The Collectors - 12

It's been some time since I brought you something from my favourite Collectors series, so here, in a particularly decorative moment, is a fabulous collection that I spied last week - HAT PINS! I've often thought about collecting hat pins myself but there comes a time when one has to stop adding to the household clutter. I have a friend in the North Island who has a lovely hat pin collection and I did think this one quite colourful and splendid. It's tempting.... but no...for now I will take pleasure from someone else's efforts. If you'd like to see others in the Collectors Series just click on Collectors in the label line below.

Hat Parade - Showtime 24

I was surprised to discover that I actually enjoyed photographing hats at the New Zealand Trotting Cup meeting at Addington last Tuesday. I used to wear a hat from time to time many years ago but you'd have to hold me down to get one on my head these days. That aside, there was just something about all that colour and texture and over-the-top decoration that lured me in. And as always, I opted for the fragmented approach - a little glimpse of feathers against a vibrant blue sky, a mass of curls, a blurry glass of champagne in the background, the corner of a race programme barging into the photo frame, or the hint of the crowd in the background. For me, that's more interesting than a conventional literal portrait of a person in a hat. I'm skipping attendance at the Addington races today. For a start it's freezing cold again and blowing a gale. Instead, I'll be heading off to the Canterbury Jockey Club's NZ Cup meeting at Riccarton Racecourse tomorrow - the gallops...and of course, another parade of hats. www.addington.co.nz www.nzcupandshow.co.nz

Mellow Yellow - Showtime 22

Two Sunny Yellow Moments

At Addington Raceway

NZ Trotting Cup. Nov. 10. 2009

www.addington.co.nz www.nzcupandshow.co.nz

More From Addington - Showtime 21

I just can't help myself - I have to bring you some more photographs from the New Zealand Trotting Cup meeting at Addington, which was held on Tuesday.

A colourful crowd scene above

And more of the crazy hats below.

www.addington.co.nz www.nzcupandshow.co.nz

A Pictorial Addington - Showtime 18

The Winning Hat

NZ Trotting Cup, Addington 2009

BUT

The Real Winner on the Day

PINK

And Then Came the Body Paint Crowd

AND

Blokes in Hats

Put on a Fine Show

It goes without saying that I was a little obsessed by hats on the day! So if it's information about the horses you're wanting, may I direct you to the official website - www.addington.co.nz

My Favourite Addington Pix - Showtime 17

The Guy Who Couldn't Have Cared Less

and

Three Race Day Beauties

New Zealand Cup Day

Addington Raceway

November 10, 2009

Showtime 8 - All the Fun of the Fair

Image Courtesy CCC&NZCup&Show Week

Love the swirls of colour and movement in this image from last year's Royal New Zealand Show. It says so much about the pace, the colour, the extravagance, the fun of New Zealand Cup and Show Week, which is now New Zealand's largest festival of racing, fashion, agriculture and entertainment, all crammed into one hectic week from November 7 -14. It's a week that's filled with parties and socialising and a city filled with hats and high heels. I loved watching all that last year when I was in Melbourne in time for the Melbourne Cup. As trams, cabs and trains pulled to a halt all over the city, passengers spilled out in their finery - giggling groups of young women excited yet still a little self-conscious about wearing hats; men in pinstriped suits; the fashionistas strutting their stuff. It's the same in Christchurch - although forget trams and trains spilling out hat-wearing race-goers. That ain't a happening thing here; but packed bars and restaurants are. And for the kids the Royal New Zealand Show turns on another whole world of entertainment - the animals, the rides, the fairground atmosphere. It's all happening - soon! www.nzcupandshow.co.nz www.theshow.co.nz

On the Rails - Showtime 7

I like this image - courtesy Christchurch City Council/NZ Cup&Show Week - taken at one of last year's Riccarton Racecourse race meetings. It's all in the people for me and in this case, the hats. I love the fashionable pink against the scruffier, utilitarian straw hat. It makes my own camera finger itch in anticipation of this year's New Zealand Cup and Show Week, which is due to kick off on November 7-14. I visited a hat shop in town a week or so ago and they were already busy in the lead-up to November's festivities. I can't wait to get amongst it. www.nzcupandshow.co.nz

Showtime 6 - Hats!

I went through a stage of wearing hats back in the eighties – not for any particular reason…just because I liked them. I wouldn’t dream of donning a hat now – not for anything! (Except maybe a sun hat). Can’t explain that; just gone right off them. So, I think you can safely assume that I will be the only woman at NZ Cup and Show Week without a hat! And all the happier for it – especially when I look at some of the ridiculous get-ups that pop up around the race course. Those hideous things called ‘fascinators’ for instance! Whoever invented those – along with the person who called them fascinators – should be taken out into the centre of the race track and shot.

Fashion on the Field. Addington Raceway 2008 I often wonder where this tradition of wearing hats to horse race meetings originated. Suffice to say it goes way back. Maybe the British royal family are to blame? It’s interesting that, wherever there are horse meetings, there are hats, in any part of the world. I was intrigued to find last year that the tradition is even alive and well in the middle of the dusty Australian Outback. Who would have thought? All that said, I am looking forward to studying the hats at this year’s race meetings. A GOOD hat can be a ‘many-splendoured-thing’ (on the right person) (see above for instance) and I sense of world of excellent photographs opening up before me come race day. I am sincerely hoping though, that hat fashions have moved on from the silly fascinator phase. www.nzcupandshow.co.nz