Bendigo Fashion Festival - Taste of Spring Raceday

My sister Goldfields Girl tags me in posts on Instagram quite often. I forget most of them, and earlier this week was really surprised when I discovered one of the tags was a competition and we won. It was an entry to attend Bendigo Fashion Festival’s ‘Taste of Spring Raceday 2016’. It was exciting to win something, but then also insane because we both had things on and neither of us had anything to wear.

I had a full day rehearsal for the play I am in with Ballarat National Theatre and I felt so incredibly bad telling the director that I suddenly couldn’t attend. They ended up cancelling the whole day, for which I still feel monstrous. I’ve seen the Bendigo Fashion Festival stuff around for years and I thought it would be something not to miss, so worthy of the sacrifice.

Then there was the problem of what to wear. My experience with Perth Fashion Festival meant I knew what to expect from that front, but this was a racewear event. I have never actually been to the races and done the fashion thing. Having no idea what to wear, I remembered collaborating with Her Wardrobe last year. They hire out designer dresses for events and functions, including accessories like millinery and bags. I called Alex up and asked her about what to wear.

Alex was incredible and at midday on Friday I had a package on my doorstep with a dress, clutch and headpiece, ready for the weekend. Having access to someone else’s wardrobe was a complete lifesaver.

So today Goldfields Girl and I got in the car and drove to Bendigo. We had no idea where we were going and sort of wandered around after other people. We got to sit with the Bendigo Fashion Festival table, which was full of really lovely women. There were so many nice dresses and outfits. The day had several runways of fashions from local stores and some displays of millinery from local milliners.

At the end of the day they also had a ‘Fashions on the Field’, which I had no confidence for. My sister and some of the other women at our table really encouraged me to get up and join in. I wouldn’t have, but my sister said she would get up too, which gave me the confidence to get up with her. To my surprise I made it into the final. Then when the final came about, I was absolutely blown away to be given second place, something that wouldn’t have been possible without the help of Her Wardrobe.

It was a brilliant day and I’m so glad we took the trouble to go down, meet some fabulous new people. Thank you to Bendigo Fashion Festival for hosting us!