Fashion forward or backwards?

During the swinging sixties, October 30 1965 to be exact, one woman by the name of Jean Shirmpton changed the face of race day fashion forever.  Jean was not aware of the controversy that she was about to unleash when she turned up at Flemington Racecourse in Melbourne for Derby Day in a so called ‘mini dress’ as it was called then, hardly short by modern standards.  She wore no stockings with the dress as it was a warm day and no gloves as she didn’t own any.

Jean was at the event to hand out the Fashions On The Field contest winner’s their prizes and add international glamour to the event as she was a young super model at the time. In the U.K the hemlines were starting to go up and get shorter but this was not trending throughout the rest of the world, let alone in Australia. Jean was given a few dresses to wear for the event and did not know that her outfit would cause such a drama.

Wow, how times have changed and fashion developed since Jean attended Derby Day in that mini dress. Hemlines are now much shorter in general if you follow the so called fashion circle and clothing choices for women are getting much trashier and casual.

Blame who you will for this trend, Rhianna for running topless in a field for her latest video, American gangster rap videos for sexploitation of women or even Fergie for trying too hard to shake her thing to fit into the RNB scene as part of The Black Eyed Peas. Then there is Madonna who still thinks that Lycra looks good on someone her age and the women Australian Idol judges who are dressed in skimpy outfits which are unsuitable for women their age thus making them totally unrecognisable (or maybe we don’t recognise them because they haven’t completed any real work in over five years). Whatever the underlining factor is for this growing epidemic, it is quite sad to watch.  

Being a vintage and retro fashion lover and follower I attended Royal Randwick’s Melbourne Cup Day mainly for the fashion, people watching, and company of a new friend (also a vintage lover) and lastly to learn how to bet and win some much needed cash. Boy was I disappointed, we both were. Not by the atmosphere or by the races, we were disappointed and shocked by the attire or lack of appropriate attire donned by most of the women.

As we ascended up and the escalators we couldn’t help but notice the cheeks popping out from under some of the women’s painted on mini boob tube dresses. There was also a lot of propped up and popped out cleavage, visible panty lines were unmissable while women attempting to walk in chunky space like platform heels that looked like a modern take on the Geisha thong footwear, which was the choice for most. We also spotted bra straps and bra clips showing though key hole backs and one or two of these trends were coupled together mostly by women with Ompa Lompa coloured skin.

It made for an interesting afternoon but I could not help but wonder as I drove home at the end of the day, what had Jean accidently started back in 1965? Perhaps we could point the finger at her for her mistake or we can just look at her as ‘fashion forward’ for her time, which I think she was and blame it all on what I previously stated above.

When I was a teenager I saw that picture of Jean and I had heard about what happened to her and I thought it was a great thing. She was a woman who moved fashion forward, caused a bit of a stir and looked good doing it. Now I am not so sure if it is a good thing as we seem to be moving forward for the worse. I would have loved to go the races and feasted my eager eyes on more individuality and class then I did. I now know better next time then to attend Melbourne Cup day hoping to see anything spectacular, in a fashion stakes anyhow!