Fashions on the Field co-ordinator Sarah Crothers said more and more fashionistas were taking style into their own hands, with a boom of new milliners and homemade headpieces.

“People are getting much more creative,” she said.

“Some people are hardcore milliners but because of the current fashions everyone has the option to get creative with homemade crowns, including necklaces sewn into headwear.

“We’ve had about 15 to 20 new milliners in town over the past few years.

“It’s definitely an evolving art, we’ve even seen people wear 3D prints.” 

Corowa’s Nancy Naughtin always dreamed of pursuing millinery, but it wasn’t until she was on maternity leave she had the time to pursue her passion and create Scarletta Millinery. 

As well as designing her own headpiece, Mrs Naughtin created fascinators for seven other women attending the cup. 

“My mum and I started doing it while I was on maternity leave, it gave me something to do while the baby was sleeping,” she said. 

“I’ve been doing Fashion on the Field and going to the races since I was 18.

“I got really into it and always wanted to design my own, and when I got the opportunity I did an online course and just started.”

Mrs Naughtin’s headpiece and outfit was inspired by the Titanic featuring a shell clutch and waved designs – but she said she wouldn’t be leaving her husband in the water.

Sheparton’s Dahyna Heenan travelled across the state to show off her last-minute headpiece creation and came second in the Millinery of the Day. 

“I just whipped it up overnight because I didn’t know what to wear,” she said.

The hairdresser and make-up artist has been creating millinery on the side for five years as a way to explore her creativity. 

“I studied fashion and my great grandmother was a milliner so everyone says it just skipped two generations,” Miss Heenan said. 

In addition to her own dress and headpiece, Wodonga’s Peta Schaefer designed friend Jane Stenson’s outfit, from head to toe.

Ms Schaefer said fashion and design had always been a part of her life. 

“As a child I always sewed clothes, I suppose my taste in fashion taste was more than what was in my pocket,” she said. 

Miss Stenson too is interested in fashion and keen to pursue a career in design, inspired by Ms Schaefer’s passion and hobby.

“I sew a lot myself at home and I’d love to get into it professionally,” she said.