Victoria Racing Club renames Millinery Award after Lillian Frank

The late Lillian Frank knew how to make an entrance at the Melbourne Cup Carnival – and a new tribute will ensure she lives on at Flemington.

Late Melbourne icon Lillian Frank at the 1988 Oaks Day.

“Dah-ling. I’m all about a statement.”

Wide brimmed, feathers, floral, old Herald Sun newspapers or even adorned with toothbrushes, the late Lillian Frank knew how to wear a hat and how to make an entrance.

The Victoria Racing Club will honour the late Melbourne icon, philanthropist and friend of Flemington by renaming the Myer Fashions on the Field Millinery Award after her.

Frank and her flamboyant outfits and fabulous array of hats (“never a fascinator dah-ling”) always stood out from the crowd at the track and delighted race goers.

”Every year I get four new hats for the Carnival. I think about the fashion of the day or the era and whether it will suit my outfit,” Frank memorably said.

VRC chairman said Neil Wilson said it was an appropriate honour for Frank, who died earlier this year at the age of 92.

Flanked by Lillian Frank’s extensive hat collection, Emily Nash wears a hat by milliner Melissa Jackson, recreated from Lilian’s 1988 Oaks Day outfit. Picture: Jason Edwards

“Lillian left an indelible mark on the Melbourne Cup Carnival which she attended nearly every year for over half a decade,” Mr Wilson said.

“As we celebrate 60 years of Fashions on the Field, we also celebrate Lillian’s influence on our great city and Cup Week with the renaming of the millinery award in her honour.”

“It would not be the enduring and popular competition, or Carnival, it is today without Lillian’s influence.”

Frank made her first visit to the Melbourne Cup in the 1960s and was a long-time judge of Myer Fashions on the Field at Flemington.

She was the hair stylist for Jean Shrimpton when the English model attended the Melbourne Cup Carnival and famously broke with convention to wear a white mini-dress, sans hat, stockings and gloves to Derby Day in 1965.

Lillian Frank’s Herald Sun hat. Picture: Jason Edwards

Her showstopping creations included the Birdcage inspired top hat replete with birds, to a hat covered in toothbrushes she wore to raise over $15 million for the Royal Children’s Hospital – a charity Lillian was extremely passionate about.

Frank worked with milliners including Ashley Franklin, Wendy Mead, Rebecca Share, Kim Fletcher, Julie Fleming and the late Freddie Fox.

Her daughter Jackie Frank said she would have been delighted by the renaming of the millinery award.

“She was the original influencer, she knew the bigger the hat the more publicity and more opportunity to open doors for her charities. She created her looks with the help of many of the nation’s top milliners, so this is a wonderful way for us to remember and celebrate mum,” Ms Frank said.