With King Charles and Queen Camilla giving the Melbourne Cup, and Melbourne, a miss on their upcoming visit to Australia, filling the aristocratic void has been left to American royalty. Fashion designer, model and Beverly Hills princess Nicky Hilton Rothschild will attend the celebrated horse race more than 20 years after unwittingly transforming the Birdcage at Flemington Racecourse from a stuffy corporate precinct to a celebrity playground with her sister, Paris Hilton. Hilton Rothschild will be accompanied by Australian fashion designer Rebecca Vallance-Gasan , who wears far less pink than Paris but could easily pass for a Hilton with her sleek blonde hair, California tan and natural affinity for sequins.
Nicky Hilton Rothschild and Rebecca Vallance-Gasan in pieces from their holiday collection collaboration for the Rebecca Vallance label. “She’s the third Hilton sister,” says Hilton Rothschild, who has collaborated with the Rebecca Vallance label on a 31-piece holiday collection, aimed at those embracing the spring carnival’s champagne-fuelled party spirit. Extravagantly embellished minidresses starting at $799 in deep wine, lipstick red and Derby Day black, along with pearl-encrusted halterneck gowns, are a more regal take on event dressing than the Hilton sisters’ skimpy racewear wardrobe in 2003.
“It’s so funny because those looks that we wore back then are on the runway now,” says Hilton Rothschild. “The low-slung pieces, the lingerie-inspired dress.