Brownlow Medal red carpet: WAGs’ secret fashion disasters

LIKE any red-carpet event, the Brownlow has been prone to style slip-ups. Anna Byrne uncovers the footy wardrobe malfunctions you never knew about.

Brownlow Red Carpet 2012, Jesse Habberman and Marc Murphy

• Follow the Brownlow Medal live on Monday at heraldsun.com.au

ANNA Green blames her husband, former Melbourne captain Brad Green, for the biggest fashion disaster she witnessed at the Brownlow.

“I remember watching it and knowing what was going to happen,” Green says.

“Brad reached for something on the table, only to knock over a glass of red wine. I was wearing white and so instinctively moved to the side, but unfortunately Jeff White’s wife, Stacey, was also wearing white and her reflexes weren’t quite as quick and the wine spilt all down the front of her dress and over her lap.

“We raced to the reception at Crown, who said they would dry-clean the dress but it would take an hour, so Stacey and I went to her suite at Crown and drank Moet and watched the medal count on the bed until it was dry-cleaned and then went back down for the final rounds and the afterparties.”

Jeff White and wife Stacey. It wasn’t all white on the night of the red wine disaster.

White wasn’t the only one having to mop up a spill on Brownlow night.

Renee Enright, wife of Corey, had an entire tray of red wine up-ended over her couture grown by a Crown waiter.

Enright, who has since turned her attention to styling the stunning ladies for the event, says she was prone to mishaps on the red carpet.

A few years ago, a fellow WAG stabbed her custom-made frock with the heel
of her stiletto, ripping the hemline.

Enright’s most memorable — or miserable — fashion mishap occurred when a designer sent her what she describes as “a hideous bright purple lace dress with a taffeta underlay and halter-neck”.

“Thankfully Lauren Phillips (then girlfriend of Gary Ablett) came to the rescue and lent me
a Thurley dress from her own wardrobe that she had just bought from the store,” Enright says.

“But when I arrived at the red carpet, there was another girl wearing the same dress.”

Surprisingly, no two girls have shown up wearing the same dress since, but fashion watchers held their collective breaths in 2012 when Jesse Habermann, partner of Carlton captain Marc Murphy, and Belinda Riverso, partner of Adelaide’s Rory Sloane, both arrived in figure-hugging, strapless red dresses, which quickly drew comparisons between the two and Jessica Rabbit.

Jesse Habberman in red, and Marc Murphy.

Belinda Riverso, in red, and Rory Sloane.

Cartoon character Jessica Rabbit, in red.

Jonathon Brown’s wife, Kylie, cringes looking back on her first Brownlow, when her dress arrived at her Crown suite just 15 minutes before she was due to set foot on the carpet.

“When my dress finally arrived I quickly put moisturiser on my legs and put on my shoes and rushed down to the red carpet,” says Brown.

“But my shoes were slingback and because the moisturiser didn’t have time to dry,
my shoes kept slipping off and wouldn’t stay on my feet. I was forced to awkwardly shuffle down the red carpet.”

A slippery customer: Jonathon Brown and Kylie on the carpet.

While couch critics are known for judging the fashions of the night, many women, including Rebecca Judd and Erin Maxwell, have admitted to disliking dresses they have worn, but most have never had them thrust in their face for years.

Alex Fevola remembers one fateful frock-up in particular.

“There was one particular Brownlow that was disastrous on all fronts — it was the infamous year of Brendan’s performance,” Fevola jokes.

“I was pregnant and my hair resembled a poodle and I looked like I was wearing blue curtains. I was hoping to fly under the radar, but I was going to see that outfit and bad hair re-run again and again on every TV station and in every newspaper.”

Blue carpet: Alex Fevola was keen to slip under the radar in this outfit — but partner Brendan made sure the limelight shone brightly that year.

Alex Davis, fiancee of Magpie Scott Pendlebury, always tops the best-dressed list, but the first year she attended she didn’t get the chance.

“For Scott’s first Brownlow invitation in 2007, we were both only 19 and we got all dressed up but forgot to take our entry invitations,” Davis says.

“And they didn’t let us in. By the time we got in we had missed the red carpet and were last to sit down.”

GUESS WHO, DON’T SUE

WHICH former WAG was loaned a Bvlgari necklace once worn by Madonna and worth more than $170,000 but was unable to unlock the clasp and was forced to wear it to media commitments the following day?

WHICH forward from the bush forgot to polish his shoes and had to use the hotel room’s boot polish moments before stepping on to the red carpet?

WHICH red carpet diva was so upset that her hair stylist refused to do her hair the same as a Queen Bee WAG, that she pulled it out and did it herself?

WHICH former player’s wife got all dolled up for nothing when she was forced to leave the red carpet because her husband was too drunk from Mad Monday shenanigans earlier in the day?

WHICH blonde WAG didn’t realise how sheer her black dress was until it was photographed and illuminated by all the camera flashes?

WHICH WAG got her dress made, only for her partner to get suspended the week before the Brownlow and pull the pin on attending? She resourcefully cut the bottom off the dress and wore it to the best and fairest.

WHICH Brownlow veteran should have known better than choosing a dress that restricted her from using the bathroom for the entire evening?

WHICH WAG was relegated to the bathroom when her dress split to her crotch, asking every woman who entered if they had any pins, even resorting to bobby pins and hair ties to maintain her modesty?

WHICH WAG counted her chickens and had a dress made, only to find out she and her partner weren’t invited to the Brownlow that year?

WHICH Cats clown had to stop at Chapel St on the way to Crown because he forgot to bring a pair of dress shoes for the black tie event?

WHICH player sent the concierge to buy a new belt from a Crown store when his broke on the night?

Originally published as Brownlow Medal red carpet: WAGs’ secret fashion disasters