Through the drizzle and clouds of vape smoke I combed the crowds at The Everest with every intention of compiling a top five best dressed list. Hopes were high with general admission tickets having sold out for the first time in the race’s history, but like over-eager punters at the betting machines, I came up short. By the last race I had scraped home with three contenders.
Despite the enduring hope that King Charles and Queen Camilla might make an appearance at Royal Randwick, the sea of young women with cans of White Claw outside The Winx Stand chose clinging fabrics and cleavage over pomp and circumstance. Pale colours dominated the queues to the women’s toilets, with more butter yellow on show than a dairy farm. The best dressed at The Everest: Kate Waterhouse in Maticevski; Viera Macikova in Reiss; Lucinda Pikkat in Meshki.
Credit: Janie Barrett At the other extreme, women in the members’ areas maintained a mother-of-the-bride approach to their outfit choices, with conservative Zimmermann, Aje and Alemais-inspired dresses. The polish and poise was contained to tried and true trends from seasons past, such as murky florals, power red, horse motifs and bedazzled bows. The meticulously well-dressed were evenly balanced by the barely dressed, but those with an eye to the international runways would have struggled to find anything vaguely Parisienne, Milanese or even Melburnian about the approach to fashion.
Here is the fashion trifecta. Kate Waterhouse Racing royalty .