Boxing Day races riot of fashion and fun

Mia Browne, Mary Copeman, Robyn Brooks and Alana Macky make a day of it after coming up from...
Mia Browne, Mary Copeman, Robyn Brooks and Alana Macky make a day of it after coming up from Cambridge. Photo NZ Herald.

The annual Ellerslie Boxing Day races yesterday was the most successful on record, with more than 20,000 people taking advantage of the fine weather.

Due to the popularity of the event, the raceday organisers made the decision to stop allowing general admission entries after 3pm - the first time such a call had been made at the event.

Far from the foaming horses, discarded plastic wine glasses, RTDs and hot dogs was the Nicolas Feuillatte Fashions in the Field, characterised by suits, sunglasses, outlandish headpieces and bold floral prints.

The event's overall winner and winner of the Natalie Chan Millinery category, dietician Charlotte Moor, 25, said she had crafted her off-the-shoulder dress from vintage fabric in conjunction with her mother Ali, who also made her fascinator.

The subtle touch of turquoise in the head-piece was again referenced with a turquoise necklace and shoes.

"She's a milliner and she always used to make dresses for us when we were little," Ms Moor said of her mother.

"She found some fantastic fabric on Ebay and then it was a bit of a joint effort trying to figure out what the dress was going to look like and what we could do for the hat to match it."

Ms Moor said she would be sharing her $30,000 prize package, including a trip to Queenstown, with her mother to thank her.

"It's sort of a family affair, my sister and my mum and I, we always come. We come just as much for the fashion as for the races."

The event was judged by stylist Lulu Wilcox, Australian model Becky Lamb and The Crowd Goes Wild presenter Hayley Holt, who said she enjoyed her first foray as a fashion judge. "It's my initiation into the fashion pack."

"I was looking for something that's a bit fresh, something that's modern and not too stuffy for the races.

"I think it's a lot of fun, you can just really go outrageous with it - I mean, who's going to be wearing these crazy things on their heads everyday, it's great."

Winner of the Canvas Ladies Racewear category - open to women aged 25-44 - Claire Hahn, 33, said her son had chosen her bold red ankle-length skirt, which she coupled with a sleeveless dark blue top she had made especially for the day. "I wanted a bit of texture against the silk skirt."

Mrs Hahn said she completed her raceday outfit with an Alexander McQueen bag her husband had brought her for Christmas and a hat she had crafted herself.

It was Mrs Hahn's second fashion in the field win, having taken out the younger age category "eight years and three kids" ago.

Swimwear designer Carena West was a finalist in the category and said she made her own white dress and designed it's blue and red geometric print.

Winner of the Ellerslie Under 25 category, Eleanor Campbell, 19, came to the races from Hamilton wearing a blue floral Chi Chi London dress she had altered by her grandmother. She completed her race-wear with white lace gloves and a teal Monika Neuhauser fascinator.

She shared the runway with her grandmother Val Harman, who was also a finalist in the Specsavers Ascot Lady category - open to women 45 years and older.

"We're all a bit keen on fashion," Ms Harman said. "We've got a lot of ideas from Ellie's mother - she was last year's supreme winner."

Ms Harman said she crafted her own dress, white with a bold floral print. "It started off as two dresses so I created into something that was more appropriate for my age."

Their race day preparations took a shine off Christmas, she said. "I was still sewing this morning and I thought I can't eat anything yesterday at Christmas dinner."

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Winners:

* Ellerslie Under 25: Eleanor Campbell,

* Canvas Ladies Racewear: Claire Hahn

* Specsavers Ascot Lady: Collette Gordon

* Natalie Chan Millinery: Charlotte Moor

* Sharp Menswear: Clinton Pinto

* Nicolas Feuillatte Supreme Award Winner: Charlotte Moor

NZME.

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