Brownlow Medal red carpet: How WAGs get ready for AFL’s big night

THE pressure will be palpable on the Brownlow red carpet with spray tans, sequins and silk gowns set to steal the spotlight from the players. So how does a woman get WAG-ready?

Brit Davis Brownlow

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FOOTBALL provides fertile ground for competitiveness. So it should come as no surprise that the Brownlow, a night intended to honour the best and fairest player in the AFL, has been affectionately rebranded the Gownlow — a best-dressed contest.

Ever since Rebecca Judd wore that red dress and the partners of the players began stealing the spotlight right from under their spouses’ noses, we knew resistance would be futile.

The night belonged to fashion, not football, and the WAG (once thought to be a clever acronym for the wives and girlfriends of footballers) became an accessible, yet aspirational, girl-next-door celebrity we all wanted to be or know.

But as much as the Brownlow became a platform to showcase some of Australia’s best designing talent, the women wearing the coveted couture gowns also became more prone to backlash and criticism.

While the media now shows a certain empathy for the women, couch critics continue to prove how dearly the wives and girlfriends pay for the bounty of Brownlow.

In the past few years, trolls, their Twitter fingers trembling with glee at the prospect of constructing cruel lashings of 140 characters or less, have continued to prove that modern technology has become a platform for condensed bullying.

Last year social media posts criticised everything from a woman’s weight to her shoes and accessories, while an anonymous blog, Fashion Critical, angered WAGs for going open slather on their style.

This week, former Brisbane Lions forward Jonathan Brown took aim at the “faceless, nameless trolls”.

“Footballers get strong feedback from over the fence when we’re playing, so us boys get a thick skin,” Brown said. “The girls, because they’re not exposed to it, it’s bloody hurtful to them.”

Brown’s wife, Kylie, last year hit back on her own blog after Fashion Critical described her Amber Chloe gown as a “sewing project”.

“Do you think about the person who worked their a---e off to make my dress and how they would feel reading that? This is bullying,” Brown wrote.

Brit Davis with her Brownlow styling team. Picture: Tim Carrafa

Brit Davis, 23, is preparing for her first foray into football fame. But the girlfriend of Geelong captain Joel Selwood says she fears being ridiculed and mocked.

“I’m a bit scared that people will pick apart my dress or my style,” Davis says. “There’s a lot of backlash and it’s just nerve-racking, being my first time.”

Melbourne designer Silvana Tedesco, who creates custom-made frocks for the Brownlow, says the pressure on these amateur clothes horses to imitate Hollywood starlets has risen significantly.

“The night has definitely become more about fashion than football,” Tedesco says.

“I see my role, as their designer, to not only make them look beautiful, but to make them feel confident.

“If my client doesn’t feel good in the gown, then not only is the dress not going to do what it is supposed to do on the red carpet, but, most importantly, my client is not going to enjoy the amazing experience.

“I try to draw on the girls’ personalities and incorporate current trends into the look as well.
You want them to stand out and be unique but, most importantly, feel confident.”

Lisa Lloyd, Brownlow red carpet veteran and wife of Essendon champion Matthew Lloyd, agrees that the pressure on girls attending the Brownlow today is very different from when she attended her first in 1998.

“When I attended the Brownlow, the majority of girls bought their own dress from a store, most of us would go to work earlier in the day, and we would never worry about borrowing jewellery,” Lloyd says.

“There is so much more intensity surrounding the event now.”

Luckily for Davis, she has enlisted the help of stylist Renee Enright, who is not only well-connected in fashion circles but has first-hand experience of walking football’s red carpet — on the arm of Geelong veteran Corey Enright.

“Renee has been able to give me a lot of advice because obviously she has done so many red carpets before,” says Davis, who will wear a custom-designed dress by Tedesco.

“Renee was able to contact designers for me and get the ball rolling; she has made it all happen, from the shoes and the dress to the hair and make-up.

“The reality is, most of us would prefer to just go in a cocktail dress and be comfortable and feel more like ourselves. A gown is not something that you wear too often, so it can feel overwhelming.”

The intricacies of Brownlow dress designs. Picture: TIM CARRAFA

Enright, who attended her first Brownlow in 2008, says the emphasis on the women makes it intimidating for the younger partners of players.

“If you were a young girl who has only really known the Brownlow to be what it has been in the last 10 years, it must be really intimidating,” Enright says.

“I’m glad that I cannot only help Brit find a dress and accessories for the night, but help her with things that I’ve learnt along the way — like how to pose for the cameras to best show off your dress.

“I’ve told Brit to relax and take it all in and have fun with it — how often do you get to wear a ball gown and diamonds?”

Adding to the stress of finding a dress, jewellery, shoes, hairdresser, make-up artist and getting
a spray tan, is the fact that most women attending the Brownlow receive their invitations just two weeks before the event, with most clubs inviting an average of just four players and the captain.

“Because Joel had been suspended we were unsure if he could still go, but because he is captain we were at least given six weeks’ notice,” Davis says.

Brit Davis works with her hair stylist and make-up artist. Picture: Tim Carrafa

The intense time frame is also stressful for the dressmakers, many of them, like Tedesco, dressing multiple women with the same 14-day notice.

“I feel more pressure on a Brownlow dress than the most extravagant wedding dress, purely because of the time frame,” Tedesco says.

“We, like the girls, are finding out just two weeks before the event how many dresses we need to make.

“Each dress takes approximately five days to complete from start to finish, including a sketch,
a mock-up of the design, choosing fabrics and colours, making a pattern, making a calico dress for a fitting, and then making the final dress.

“If we are doing five dresses that take five days each, in two weeks, that’s a lot of around-the-clock work.”

Davis says she is most looking forward to getting ready on the day.

“I’m excited to get ready and put on my dress — it’s classic and sleek but a little bit edgy and a little bit revealing. I have always loved watching the Brownlow; I used to have my girlfriends over every year and we would watch the red carpet together. It seems strange that this year I will be there.

“I am nervous, but I am excited too. And I know Joel will make me feel like I’m the best dressed there.”