Big problem with Melbourne Cup’s divisive new dress code rule
The celebrity-laden Birdcage area at Melbourne Cup has changed one previously strict dress code and it’s hasn’t gone down well with everyone.
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OPINION
The spring racing carnival is one of the greatest times of the year.
Great weather, even better parties and elite fillies on the track – both equine and human.
But for heaven’s sake, blokes. Put your legs away.
The Victorian Racing Club, which administers Flemington Racecourse, has decreed that both men and women will be allowed to wear shorts in the members and celebrity-laden Birdcage enclosures during this year’s Melbourne Cup Carnival.
This is one of the most prestigious racing carnivals in the world. The Melbourne Cup is one of the biggest staying races on the planet and the richest two-mile race in the world.
And to this grand event – steeped in 162 years of history – we will now allow people to rock up looking like they’ve taken a detour from a beach resort.
In no world do shorts count as formalwear or high fashion. Wear them around the house or to the pub all you want – but not members at Flemington.
And under these new rules they must rest just above or below the knee, so you’ll look like you pulled something out of your grandma’s wardrobe.
Then you have the men, also allowed to wear shorts as long as it’s with a jacket and tie.
If nothing else, it’s just a ridiculous look. I have, on occasion, been guilty of wearing a lightweight casual blazer with shorts to summer house parties. But I would never dream of wearing a suit jacket and tie with shorts lest I look like I had a massive growth spurt that morning and couldn’t afford new trousers.
And fellas, I don’t want to see your hairy legs. Again – it’s fine at home or at the pub or the beach on a hot day. But they should not be seen in the office or at the races.
The whole idea of men wearing shorts with a jacket and tie is an affront to the concept of formality.
That’s why the tie – and, to this point, an actual suit – have been mandated for men in members.
Formality is not about comfort. It places aesthetics, tradition and tone above comfort. That’s the whole point.
A man in a suit sends a completely different message to a man in a pair of shorts. That now-dead mandate acknowledged both the importance and reverence of the Melbourne Cup and the exclusivity of membership.
VRC chairman Neil Wilson says “it’s not about going for your life”.
I’ve met Mr Wilson a number of times. He’s a good bloke. But, respectfully, he is wrong.
The whole concept of a suit with shorts is at odds with itself. Suits are about form over function and the message that imbues about you and your surroundings.
If you take that away, the dress code and its ethos loses all meaning.
If you can’t wear a full suit for one day – the most prestigious day on the racing calendar – then you ought to have your membership ripped up.
If you want to wear what you like, go to general admission.
Formality – pomp and circumstance, grandness – is sadly slipping away. Especially after a Covid, where people seemed to regress to 24-hour pyjamas out of which they are now unwilling to change.
The office is a lost cause, awash with untucked and unironed short-sleeve shirts.
My father, who doesn’t share my views on fashion, recently opened an invitation to a wedding and exclaimed his dismay at the formal dress code. It’s a special occasion – you ought to dress for it.
I’m a jumps racing man so most of my time at the track is spent in country Victoria. I always wear a suit and tie to feature race days and nothing less than chinos and a blazer to a more casual event.
The racetrack was one of the last bastions of this formality. The sense that it was a special occasion and you should dress accordingly.
That’s part of the magic of the races.
But, it seems, we’re about to lose that, too.
Caleb Bond is an Sydney-based commentator and host of The Late Debate on Sky News Australia.
Originally published as Big problem with Melbourne Cup’s divisive new dress code rule
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