Fashion guide to the 2026 spring racing season ahead of Ascot Racing Carnival, from headwear to sustainability

Detailed summary

Are fascinators still cool? Is racing fashion becoming more sustainable? What’s trending this season? Here are all of the style questions ahead of this year’s Ascot Racing Carnival.

Everyone loves an excuse to dress up. To step out of their everyday uniform into something a little more elevated.

And the spring racing season has long been as much about what punters are wearing at the track as it is the horses’ performances.

With Perth Racing gearing up for much-anticipated The Pinnacles Carnival, starting next Saturday at Ascot Racecourse, there will be five Saturdays of world-class action with a massive $10 million prize pool on track, and equally important fashion bragging rights in the crowd. The first day on the program, Champion Fillies’ Day.

“It has always been a celebration of female equine excellence on the track, so it feels fitting to establish it as the new home of Fashions on the Field,” Perth Racing CEO James Oldring told The Sunday Times.

Opening of the article, excerpted from The West Australian. To read the rest, open the article on the publisher's site.