Since her first taste of success in 2016, Gisborne Fashion on the Field fashionista Laura Williams has been hooked.
Now she is a regular contestant in racing day fashion competitions around New Zealand and at Australia’s iconic Melbourne Cup Carnival week.
Williams was awarded second prize in the Best Suited competition at this year’s Melbourne Cup and she is already planning her 2025 outfit.
Williams (nee Campbell) said she was hooked from her first foray into the glamorous world of racing fashion in Waikato at which she wore a dress from friend and designer Robyn Brooks’ Ooby Ryn label.
In 2016, she entered two competitions on the same weekend - one at the Hawke’s Bay races, the other in Te Awamutu. She placed second in both, again wearing an Ooby Ryn outfit.
In 2018, her modified vintage dress won the national title at the Ned Prix de Fashion national final at Ellerslie.
“I remodelled a dress by adding extra tulle and ribbon trim and extending the skirt,” Williams said.
The finishing touch was a hat she bought online, which she spray-painted red and embellished with painted roses.
Williams likes to upcycle second-hand vintage dresses by modifying them and adding accessories.
Once she has designed an outfit, she takes it to award-winning Auckland milliner Clare Hahn and together they design the perfect hat to go with it.
She also tries to find costume jewellery pieces at charity shops ... the bigger and bolder the better.
Her prize for winning the national title in 2018 were trips to Hawaii and the Melbourne Cup that same year.
Williams said she felt wildly out of her depth at her first Melbourne Cup event.
“It was such a learning curve but I was so glad I did it. It opened my eyes to what was possible. It was key to my journey.”
She competed three times during Cup Week - at the Derby Day event where entrants have to wear black and white; Cup Day where the fashion is bright and colourful; and Oaks Day, which requires a soft, floral outfit.
Hundreds take part in the Melbourne Cup Fashion on the Field. Most competitors are culled in the first round, leaving only around 40 to take part in four heats. First, second and third placegetters from each heat make the finals.
“When there are hundreds of well-dressed entrants, it’s the tiniest things and little details that set you apart and make you stand out.”
In 2020, Williams won the Supreme Award at the Riccarton races in Christchurch which qualified her for the 2021 Ned Prix de Fashion national competition.
Because of the Covid-19 lockdown in Auckland, it was judged online from submitted photographs and Williams won it for the second time after 15 finalists were narrowed down to five grand finalists.
“The people from Ellerslie races came into my office at Rabobank to tell me I’d won and made a big fuss, which was videoed,” Williams said. “It was amazing.”
Interruptions by the pandemic meant she was unable to return to the Melbourne Cup until 2022.
She wore the same hat from the ensemble that won the Ellerslie competition but a different dress.
This time she donned a special plastic skirt by designer Ruscoe Bustenera-Kirby and a hat by Hahn.
She was eliminated in the first round on Cup Day, but her Oaks Day outfit was one of the winners and she received $2000 in shopping vouchers. It also put her in the Australian national final.
In 2023, she took a year off to focus on her wedding to Gisborne man Jack Williams - the pair having met while both were working for Rabobank.
Jack encouraged her to continue with her creative Fashion on the Field pursuits.
“I needed somewhere to channel my creativity so started planning two outfits and entered the online competition for the Melbourne Cup this year,” she said.
Williams won the competition, which meant she went directly through to the national finals.
On the back of the win, she and her husband were flown to Melbourne and given the VIP treatment for the week.
They co-ordinated their outfits with Jack’s ties specially selected from Colliers Menswear in Gisborne to match her dresses.
“It was an amazing week. We went to swanky lunches and cocktail parties and everyone was very welcoming.”
A remodelled green suit with matching hat and shoes earned her second prize in this year’s Best Suited category at the Cup.
The suit was altered by Gisborne dressmaker Helen May, who also made a waistcoat to go with it.
Her second prize was valued at $15,000 - $6000 cash, $6000 in hotel vouchers and other prizes.
Williams is already working on her outfit ahead of the Wellington Cup in January and has started gathering ideas for next year’s Melbourne Cup.
She does it purely for enjoyment. She tries not to take it too seriously, rather taking in and enjoying the whole experience with the camaraderie among her fellow horse racing fashionistas one of the highlights.
“I love going to the races, drinking champagne and having a bet,” she said.
“If I do well in the fashion, that’s a bonus, but I don’t get upset if I don’t win. It’s still a lot of fun and I love putting the outfits together.”
