The lady in red

By Jade Lawton
CHANELLE Pearson, of Berwick, said tears sprang to her eyes when she was announced the Most Elegant Lady at the Gazette Pakenham Oaks Day.
With a name like Chanelle, some might think Mrs Pearson, 28, was destined to take the title – but the media adviser insisted she wasn’t normally found in red.
“I wear red only when I’m feeling daring – I’m a pink girl normally, as I have a one-year-old daughter,” she said.
“I’m so stunned – I would have been rapt just making the top ten.”
Mrs Pearson (nee Neate) grew up in Cora Lynn and attended St James Primary School in Nar Nar Goon and St Francis Xavier College in Berwick.
Her first Fashions on the Field coincided with her sister’s first wedding anniversary, and her parents’ 30th.
“I was a bridesmaid at my sister’s wedding and I wore these shoes,” she said.
But the vintage-inspired outfit was built around the striking red Wayne Cooper dress.
Mrs Pearson’s fascinator was made by Margaret Finch, but she said she usually donned hats made by Belle’s Designs.
“I wanted to do something a bit 1940s, classic. And it’s important to dress for the weather,” she said.
Mrs Pearson, who listed Reese Witherspoon and Ava Gardner as her style icons, was later selected from all the category winners to enter Country Racing Victoria’s Best Dressed Racegoer competition.
“This is amazing, I’m just floored, thankyou so much,” she said.
Second was Rebecca Nelson, who wore an Alannah Hill dress and bolero, and third placeggetter Hannah Farrelly wore a dress and fascinator made from Astratex fine European fabrics.