And Ainslie milliner Christine Waring is no less enthusiastic of her craft.

"I just like being creative, meeting all the people, the clients, having a chat about where they're going and what they're doing. Because I do love a chat," she said, with a laugh.

"The women keep me inspired, keep me young."

And the trends she's seeing for Melbourne Cup on Tuesday?

"They're all going back to hats rather than headpieces and smaller pieces. The boater is still around, the fedora. And pink, I've been doing all shades of pink. A little bit of blue and white. I think it's going to be a nice, bright season.

"There are also a lot of pantsuits and jumpsuits this season."

A big fan of Christine's work is Sally Martin, an Indonesian teacher at Garran Primary. The avid racegoer often wears Christine's hats and has been a successful contestant at fashions on the field at country NSW race meetings.

"She's a true milliner," Sally said.

"Her craft is like artwork and I love the fact she will listen to what you want and you can collaborate with her. Her craftmanship is superb and she makes very original pieces."

Sally has some simple rules for looking good on race day.

"I think to be classic and original," she said.

She'll be attending the Melbourne Cup meeting at Thoroughbred Park on Tuesday and entering the fashions on the field there ("Of course!")

"I'll be wearing pastel sorbet colours - pink, yellow and mint green - and a bow."

Thoroughbred Park will have fashions on the field for classic ladies' race wear, men's classic race wear and a millinery award. Up to 15 finalists will be chosen from each category on Tuesday. Registrations will open at 12.30pm and close at 1.30pm. The prizes for each winner include a $2000 travel voucher.

Christine Waring, meanwhile, is an example of a self-made woman. She's been making hats since 1988, leaving her job as a secretary for a linguist at the Australian National University to follow her passion.

"Back then, I had three little boys and I'd left work to be a stay-at-home mother," she said.

"I decided to study fashion at CIT, then the Canberra Technical College, and the last four units were millinery. I think spent four years studying millinery part-time. It was like a trade course back then. And then i started my own business.

"I had [husband] Tom as my sponsor," she laughed. "He was happy to support me."

Christine said the turning point to starting her business was doing a women-returning-to-the-workforce course put on by the ACT Government.

"I told them I didn't want to go back to office work but start my own business and they were happy to help me with that, even though the course wasn't really about that," she said.

Following the sad death of her husband Tom, Christine continues to give to the community, a big supporter of Karinya House, for young mothers, and Roundabout, which gives pre-loved baby items to women in need.

"It keeps me busy and being around all these lovely young women inspires me to do better," she said.