Bring your own hobby horse, of course

Hats on, Foxy style

ANOTHER light-hearted reveller trackside at Thoroughbred Park had chosen an unusual topper. Adrian Fox, of Fraser, assumed the identity of Lewis Carroll character the Mad Hatter, a bloke usually seen less often at races and more often having a pot of tea with a dormouse and a girl called Alice. Having accessorised with the iconic purple top hat and a fox-headed walking cane, he was impressing curious onlookers. ''It's a great way to make friends,'' he said of his outfit. ''I'm asking people to take me to see the rabbit.''

That demure look

PIN-UP-WORTHY couple Nick Buerckner, of Griffith, and Rachael Lang, of Palmerston, saluted retro-fabulous style with their outfits - a yellow '50s-style frock of Lang's own design, vintage gloves and a fascinator by local milliner Viktoria Novak for her, and a suit teamed with spats for him. Lang, a fashion designer with an eponymous label, said she gravitated towards the pin-up look because it was relatively demure. ''For a lot of girls, racewear has headed over too much towards nightclub wear. I want to do the covered shoulders, the knee length skirt, the full dress and less cleavage. You don't have to show lots of skin to look great.''

Better mullet over

LOCAL bloke Joel Bulger, of Ngunnawal, looked arresting enough in his all-purple suit, but the look was capped off with his hair. We had to ask - who was responsible for its styling? His friend, Danica Cole, also of Ngunnawal, said the hair was usually in ringlets but she had especially straightened it for cup day.

Rainbow attack heckle

MEN brave enough to take to the stage for the Classic Men's Race Wear Fashions on the Field contest typically get some of the biggest cheers. That said, not every look was enough to impress a heckler who hurled a few choice phrases at the dudes she felt did not come up to scratch. To one contestant she roared, ''You look like you got attacked by a rainbow,'' to another, clad in a shiny suit, she yelled, ''You look like a walking disco ball.'' Fortunately, the music was so loud her slings and arrows seemed to go unnoticed by the gents in the spotlight.

Squeeze of competition

CLASSIC Couples Race Wear entrants turned up the heat during their turn to be judged. In previous years, the couples have been asked to kiss on stage so as to be sure they were bona fide partners and had not randomly paired up on the day. Some of this year's entrants needed no such prompting. One couple had a reasonably chaste snog. Not to be outdone, the next couple to take a turn on the catwalk followed this up with an even bigger lip-lock, followed by a saucy bottom squeeze. The Fashions on the Field MC, Sarah Kelly, remarked the couples seemed to be getting a tad competitive in the romance stakes.

Colourful reports

FASHION TV sent a roving reporter around to cast an eye over Canberra's frocked-up fashionistas at the local racecourse. The effusive Carlo Carzalis was keen on the ''exceptional'' display of colour blocking and also the vintage flourishes. ''We've seen nods to different and earlier eras. We've had a lot of lovely vintage 1950s numbers. Across the board, people are going back to earlier generations of fashion and rediscovering them in a modern light,'' he said. He had spent a lot of time backstage with those vying for fashion prizes and wasn't able to single out a favourite. ''In my eyes, everyone is a fashion and beauty diva in their own right, even the gentlemen.'' Even so, not all the men had managed to wow him. ''I've been a little bit disappointed,'' he said. ''Those in Fashions on the Field have gone the extra mile, but some of them could put a little extra effort in.''