one side curving along the face, and tumbling leather roses on the other."
Christine Barro, owner of boutique Christine, wishes that racegoers understood the correct place of headwear, instead of occasionally settling for hair ornamentation.
"The ill-informed don't know what spring racing is about – fine dressing, not dressing for a nightclub. People lose sight about whether they're going to the races or a cocktail party, and they're two different things. It becomes a problem when Paris Hilton is brought to the track with the barest dress and a bit of fluff on her head, and the media puts out the wrong message. It's about taking the time to be dressed as a lady, whether you're a stylish young lady or more mature."
Another stickler for history and tradition, Melbourne Fashion Festival's Shiva Singam, hopes that racing days will hark back to their heyday of old.
"My earliest experience at the races was in 1992, when the Birdcage wasn't lined with super-marquees, but chic Rolls Royces hosting picnics, and bijoux marquees like the Louis Vuitton marquee. I was mesmerised by Lady Susan Renouf, Lady Sonia McMahon and Rose Hancock Porteous who all came in beautifully large hats, kissing each other under these large brims. It was very much reminiscent of the Royal Ascot scene in My Fair Lady."
More recently, he remembers the disappointment that was felt among fashion-watchers when Sarah Jessica Parker arrived at Flemington as a guest of Crown "with a giant comb in her hair, even though she had worn a Philip Treacy hat at the Crown Oaks Day lunch that everyone was in love with".
"The Melbourne Cup Carnival is your one chance to really be dramatic and grand and make a big gesture, and what easier way than to have a hat or headpiece that is a symbol of your style."
But converting the younger masses is still a work in progress, says Kristine Walker, who laments the fact that some younger girls "are scared of hats, unless they're a Sportsgirl-approved fedora or a straw hat, or something that is very mainstream and very boring that they only feel comfortable in because they've seen it in an advertisement or in a shop window, which means it's therefore OK to wear it".
She does think that the hat has slowly become cool among this set, due to the music festival crowd, among whom "it's cool to wear a big floppy '70s Boho hat, or feather crowns and mohawks".
The problem, she says, is that the younger set think, "If I wear a hat, someone is going to judge me."
"I don't understand; they're happy to have their ass hanging out, because apparently that shows they're hot."
She blames the online fashion "influencers" "who say that I'm too cool to wear hats, and I'm a blogger, so I'm going to go for the safer option and wear a tiara. It's like people who go to fashion shows and wear all black so that they can't be judged but can still be on-trend".
This season, expect to see hats in their full glory, starting with the one that Yellowglen creative director and jewellery designer Samantha Wills will be wearing on Derby Day. "I'm going to be wearing a custom-made creation from fabric that has been produced using Yellowglen sparkling wine. We're working with a company based in Perth called Nanollose, who have developed technology that uses liquid to create textiles, so I'll literally be wearing a hat made from Yellowglen on the day."
A hat you can drink? Not quite. Perhaps that will be all the rage in 2016.