Saturday November 1, 2008
Race queens
By LOUISA LIM
On certain race days, people go mad about hats, even here in Malaysia.
Altruism isn’t always fun. But throw in sunny weather, beautiful women, jaw-dropping fashion and a healthy dose of competition, and you’ve got the Selangor Turf Club’s Ladies Day, a day dedicated to the joys of giving.
“You know it’s strange,” began Dr Mai Sargeant, the president of International Women Heritage Vision Malaysia, with furrowed brows and a finger aimed discreetly at a lady, who had just swished past our table in her baby-blue trompe de l’oeil dress and matching vintage hat.
“I didn’t expect so many women to arrive beautifully garbed. Malaysians are usually not ones to observe dress codes.”
Society ladies attending the Selangor Turf Club’s Ladies Day, a charity event benefiting The Breast Cancer Foundation (Dr Mai Sargeant is 3rd from right in black hat). The good doctor paused in quiet contemplation for a few seconds, and then gestured to her own outfit.
“That’s why I threw this on at the last minute, thinking nobody would bother either. Now I feel embarrassed for being so dressed down.”
“Dressed down” in this 45-year-old’s book means being swathed in a dazzling black-and-gold ensemble with accents of lace and crepe silk. Perched daintily atop her gold-tinged coif is also a hat — wide-brim and embellished with gentle undulations of sinamay.
It’s Ladies Day, and we were seated by the banquette that was laid out at Selangor Turf Club’s VIP room. Before us were expansive views of the emerald green racecourse. On regular days, the sight of 200 or so ladies, cavorting and placing bets at the Turf Club in their finest get-up would have been bizarre, not to mention a little perilous.
This is, after all, male territory, where testosterone regularly hits overdrive and verbal exchanges are limited to shouts, whistles or grunts. But, as guest and part-time artist Puan Sri Catherina Lee pointed out, this wasn’t any other day.
High stakes and high glamour
“It’s Ladies Day,” exclaimed Lee. “It’s one of the most important social events in Kuala Lumpur, and all the ladies are required to show up with a hat. And proper manners too, of course.
“One of the biggest no-no’s is making a grand entrance one hour into the event. Tardiness seems to be so prevalent at so many events nowadays, and that is a culture we should be rid of.”
Indulging in a little tête-à-tête There was no time for other sensibilities, however. Many ladies rose to the occasion by teetering in on five-inch Jimmy Choo stilettos, toting Chanel purses and wearing hats in countless shapes and shades. The day was stiflingly hot, but hardly anyone was complaining.
Instead, their attention was largely focused on the screens above them. Voices rose and fell in unison as they whooped for their favourite thoroughbreds, which were galloping their way to thousands of ringgit’s worth of victory.
“Horse racing isn’t just about gambling,” said Datin Louise Cham, the significant other of Selangor Turf Club’s deputy chairman Datuk Richard Cham. “I’ve noticed that throughout my travels with my husband.”
Cham’s sunny imagination — nurtured by such events as the Kentucky Derby, the Melbourne Cup, as well as the mother of all horse races, the Ascot Gold Cup — made her an organiser extraordinaire. She is in charge of roping in big sponsors and big names into one grand afternoon when invitees are cajoled into splurging for charity’s sake.
“When we first started 10 years ago, the ladies arrived with plain and uninspiring hats. But their sense of style has, thankfully, improved a whole lot over the years. Now they’re all fashion pros,” she said approvingly.
“Besides, we’ve got smarter about who to invite. It’s one thing to be part of the who’s who in town, and quite another to be able to dress the part and contribute selflessly. The guest list was meticulously planned from day one to include only women who have both.”
Fashion Fever
Sitting across from me was one such woman, who tut-tutted from underneath her wildly spectacular Orson Liyu-designed hat topped with papier-mâché sparrows in mid-flight.
“It’s so mind-boggling to see women pairing such beautiful hats with . . . leggings. It’s just not classy,” she whispered incredulously.
This lady was Pauline Gan, a 34-year-old director of a manufacturing corporation who would later go on to claim the Best Dressed title. It was well-deserved considering the lengths she had gone to.
Puan Sri Catherina Lee crafted this hat herself. “I had to brainstorm with Orson on the outfit. I showed him each dress I wanted to wear, and we picked this kimono-style one together. It took him another four days to come up with my hat. The man’s a genius, but it cost me an obscene amount of money.”
Meanwhile, 43-year-old Chennene Wright also made heads turn with her hat, which was a cross between Arab-esque fantasy and glitzy Moulin Rouge.
Her hat was almost two-feet-tall, canary yellow, and just the type that many would steer clear of — not Wright, though, who insisted that Ladies Day was day tailor-made for breaking the rules.
“Fashion is supposed to be fun,” the mental health therapist said, grinning. “And I didn’t want to be a party pooper.”
Not everyone had a breezy time finding a hat, however. Lee, who was wearing a whimsical cowboy hat stuck with plumes of feathers and birds, told me that she had to resort to crafting her own.
“I have 40 to 50 hats at home,” said Lee. “It’s not easy finding something so bold in Malaysia, so I buy them overseas or dream one up myself. America has the best and most inspiring selection of hats.”
No horsing around
Expectations may run high at the Turf Club, but it doesn’t match those at Royal Ascot.
In recent years, race organisers have had to battle with an escalating breach of formal daywear codes. Now they have come up with their own set of regulations. Fashion gaffes include skirts that are too short, tops that are too skimpy, dresses with spaghetti straps, as well as fake tans and visible panty lines.
This conundrum was well-noted by Sargeant, who had been to Royal Ascot once.
“It’s all in a bid to placate the Queen,” she quipped.
That wasn’t the only thing different about Royal Ascot, however.
“It’s different in both venues,” Sargeant reminisced. “At Ascot, you’re actually out there and not in some air-conditioned room. You’ll see impeccably-dressed society ladies being a good sport — swapping betting tips and sharing their love for horses. You’re so caught up in the excitement that you don’t really notice the celebrities who are there. It’s addictive!”
Sargeant, who once won herself RM150 after betting only a fifth of that amount, leaned over and told me the secret to success. Apparently, there’s no secret.
Betting women “You gotta pick your lucky number. The one you’re feeling at that moment,” she offered, eyes twinkling at the thought of being one of the lucky few to have actually won something.
Gan, however, insisted that winning wasn’t on her list of priorities. Nor was she a big fan of horses. Gan was here to mingle. And so were most of the other ladies, who by this time had shifted their conversation from horse racing know-how to regular tête-à-tête, as models strutted up and down the aisles in the latest trends.
Soon, everyone was ushered down to the racecourse for the horse auction. As it turned out, the successful bidder was none other than Cham’s husband, who was more than willing to shell out RM130,000 to make his wife smile. It was announced earlier that all proceeds would go to The Breast Cancer Foundation.
Cham was ecstatic.
“I’m a woman and I have daughters-in-law. Who knows, I may also have granddaughters one day. This charity is something very close to my heart, and it should be the same with other women. But as chairpersons of Selangor Turf Club, we feel that it is our duty to lead by example.”
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