BRITTNEY McGlone’s love of racing fashions started as a young girl watching her mother entering fashions-on-the-field competitions.

The newly crowned Myer Face of Canberra Racing first entered a fashions-on the field competition when she was 15 and since then, her mum Kerry has been her stylist.

“I’ve loved it ever since and I’m lucky enough to have mum, who has helped me and supported me,” Brittney says.

Kerry designs all of her daughter’s head wear, a tradition that started because they found it difficult to find hats and fascinators to match Brittney’s frocks. So far, they estimate the 22-year-old has entered about 30 competitions, a number that will grow after the Face of Racing commitments are over for 2012.

“It’s something that I love and have a passion for. It’s a hobby to me and it actually brings my mum and I closer together, being able to do something with her,” Brittney says.

“I just love mixing and matching outfits and designing hats. It’s a lot of fun for me.”

Brittney, a full-time athlete, is a 400-metre hurdler at the AIS and has an impressive record of winning.

“I train six days a week, twice a day as I have the Olympics and Commonwealth Games that are ahead, so training is pretty hard at the moment,” she says.

Brittney’s love of fashion and athletics come together in another profitable pastime that she lists among her hobbies – running in stilettos.

“In Australia they have held four stiletto races and I’ve won all of them. Two of them were Guinness world record races,” she says.

In 2010, Brittney and three friends she trains with at the AIS won a four by four relay, in Sydney.

Prizes for the races have been “actually better than my athletics money – about $5000 each race”.

When she’s not competing, the self-described country girl loves returning to her family’s 285-hectare acre farm at Braidwood.

“Since I was born, I’ve been around horses. Mum popped me on a horse when I was two years old. I love them,” she says.

She takes over as Canberra’s racing ambassador from Natasha Roberts.

STYLIST Sofia Polak says of Brittney’s look: “The Merlot colour in this draped, Karen Millen dress is definitely the colour of autumn, it is really nice to see this colour palette, which is still bold but not necessarily a bright spring colour.

“We’ve teamed it with a teal hatinator because this season is all about the hatinator and hats, not the fascinator. It’s nice to have a mismatch in the outfit as well just to make it more of a modern look as opposed to classic.”

PHOTO: The new Myer Face of Canberra Racing, Brittney McGlone, photographed at Canberra Centre’s The Hub. Styling by Sofia Polak. Brittney is wearing a Karen Millen dress, $395, from Myer. Hatinator created by Kerry McGlone, model’s own shoes, gloves and clutch. Photo by Silas Brown