A 1964 film, The Yellow Rolls Royce, was the inspiration behind the awnings and canopies fabricated for Victorian Racing Club’s 2011 Spring Racing Carnival at the Flemington Race Course in Melbourne.

The Victorian Racing Club contracted leading designer Christian Wagstaff to develop a theme for sponsor chalets in The Birdcage at the race course. The chalets were corporate entertaining spaces designed to look like marquees.

Inspired by scenes from The Yellow Rolls Royce, a theatrical stylised interpretation of Ascot Race Course in the United Kingdom, the designer was able to achieve a realistic representation of ‘tents of the time’. Working with the fabricator, Clark Shade Sails, Wagstaff fashioned the structures using Lisos acrylic fabric by Innova in a range of striped colours including grey, blue, red and yellow with white themes.

Striped awnings with scalloped valances and striped fascia made from Sauleda Lisos acrylic fabric were incorporated into the design to resemble traditional tent structures.

The tent theme continued on the inside with fully laden fabric walls and draped roofing, both utilising the same striped Lisos acrylic fabric used externally, as did cushion covers strewn over the furniture.

The new styling of the Birdcage brought in a sophisticated and traditional racing element to the Spring Carnival.