White shift dress of Jean Shrimpton

In 1962, the Victoria Racing Club, faced with waning crowd attendance at racing events in Victoria, Australia, added a "Fashions on the Field" competition to the program for the Melbourne Spring Racing Carnival races held at Flemington Racecourse. The competition was intended to woo female racegoers in particular. Three years later, in 1965, textile manufacturer DuPont de Nemours International engaged Jean Shrimpton, then the world's highest-paid model, to travel to Australia to be a judge in the 1965 "Fashions on the Field". Her fee for the two-week visit was , equivalent to in , an enormous sum, corresponding with at least a year's wages for the average Australian man. Even the Beatles had been paid only £1,500 for their tour of Australia in 1964. During the four days of the 1965 Spring Carnival events at Flemington, namely Derby Day, Melbourne Cup Day, Oaks Day and Stakes Day, Shrimpton would be promoting Orlon, DuPont's new acrylic fabric. DuPont sent Shrimpton rolls of Orlon so that she, in conjunction with her London dressmaker, Colin Rolfe, could design a secret wardrobe for her visit. Her visit to Australia was highly anticipated She also later told ''The Australian Women's Weekly'' magazine "I always wear my day dresses above the knee." == Derby Day ==

Derby Day was held on 30 October 1965. As Shrimpton later recalled in her memoirs: As well as being the target of catcalls from men and jeers from women, she was surrounded by kneeling cameramen, all shooting upwards to make the dress look even shorter. ==Reception==

Shrimpton's Derby Day outfit scandalised the nation, and caused a global sensation. == Aftermath ==

report on Derby Day All eyes were on Shrimpton on Melbourne Cup Day, 2 November 1965. Under pressure from her sponsors, she was dressed and accessorized entirely in keeping with accepted convention: a three-piece grey suit with a straw hat, beige gloves and stockings, and a brown handbag. But she could not avoid further discussion of her Derby Day outfit: "I feel Melbourne isn't ready for me yet. It seems years behind London," she said. Designers quickly imitated the dress; according to The Age in 1966, "Last year's controversial Miss Shrimpton would have passed unnoticed in the crowd this year. Anyone with hemlines below the knee looked very 'old hat'." Angela Menz, the 2011 fashion competition winner, stated that "By today's standards, Shrimpton's dress was actually quite long". and England. A reviewer of that analysis has claimed that all the young girls wanted to be like "the Shrimp": free, cool, and elegant. In an interview published in 2009, Shrimpton was reported as accepting the blame for the Derby Day controversy. She had presumed simply that she was being asked to attend the races because of who she was rather than what she would wear. She had had no intention of upsetting the racing hierarchy but had just not been sent enough material for a longer dress. ==See also==