There’s something wrong with this picture of Michelle Payne. The champion jockey should be holding the Melbourne Cup aloft, not posing beside it in a sunny dress and straw boater hat.
Instead of grasping the trophy, Payne is struggling to decide where to put her hands and how to adjust her legs, with the assistance of stylist Alicia Marshall, hovering out of frame with a comb and lint brush at the ready.
“I met Michelle when she didn’t really have her own style,” says Marshall. “I have tried to take her on a journey to discover it.”
Michelle Payne with the Melbourne Cup trophy at Flemington Racecourse wearing Leo Lin.Credit: Simon Schluter
It has been 10 years since Payne’s memorable win in the Melbourne Cup with Prince of Penzance and she’s determined to master her new role as an ambassador for the Victoria Racing Club, and the dress diplomacy required for the fashion side of racing. Even if that means checking each frame on the photographer’s camera to check her form.
“I have been having my photograph taken a lot for the past 10 years, so I can be annoying,” Payne, 40, says.
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In 10 years, Payne’s style has evolved from jockey silks, to custom creations from Melbourne dressmakers Jason Grech, Vivienna Lorikeet, and Alin Le’ Kal. For a long time, the parade of fashions in the Birdcage enclosure and Fashions of the Field stage were on the wrong side of the rails. Now she’s paid to be centre stage in both areas.
“When you’re in the jockeys’ room, the Birdcage looks like so much fun,” Payne says “You can’t enjoy it from the other side, especially when you’re trying to keep your weight down.”
Since Payne’s retirement from professional racing last year she has invested more time in exploring an interest in fashion and the silhouettes that suit her figure, with a strong preference for mini dresses of the fit and flare variety.
