18 years of Carji Greeves Medals: Emma Hawkins on the highs and lows of the awards nights
Emma Hawkins and husband, retiring star Tom, are veterans of the Cats’ best and fairest awards. Emma reveals her hits and misses over the years and her best advice for the after-party.
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Emma Hawkins still owes her mum the money she borrowed for her first Geelong best and fairest red carpet.
At the time the Deniliquin farm girl was still at university and was too skint to buy an evening gown for Geelong’s Carji Greeves Medal as the plus one of her then-boyfriend Tom Hawkins.
Fast forward 18 years and Tom Hawkins has become one of the club’s greatest superstars. They are married, live on their own farm on the outskirts of Geelong and have three kids as she attends their last club B&F with the full forward wrapping up what has been an exceptional footy career.
But we are here for the dresses, a fashion evolution of time and trends in themselves.
There were the statement necklaces and chunky heels in peak millennial times, the fake tans and the myriad of hairstyles that all tell their own story.
Emma Hawkins has become one of the most loved AFL WAGs (she’s not too fussed about the now rather outdated moniker), a fashion designer and business entrepreneur of children’s brand Homegrown and one of the social media’s original influencers.
A lot of her appeal comes down to her self-deprecating humour and she was happy to talk to the Herald Sun as she prepared for her 18th Geelong best and fairest award at Crown on Thursday night about some of the hits, and more amusingly, some of the cringey misses.
Looking back her memory has become a little foggy as to which designer or label she wore and when, but she remembers a standout and feeling “beautiful and fancy” in one of the first best and fairest carpets, wearing in a blue silk Lisa Ho gown.
“I just felt so fancy and very special,” Hawkins said.
“That was our first year after school and apart from your formals no one ever dresses up like that in your 20s.”
“Looking back you can certainly see how fashion has changed,” she laughs.
“I was post baby for a few of them and pregnant for a few of others.
“I remember I wore a blazer and pants one year because I felt so uncomfortable post baby and I didn’t like any of the dresses I’d bought, so I just went with a blazer and pants and I tried to overcompensate with the curly hair. It was terrible.”
She says it’s not just the dresses but the hairstyles and er, skin tone, which has also evolved.
“My hair went through the transitions as well,” she said.
“The classic side part which was all the rage, the middle part, and some experimental looks that were, let’s just say very different.
“The tans at the start were the opposite of my eyebrows. I hadn’t learnt about tinting eyebrows back then. The tans are lighter and the eyebrows darker now, thank goodness.”
And don’t forget the famous “teapot pose” – creating skinny arm to the side on hip with leg jutting out – which Hawkins said she first learnt from one of her best friends still, Nova radio star Lauren Phillips, who was then on the arm of ex boyfriend, former Geelong great Gary Ablett Jnr.
“I really only stopped the teapot a few years ago, it should have been retired in 2008.”
Not one to seek out stylists, or freebie clothes, Hawkins said she usually buys her pieces online when scrolling through the phone late at night and said a handy hack was to always purchase something in a size too big and then have it altered.
And another handy hint?
“I always change shoes or outfits for the after-party. Sometimes I’ve even been known to wear the Crown slippers,” she laughs.
“This is the last hurrah and the 18th tonight which is hard to believe, to be honest it hasn’t really sunk in yet, but there have been so many wonderful milestones this year I feel like we are on the John Farnham tour, but yeah I still need to pay back mum.”
Originally published as 18 years of Carji Greeves Medals: Emma Hawkins on the highs and lows of the awards nights
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