They say it’s the race that stops the nation but I beg to differ. From what I saw we did anything but stop. Here’s a quick snapshot of just some of the carryon that had me pondering whether the motto should be reviewed, along with five consumer segments to help anyone organising a Melbourne Cup function next year …
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| Melbourne Cup 2013 © The Ponder Room |
The day began innocently enough, after I realised my 7.45am alarm had actually been set for 7.45pm. With the clock reading 9am and a scheduled meet at 10am, I was out of the gates quick smart.
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| Melbourne Cup
© The Ponder Room
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No time to ponder the ‘fabulousness’ (or lack there of) of my outfit … comfort and speed won over style, something I would be very grateful about later on.
Arriving at the venue we were greeted by a bugle playing gent and a seemingly endless array of feathers, facinators and fashion.
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| Melbourne Cup © The Ponder Room |
With our bets placed we settled in to watch the show.
Clearly word had got out about orange being ‘on trend’, and I don’t mean the doggy fake tan variety, although there was an ample supply of that too if that’s your thing.
Being good researchers we quickly identified 5 segments …
The Safety In Numbers …
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| Melbourne Cup © The Ponder Room |
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| Melbourne Cup © The Ponder Room |
The Serious fashion in the field candidates …
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| Melbourne Cup © The Ponder Room |
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| Waiting for judging Melbourne Cup © The Ponder Room |
The Individuals …
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| Melbourne Cup © The Ponder Room |
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| Melbourne Cup © The Ponder Room |
The Gents …
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| Melbourne Cup © The Ponder Room |
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| Melbourne Cup © The Ponder Room |
The celebrities (see next post)
With the race run and won we moved on to the next venue not realising we’d actually gatecrashed a $200 event. Still no one seemed to mind, or notice, us joining in on the dancefloor (a benefit of wearing a nondescript outfit of mutted colours).
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| Melbourne Cup © The Ponder Room |
By 5pm we’d seen hundreds of outfits, three fashions in the field competitions, an impromptu fashion parade from top designer Ruth Tarvydas (the models wandered past us on their way back to the hotel), been on the receiving end of a big smile and wave from said designer, oh and somewhere in there we’d seen an important horse race.
Roll on next year when we will get ready to ‘stop’ all over again. Just for the record the lady in purple won the competition.
