It's 50 years since Fashions on the Field began at the Melbourne Cup Carnival, starting out as a marketing ploy to get women interested in racing.
Trackside might be the place to see the horses, but tucked away in the member's car park, racegoers were creating their own fun.
There was no rain or fierce sun but Flemington's luxury marquees were still the safest place for A-listers to shelter.
The first racemeeting was held on the rough river flats beside the Maribyrnong River in March 1840 when the town of Melbourne was barely five years old. This was just two years after Melbourne's first racemeeting, near present-day Southern Cross railway station.