Race track fashion is odd in that it revives the one item no one wears unless they are going to a wedding or a funeral. And often the celebs that trot the turf look like a curious mixture of both. Here Anna Johnson reviews what to, and more importantly what not to wear, trackside at any of this year's infamous Spring Racing Carnival events.

In race years of late the tendency has been to wear one's clubby sequin-y little cocktail dress to the track and tack on a hat almost as an afterthought. But, as Cecil Beaton demonstrated in his costumes for My Fair Lady, the hat is the THING. Colours can clash, textures can contrast but proportion is all. An enormous statement hat should not compete with earrings, savage lipstick or fussy ringlets. Unless you really are Alannah Hill.

A tiny dithery little canary of a hat demands a slip of a dress (only the royal family wear suits and a spatchcock on their heads!) and no matter what you've got on your bonnet the dress always needs to be sleek. It's tricky to wear something we associate so heavily with costume so keep the drama minimal and the comedy tongue in chic. You know…. witty but not slap on the back laughable. That's a fine line to tread in anyone's stilettos!

WHAT'S NOT: THE FORDIDDEN AT FLEMINGTON
Be a show stopper but bright red and leopard spots? Um, isn't that betting on the wrong beast? Also if you wear a floral dress and a floral hat, break it up with a solid cool colour like green or sapphire in a broad sash or shoe 

Demure is the new sexy on Cup day, and ladies don't flash half their breasts while wearing a Fascinator veil unless they really are attending a funeral at the Playboy Mansion. Trousers, even Capri length, are a no-no . Sorry Bec Hewett. As are elbow length gloves. Just a touch too Rocky Horror.

Conserve one to two splashy elements instead of making ever item Carrie-gressive . Oh, I don't mean to rain on your parade you can wear black and scarlet but navy and pink is sleeker. And a word on the tandoori fake tan. Would Audrey Hepburn wear an orange face and matching limbs in anything but a white bikini? There's your answer.

WHAT'S HOT: TAKING THE CUP 
Think of those lanky Aristos galloping through the fields in Ralph Lauren ads wearing velvet chokers and little top hats. Think of what Giselle might wear to a polo match in Brazil. Visualize Alice Temperley at a country ball, and then add a hat and a higher heel.

Knee length has been the code forever at tea cup but tea-dance hem ala 1920s Fitzgerald heroines could work just as well. With a hat plonked on top you need to do anything to lengthen the line. So avoid ankle strap shoes, trapeze shaped frocks, sashes that land on the hip and boxy little jackets.

For the nostalgia of the day dip into an Edwardian palette: dusty rose, duck egg blue, canary yellow, topaz and gentle hues. And for the real historians why not completely rock Jean Shrimpton's radical look of 1966: perfectly cut mini to the knee, gigantic brooch, sleek spectator sling backs bare legs and sexy bare headed hair. What no hat? Oh alright wear a big glossy straw and then lose it after the third champagne. Thoroughbreds need to be free.