The biggest race day of year in Australia with over 90,000 people attending, is the Melbourne Cup. Running alongside the racing, is my favourite competition - Fashions on the Field. It showcases all the talented designers and best dressed individuals that Australia has to offer.
Part of the FOTF competition is the Lillian Frank Millinery AM MBE Award. Milliners from across the country get to create whatever their heart desires to submit for the judges consideration.
I have attempted to enter this competition twice before, but haven’t been able to finish the piece in time. This year, I was determined to have a piece finished and submitted, and after battling a terrible cold, late nights and juggling customer orders, I finished and entered my creation ‘Odette’.
INSPIRATION
Inspiration for my entry was found looking through photos from a recent trip to Europe and the UK. I’m utterly in love with the architecture, flora and elegance of it all. The incredible detail carved into stone, shimmering gold and the abundance of flowers were elements I entwined into my
DESIGN AND CONSTRUCTION
If you’ve been a follower of the Aurelia Paige instagram account, then you’ll know how much I adore boater hats, they’re classic and elegant, so naturally it would be the shape that I choose for the base. I also love using metal flowers in my designs and had to incorporate those as well.
You can watch my video diary for the whole creation process here
Each element was created by hand, the boater frame was made using stiffened buckram, millinery wire and covered with black silk offcuts. The metal flowers were traced and cut from embossing foil, cut and shaped into individual flowers, over 20 in all. Close to 20 hours went into constructing this piece and I’m obsessed with it.
MAKING THE FINALS
Having actually finished a piece in time for the competition, I was just happy with that to be honest. It’s a scary thing putting up your work to be critiqued and putting yourself out there, and when I received the email confirming I had been selected as a finalist, I did shed a tear or two while dancing around my studio on the phone to my sister.
In my wardrobe was the perfect dress and the perfect model in my friend Susannah. We worked together choosing the final details of the look, shoes, bag, hair and make-up. This is the final look all put together, and everything
Although we didn’t come home with a sash, it was still the most wonderful day. I will remember it as one of the days I started to see what was possible when you follow your hearts calling.
