A Vintage Vision: Revisiting My 2023 Melbourne Cup Design

Innasya Mackenzie
Nov 4
2 min read

I've grown up surrounded by the excitement and anticipation of the Melbourne Cup. I attended my first horse race at the Mornington Racecourse at just 4 months old and I remember throughout my childhood, mum dressing us up in our handmade (by her of course) fascinators to watch the race.

For many of my teenage years I had dreams of moving back to Melbourne and after finishing high school, that's exactly what I did. I was eager to attend the Melbourne Cup at Flemington Racecourse and even more so in an Innasya design.

The Inspiration Behind The Design:

Like you've heard me say before, my design process always starts with a pinterest board but the idea came before the creation of my mood-board.

With the release of Barbie earlier that year, I couldn't help but be inspired by the original 1959 doll. Embodying the glamour and elegance of 1950's stars like Marilyn Monroe and Elizabeth Taylor, the dolls timeless allure mirrored my own love for Old Hollywood and became the muse behind my design.

Attending the races without a fascinator is like doing ballet in jazz shoes. Simply wrong. The inspiration behind my fascinator was big, mesh, and bows. My Pinterest Board.

The Design:

The dress I designed consisted of a strapless neckline, an hourglass mini dress, and a large detachable bow, secured with buttons on the back of the garment at the waistline.

I'm the designer but my mum is the incredible seamstress behind all of my designs. As I was living in Melbourne and she was living in Sydney, constructing this dress was a little more difficult than usual as I wasn't there for her to measure me and to try it on throughout the creation process. After lots of texts, calls, and facetimes mum sent me these pictures and sent it down to Melbourne for me to wear on race day!

I would've loved to enter it into Fashion on the Fields but unfortunately we didn't quite have it ready in time as entry into the competition is a month prior to Melbourne Cup Day.