60 years ago, on 30 October 1965, a hemline stopped the nation. In her jaw-dropping Melbourne Cup Carnival outfit debut, model Jean Shrimpton caused a scandal and turned Australia on its head.

It was the week before the 1965 Melbourne Cup Carnival and the fashionable crowd at Flemington for Victoria Derby Day were waiting to see what “the most beautiful girl in the world” would wear for her Melbourne Cup Carnival debut.

When the 22-year-old ‘It’ girl arrived, the crowd fell silent. Bare-legged and fresh-faced, she was wearing none of the mandatory accessories for the members’ enclosure – her hat, gloves, and stockings were missing. Even more shocking, her dress finished 12cm above her knees.

Following her appearance, the front page of The Sun newspaper raged:

“There she was, the world’s highest-paid fashion model, snubbing the iron-class convention of fashionable Flemington with a dress five inches above the knee – NO hat, NO gloves and NO stockings!”

Derby Day racegoers were horrified.

The press clamoured for photos and, within days, the story of the model in the mini had ignited global controversy.

To this day, many believe Shrimpton’s attendance at Flemington Racecourse to be Australia’s biggest fashion scandal. But more importantly, the British model heralded the arrival of the Swinging Sixties in Australia.

Her race-day outfit paved the way for Australian women to embrace bolder, less conservative fashion and the progressive cultural attitudes the decade embodied.

Within days of her appearance, hemlines were on the rise.

The miniskirt was born.