chanel.

com
chanel.com
DIO R .C O M
Audi Vorsprung durch Technik

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Part coupé.
All class.
Carve your own path with the all-new Audi Q3 Sportback.

The rugged stance and versatility of an SUV with expressive design and sleek
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Overseas model shown. 35 TFSI Launch Edition depicted.
SY D N EY G E O R G E ST | W E ST F I E L D S Y D N EY | B O N D I | C H AT S W O O D | C A N B E R R A | M E L B O U R N E CO L L I N S ST | E M P O R I U M
C H A D STO N E | D O N C A ST E R | PA C I F I C FA I R | I N D O O R O O PI LLY | B R I S B A N E | C L A R E M O N T | A D E L A I D E
 CONTENTS

Dua Lipa wears Valentino couture dress

and gloves. Tiffany & Co. earrings and
ring. Make up from Yves Saint Laurent,
starting with Touche Éclat Le Teint
Foundation in Shade Beige Dore 40; on
cheeks, Couture Blush in Nude Blouse
and Touche Éclat Radiant Touch
highlighter in Luminous Ivory; on eyes,
Mascara Volume Effet Faux Cils in High
Density Black, Couture Palette in Rosy
Contouring and Couture Brow Slim in
Brun Cendre; on lips, Rouge Volupté
Rock’N Shine Lipstick in Fearless Coral.

Stylist: Jillian Davison

Photographer: Charles Dennington
Hair: Anna Cofone
Make up: Samantha Lau
Props stylist: Sophie Fletcher

32 EDITOR’S LETTER 52 76
36 CONTRIBUTORS PAST PERFECT BACK TO BLACK
Emily Adams Bode inspects the past to find a The design tenets of Saint Laurent read like a
38 VOGUE VIDEO better way to approach clothing for the present. definition of modern glamour: refined, timeless
40 VOGUE VOICE 58 and precise, with a penchant for black.

BRIGHT FLASH
VIEWPOINT Having established his signatures at Coach, CULTURE
42 Stuart Vevers has done an about-face, unveiling 86

BIG BLUE
Canny designers are merging the off-hand
rebel-cool legacy of denim with the refined
feel of the classics think elevated finishes,
elegantly articulated shapes and lively
new washes.
50
Curated by: Ruby Barber; Soft serve;
Seoul cycle; Strings attached; Heavenly
creature; Fine lines.
a whole new direction inspired by a fresh decade.
66
FASHION-ABLE
The adaptive fashion market has been unfairly
underserved, but is on the brink of change.
71
BEST ON FIELD
Return dressing up to its rightful place this
season by following our autumn racing guide
to deciphering dress codes.
V O L L X V N O 4 W H O L E N O 670 * R E CO M M E N D E D P R I C E
CAMERA READY
Kate Mulvany is well placed to share her
extraordinary talent with a wider audience.
90
Opportunity knocks; Vogue Shelf: Hannah
Canham; Capturing Coco.
94
DESTINY CALLING
Leading contemporary Indigenous artist Destiny
Deacon has more than lived up to her name.

22 APRIL 2020
 CONTENTS

42

BEAUTY 150 FASHION

108
OUT OF THE SHADOWS
This season’s affinity for all manner of eyelid
adornment is confirmation that an adventurous
new spin on eye make-up is in sight.
114
Doctor’s orders; In profile: Fanny Bourdette-Donon.
116
MADE TO ORDER
From using your DNA to tweak formulations
to made-to-measure skincare, the future of
beauty is clear: it’s time to take it personally.
120
EMOTIONAL THREAD
Simone Rocha says she wants her clothes to stir
the emotions, drawing on memory and narrative.
156
THE WAY WE WORE
As fashion reckons with the current way of
doing things, is reinstating the ways of the
past the key to our future?
160
UNBROKEN SPELL
A year on from the passing of Karl Lagerfeld,
Virginie Viard’s latest couture show for Chanel
carries forth a larger-than-life legacy.
142
MAC FACTOR
Defer not to past references: new-season
mackintoshes are distinctly of this moment,
retooling the trench coat, the cape and culottes
to say something fresh.
VOYAGE
172
TREADING LIGHTLY
As we rethink the environmental costs of
tourism, New Zealand is leading by example
with a concerted push for sustainable travel.

DEEP BLUE WONDERS 164 176 SOIRÉE

Writer and journalist Julia Baird outlines the
health benefits of experiencing awe and feeling
much smaller than the world around us.
FEATURES
A WORK OF ART
With celebrated careers on both sides of the 179 HOROSCOPES
camera, the Otto family is one of the most
184 LAST WORD
illustrious dynasties in Australian stage and screen.
S H A R I F H A M Z A J A M E S TO L I C H

128
DUA
On the eve of her highly anticipated second
album, Dua Lipa explains why she’s determined
to dance, but also stand for something.
170
ACTION HERO
Teenage climate-change activist Daisy Jeffrey BECOME A VOGUE VIP
explores the hectic juggle of balancing activism Subscribe now to access your member
with her high school studies and the ongoing benefits – see page 123 for details.
mission to be heard.

26 APRIL 2020
 Edwina McCann PU BL ISH ED BY CON DÉ NA ST
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30 APRIL 2020
 VOGUE
EDITOR’S LETTER
J
ulia Baird is one of the most eloquent voices of her generation
and we were privileged to have her in this month’s issue.
Having overcome her own serious health challenges, she
wants us to think about awe – what it means, why we need it
and how we can find it. Her new book, Phosphorescence: On
awe, wonder and things that sustain you when the world goes dark, which
features on page 120, could not be more poignant or timely.
As this issue came together, common themes of overcoming
adversity and resilience emerged, which I suppose is hardly
surprising given the challenges we are facing. I hope reading this
month’s edition will offer you some escapism and remind you how
wondrous, clever and creative humans are, starting with our cover
talent for April, British pop sensation Dua Lipa.
I stopped by the Sydney studio to meet Dua just days before she
performed as the star act at Sydney’s Mardi Gras. My fan-girl crush
on her music aside, I was immediately struck by her warmth,
intelligence and genuine nature (read Noelle Faulkner’s revealing
interview from page 128). Dua grew up in Prishtina, Kosovo, where
she has set up a foundation with her father to support her oft-
forgotten compatriot generation of young creatives; the foundation
will open an arts and innovation centre there this year.
Dua acknowledges the role her music plays in the lives of her
listeners, and despite her stardom exploding on powerful social media
32
platforms YouTube and TikTok, hopes to drive a genuine closeness
with her audiences through writing old-fashioned letters. What is
abundantly clear is that she does not take a single fan for granted, in
fact, she is quite in awe of her popularity and her impact on them.
Australian Kate Mulvany has also overcome health challenges,
including childhood cancer brought upon by her father’s exposure to
Agent Orange during the Vietnam War, to realise her well-deserved
career success as a writer and actor, most recently alongside Al Pacino
in the new series Hunters. Hers too, is an inspiring story. See page 86.
Finally, young activist Daisy Jeffrey reminds us on page 170 of the
importance of hope, no matter how difficult things become.
Of course, the fashion world is always full of hope, and in these
pages that is captured in the guise of Virginie Viard’s new Chanel
couture, which is being built anew on the legacy of Karl Lagerfeld
(see page 160), and in Simone Rocha’s dreamlike work, on page 150.
It’s important that we stop to appreciate the beauty of things and
wonder of people, both big and small. Indeed, we should stand
in awe.
C H A R L E S D E N N I N G TO N
EDWINA McCANN EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
APRIL 2020
VOGUE
JULIA BAIRD
“I would love it if people
would think about awe; what
it means, why we need it and
how they can find it, not just
when on adventures, or out
exploring the world, but in
their everyday lives,” says
acclaimed writer and
journalist Julia Baird. In ‘Deep
blue wonders’, on page 120,
she explores the concept of
awe, and its impact on our
wellbeing, by sharing her
own experience of discovering
it via her daily ritual of
swimming in the ocean.
“Water meditates you, nature
calms you, and understanding
you are a small cog in an
enormous universe is a very
healthy way to be,” she says.
For those seeking such a
sensation, she advises: “Spend
time in the ocean, in the bush,
in the wild, as much and as
often as you can.”
36
ISAAC BROWN
Bondi-based fashion
photographer Isaac Brown
captured model Victoria
Massey wearing an
assortment of Simone Rocha
styles at a secret location in
Sydney for ‘Emotional thread’,
from page 150. “I love the shot
where Victoria is laying in the
long grass. She’s from New
York, so she was a bit worried
about getting eaten by a
snake, but she was very brave
and we got the picture,” says
Brown of his favourite image
from the day. When quizzed
on the most memorable
moment from the shoot,
Brown nominates:
“Our hairstylist Madison
Voloshin dancing in the rain.
We don’t usually shoot in the
middle of a storm, but this
time we did. Cameras are
waterproof, right?”
BLUEBELLE OTTO
Bluebelle, one of the Otto
family’s beloved Burmese
cats, was captured this month
wearing a stylish pair of
sunglasses in a family portrait
alongside Barry, Miranda,
Gracie, Darcey and twin sister
Bogart – see ‘A work of art’,
starting on page 164. “The
sunglasses were cool. We take
inspiration from the mad man
in the house, Barry. He has
quite a collection and has
been helping us build ours,”
Bluebelle shares. Describing
her experience on set, the
feline says “my favourite
part was seeing the family
together”. She adds: “Bogart
and I are the glue that holds
everyone together, so it was
nice to be recognised for that,
but I was pretty happy when
everyone left.”
MYLES
RUSSELL-COOK
In his day job as the
National Gallery of Victoria’s
curator of Indigenous art,
Myles Russell-Cook comes
into contact with our country’s
most daring contemporary
artists. This month he penned
a thoughtful essay on Destiny
Deacon, a multi-disciplinary
artist best known for her
ability to blur the line between
comedy and tragedy – see
page 94. “Destiny Deacon has
a singular aesthetic that
is immediately recognisable,”
he tells Vogue. According to
Russell-Cook, Deacon has
radically changed the face
B O B BY CO R I C A C H I A R A D O R WA R D A L E X E L L I N G H A U S E N
of our local scene, and, more
significantly, “paved the way
for a new generation of artists
by challenging audiences to
reconsider what constitutes
Indigenous art”.
APRIL 2020
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38 APRIL 2020
O ROTO N .C O M
 VOGUE VOICE

Vocal chords
Lindy West is the American activist, feminist, writer and comedian behind the hit TV show Shrill.
Here and in her latest book, West explores what women can collectively achieve when they ditch
the desire to be likeable and openly express their anger instead.

I DI DN ’T CALL myself a feminist until I was 20 years old. Feminism and she was absolutely poised. She was quiet and gentle. She was
was deliberately and aggressively stigmatised as angry and shrill and apologetic. She was so, so, so careful. You could just feel the care in
unattractive, and when you’re an insecure teenager you don’t want to every word that she said. And it didn’t matter. He was still appointed
be perceived as alienating and unattractive, even if it’s for the sake of and confirmed to the Supreme Court. And it was breathtaking to
demanding equality. There were people who were fiercely identifying watch the way that she held herself with so much dignity and so
as feminists in the 90s, but I didn’t have that kind of confidence. much poise, but I think it’s an example that shows us pretty clearly
In my freshman year of college, I took a class about politics and that there’s no level of calmness and sweetness that’s going to win us
social justice and the professor asked the class: “Raise your hand if the progress that we need, because we lost. We lost that hearing.
you’re a feminist” and I remember only one woman raised her hand. There’s constant debate over whether or not female political
Then, he went around the room and asked all the other women in candidates are likeable, which is not something we ever ask about male
the class whether or not we thought we deserved equal rights and candidates. It’s this trap where we’re told that we have to chase this
everyone said yes. Then he said: “Okay, well then you’re a feminist, idea of likeability which is based on outdated gender roles that
because that’s what that means.” undermine our ability to accrue power – the woman
I realised, wait, why have I been afraid of this? Why who is nice and who bakes you cookies and who nurses
have I allowed myself to be confined by the reframing you and takes care of you and doesn’t take up too much
of this really important term by people who have an When you set space and doesn’t ask for too much power. The thing
anti-feminist agenda? Why have I allowed myself to up likeability about likeability is that men and, by extension, society in
be a part of that, to be duped by that? It became really
satisfying to reject that rebranding and say, yeah, of
as a prerequisite general, don’t like women who are loud and bossy and
powerful and who tell the truth and who challenge male
course I’m a feminist! Why on Earth would I not be? for women’s power. When you set up likeability as a prerequisite for
With anger, it’s the same stigma, that there’s power, you are women’s power, you are undercutting it from the
something ugly and unappealing about a marginalised undercutting it beginning. I do think that the more women express our
group of people standing up and objecting to the way anger publicly, when it’s safe for us to do so, the more
that they’re being mistreated by the systems they live
from the start people get used to hearing female anger and maybe start
in. It’s absolutely justified for women to be angry about to take us seriously. It’s a long, slow shift. It’s not a quick
how we’re treated and about the opportunities and the fix, but I personally resent being trapped by stigma like
basic respect and dignity that are withheld from us by society. Race that. And that makes me want to be louder and more angry.
and class and ability and sexuality and all of these intersecting factors We can, if we want to, change the systems that define our lives,
change women’s experiences, but certainly all of us, as women, are because we built them in the first place. The idea that we can’t demand
oppressed. It would be totally irrational and alien to not be angry. more is fiction. It’s a convenient fiction for people who are benefiting
And yet, when you express anger publicly as a marginalised person, from the system as it is right now. Why build a better world if you’re
the response is very, very negative. telling people the world is perfect as it is? It’s going to take a lot of
The response is often that you get scolded for undermining your comfortable people taking risks and putting their comfort on the line
own message. If you were just nicer, you could get what you want. If to make some of these big structural changes we need to make.
you just presented it in a more gentle way, you would be on the path to It’s not as though change never happens. We know it does. There
equality more quickly (which, of course, we know is not true). There’s have been major social justice victories, thanks to the work of
no major shift in social justice that has come from people politely organisers. If you take the time to seek out these resources and these
saying: “May we please have some of your stuff?”, which is really what places in your community, it’s absolutely energising and therapeutic,
A S TO L D TO DA N I E L L E G AY

we’re talking about. It is a redistribution of wealth and opportunity
and influence. People don’t want to give that stuff up. You need anger
and you need confrontation and you need action, and it’s not a
coincidence that those things are stigmatised in certain populations.
In 2018 we all watched Christine Blasey Ford testify against US
Supreme Court Justice nominee Brett Kavanaugh in those hearings
and it’s a medicine for despair, for sure. And at least if we’re angry
about it, then people have to witness our anger and our ferocity in its
full power, and cumulatively that has an impact. And it’s also
cathartic. Find things that make you feel alive and like there’s
something worth fighting for. Otherwise, what are we fighting for?
The Witches Are Coming by Lindy West (Allen & Unwin) is out now.

40 APRIL 2020
O ROTO N .C O M
BIG BLUE
The current return to long-
standing values of quality and
timelessness means denim’s
airtime was inevitable. What
canny designers are doing well
this time is merging the off-
hand rebel-cool legacy of the
fabric with the refined feel of the
classics. It’s denim as you know
it, but with elevated finishes,
elegantly articulated shapes
and lively new washes.
 DRESS CIRCLE
The shape is familiar, but
the overt 80s glamour the
brassy buttons on Versace’s
mini-dress exude smarten
up what could be a day
dress for sundowners
and beyond.
Versace dress, $ 2,390, from
www.matchesfashion.com.

APRIL 2020 43
VOGUE VIEWPOINT

GOOD JEANS
In the safe hands of Virginie
Viard, the house of Chanel
is continuing to produce the
kind of polished elegance
that forms the backbone
of its DNA. This denim-on-
denim look is no exception,
with Viard accentuating
youthful shapes and
feminine frills to give
the workaday fabric
a haute rework.
Chanel top, $14,530,
pants, $1,760, and
bag, $6,550, from
the Chanel boutiques.

44
 BLUE COLLAR
A simple styling switch-up to try now? Sub
in a denim shirt like Calvin Klein’s for the
usual business button-down and a working
wardrobe is instantly revitalised.
Christopher Esber jacket, $1,750.
Calvin Klein Jeans vest, $149.
Bulgari earrings, $8,400.

MAKE A SPLASH
Man-style wide-leg
jeans can lean a little
clunky if not done right.
Select a tie-dyed wash
like Dior’s, then counter
with a style perennial – a
crisp shirt – for an
instant twist.
Christian Dior shirt,
$3,100, jeans, $2,000,
and necklace, $1,650.
Clergerie boots, $1,599,
from Liberty Shoes.
ACID REIGN
The ruffled skirt from
Pushbutton turns denim tropes
on their heads. Feminine, with
A L L P R I C E S A P P R OX I M AT E D E TA I L S AT V O G U E . CO M . A U/ W T B

an Annie Get Your Gun

boldness, it proves denim’s got
chops for evening when paired
with a coat with a lavishing
of feathers.
Marques’Almeida jacket, $645.
Sandro Paris shirt, $320. Michael Lo
Sordo bra, $190. Pushbutton skirt,
$610, from www.Net A Porter.com.
Sergio Rossi boots, $2,550, from
Cosmopolitan Shoes.
J A M E S TO L C H

APRIL 2020 45
VOGUE VIEWPOINT

VESTED INTEREST
Where once denim was only allowable off-duty, it has
a foot firmly in the boardroom door when it’s paired
with a two-piece vest and jacket as sharp as Gucci’s,
keeping things all business on top revitalised.
Gucci jacket, $3,500, vest, $1,300, shirt, $1,200,
pants, $1,200, and tie, $290.

SPARK SOMETHING
The material doesn’t usually lend itself
to languid after-eight glamour, but
somehow Miuccia Prada has done it.
Miu Miu’s spangled overcoat is the
perfect pair-up for a second-skin dress.
Miu Miu coat, $4,215, from www.matches
fashion.com. Auteur Studio dress, $705.

CANVAS IDEA
With durable fabrics in the spotlight again,
denim should get a nod for its history as
workwear, which means this work shirt from
Matthew Adams Dolan in a fresh shade of
bone is more hard-wearing than it looks.
Matthew Adams Dolan shirt, $1,240, from
www.matchesfashion.com. Bulgari ring, $10,750.

46
 J A M E S TO L C H
A L L P R I C E S A P P R OX I M AT E D E TA I L S AT V O G U E . CO M . A U/ W T B

FRENCH LESSONS

APRIL 2020 47
VOGUE VIEWPOINT

DOUBLE DUTY
Givenchy’s long-length
jacket makes a strong case
for a place in any wardrobe:
it can be dual purpose as a
coat or dress. In two tones
and a flattering A-line, it
leaves any dull connotations
for denim in the dust.
Givenchy jacket, $3,900, boots,
$2,750, and ring, $800.

HOUSE RULES

A L L P R I C E S A P P R OX I M AT E D E TA I L S AT V O G U E . CO M . A U/ W T B
What can stand up to the
supersized proportions of
Bottega Veneta’s bag of the
season better than a bold
matching set in a raw denim?
The clean tone of a dark
wash is the perfect canvas
for accessories, jaw-
dropping or otherwise.
J A M E S TO L C H

Bottega Veneta shirt,

$1,300, pants, $1,300,
and bag, $8,700. Tiffany
& Co. necklace, $15,700.

48 APRIL 2020
VOGUE VIEWPOINT

1. Lake CU R ATE D BY
Como, Italy.

We ask the style world’s preeminent

talents to mine their inspirations
and curate their world through style.
Sydney-born and now Berlin-based
2. Architect Ricardo Bofill’s nature enthusiast and fashion’s
home, La Fábrica, a former favourite florist, Ruby Barber, of
cement factory in Spain.
Studio Mary Lennox, shares hers.
1. “The most beautiful trip I have taken is
to [Italy’s] Lake Como in April. The
wisteria, camellias and rhododendrons are
in full bloom. There is something so
enchanting about the lake and the
mountains dripping with colourful
flowers. It is a sensory overload. One of my
favourite holidays last year was [Spain’s]
Menorca in September. The weather was
perfect, the beaches were empty and there
Ruby Barber
3. Simone was so much untouched nature.”
Rocha spring/ 2. “I dream about Ricardo Bofill’s La
summer ’20.
3. Sophie Fábrica regularly. If I could live anywhere
Buhai
in the world, it would be there.”
$395, from 3. “My favourite pieces in my wardrobe are
my Alaïa shirt-dress and my Sophie Buhai
everyday hoops. For something special
I love the splendour of Simone Rocha or
the elegance of The Row.”
4. “Right now I’m reading the Neapolitan
novels by author Elena Ferrante. The series
was a birthday gift and it has been such
a pleasure reading them.”
5. “Wes Anderson’s films for the colours
and costumes. The Grand Budapest Hotel and
The Royal Tenenbaums serve as palette
inspiration regularly for my work. I’m also
a sucker for an iconic setting. I love old
5. Adrien Brody in James Bond movies for the filming
The Grand Budapest locations, and I can’t go past The Talented

A L L P R I C E S A P P R OX I M AT E D E TA I L S AT V O G U E . CO M . A U/ W T B
A L A M Y G E O R G N A E G A N G E T T Y M A G E S E D WA R D U R R U T A
Hotel (2014).
Mr. Ripley for stunning spots in Italy.”
6. “I love the scent of summer by the coast
in Europe. Herbs mixed with citrus and salt
water are particularly evocative. Buly
1803’s Campagne d’Italie candle smells
almost as good as the real thing.”
7. “The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson
Burnett is my childhood favourite book
and [the main character is] the namesake
of my business, Studio Mary Lennox. I love
the enchantment of spaces where nature
has taken over.”

APRIL 2020
Available at no other department store
VOGUE VIEWPOINT

TA LE NT

Past perfect
Emily Adams Bode inspects the past and
in it has found a better way to approach
clothing for the present. By Alice Birrell.
ST YLING PH I LI PPA M O RO N E Y
PHOTOG R APHS JAM ES TO LI CH

U P T WO FLI G HTS of metal stairs in New

York’s Chinatown, away from the fug of a drizzly,
oppressively humid day, a small air-conditioner
rattles away to cool the Bode studio. A team of
around six – people are coming and going, having
impromptu meetings, and some are obscured by
fabric, so taking a head count is difficult – is seated
around a white table. Emily Adams Bode pops her
head out from behind a rack of clothes to request a
moment to finish a discussion about clothing tags.
It is a small detail, but at Bode (pronounced
BOH-dee) it is important. Swing tags on the
clothing, along with blurbs printed on the
website, provide a story, telling the wearer about
the history of the piece’s fabric, like an artwork
exhibition label. “This workwear jacket is made
from an early 1900s wool log cabin quilt,” reads
one. “Log cabin quilts became popular in the
1860s to 1950s and are known for their red centers
that symbolize hearth or fire. Half of log cabin
quilts are dark and the other half light, to
symbolize light coming in through the window.” From left: Bode
Now in its fourth year, her label, which in jacket, $4,159, top,
$689, and pants,
February claimed the inaugural Karl Lagerfeld $1,530; Bode jacket,
Award for Innovation at the International $1,985, shirt, $735,
and pants, $1,210.
Woolmark Prize, established itself as an outlier in
an industry of forward-facing excess. Her men’s
clothing collections have generated buzz with their
use of upcycled antique and deadstock fabrics that
she employs alongside reproductions of original finds. The overall
effect looks something like the past, but rooted to no single era, and

A L L P R I C E S A P P R OX I M AT E D E TA I L S AT V O G U E . CO M . A U/ W T B
while her label is menswear, yes, she has female fans. In fact, her first
ever customer was a woman. “Gosh, it was a lawyer,” the 30-year-old

H A R : M A D S O N V O LO S H N M A K E- U P: J O E L B A B CC
Bode is recounting, tapping her toe on a cardboard box. “This woman,
she must have just read the Times that morning and bought a shirt and M O D E L S : A G OT D E L L P H O E B E D E S KO V C
came and picked it up.” She’s referring to a New York Times article that
introduced her as a designer breathing new life into old fabrics. The
lawyer was followed by a CEO of a big men’s design company who
bought a patchwork jacket, then came a flurry of online orders.
Unlike some designers of fledgling labels when they are suddenly
being talked about, she was prepared, which has carried her through
three successful years that have included winning the CFDA Award
for Emerging Designer last year. “I had heard from a mentor →

52 APRIL 2020
VOGUE VIEWPOINT

who said: ‘Make sure you have something sellable the moment you
have any press,’” she recalls. “So we took pictures and uploaded
them up to our e-comm. The night before my showroom opened, we
rented a space on Walker Street.”
Although the room we’re in is a charming jumble of quilts and
fabric shelves that reach the ceiling, things follow a vague order:
lopsided piles keeling sideways are grouped by fabric. The team
have started early to finish sampling of spring/summer ’20, the first
collection presented in Paris, where they will now show.
This planned precision sits at odds with the warmth of her pieces.
There is a pleasingly haphazard feel to each piece. Her touchpoints
meander through centuries, deploying
techniques like Edwardian redwork on
chalk-white shirts and 1930s piping
inspired by an old smoking jacket. “I make
clothing more like object items, so there’s
more intent put into the unique items than
the whole look together,” she says.
The team trawls antique markets for fabrics
that fit its criteria and sources deadstock
shirting and knits from Italy, French and
English linens, and also fabric from Japan,
China and India. “A lot of it is provenance,”
she explains. “If something has a particular
DNA, but for other companies it’s this idea of marketing towards
a different audience, or maybe what’s in trend. I think we stand
apart in a way: it’s not something that we’re newly invested in.”
Her most recent collections have explored deep familial ties. As
a descendent of the founder of the Bode Wagon Company, which
made wagons for Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey circuses,
she sewed horse ribbons together to make pants in harlequin
colours to join big-top-bright patchwork tops. Her latest project,
a retail store in New York’s Lower East Side, was a collaboration
with furniture studio Green River Project, of which her partner,
Aaron Aujla, is a co-founder.
Despite this growth, Bode still makes
bespoke pieces, and will continue to,
including for the betrothed, her favourite
clients. “They’re [wanting] garments for a
very specific emotional time in their life
that is to be preserved forever in photos, so
that’s always a really wonderful one.”
All the care, the labour-intensive sourcing
process, the handcrafts are a slower, harder
way to work, but Bode doesn’t mind. “It’s
more difficult, but it has a much stronger
emotional response from our consumer, so
in the end I think it’s worth it.” ■

narrative that goes along with it – maybe

where it came from, the person’s name,
a signature, a date, maybe a note attached –
they’re the most wonderful finds.”
But old fabrics present their challenges.
“A lot of antique textiles rot, and fall apart
and need help.” They treat everything, wash
it, and mend it by hand if necessary, deciding
whether it needs patching or is a needle-
and-thread job. They also assess whether it
could actually take decades more wear on the body.
Bode’s task is to dredge the stories from the fibres. She searches for
what can be resurrected and honoured, like the purpose often
attached to men’s dressing. “The particularities of menswear I found
inspiring,” she recalls. “My dad doesn’t believe in wearing denim,
and my grandfather only wore bow ties … It’s about the intent with
which people dress and the boundaries they set themselves.”
As a child growing up in Atlanta, Georgia, she would go to antique
markets with her grandmother and mother and wore vintage clothes

A L L P R I C E S A P P R OX I M AT E D E TA I L S AT V O G U E . CO M . A U/ W T B
to high school. “When I was moving my parents out of their house,
I found a notebook [of mine] and I had sketches of dresses and sashes,
so I was always interested in it.” This led to a dual degree: a bachelor
of fine arts at Parsons and philosophy at Eugene Lang. Stints at
Ralph Lauren and Marc Jacobs followed before she launched in 2016.
As fashion in the main obsesses over the next and the new, her From top: Bode
attitude is anachronistic. “I’ve always been inspired by the past – I top, $1,039, and
shorts, $875;
think it’s very grounding on a personal level. Coming from the Bode jacket,
South, it was really important to educate everyone about the past, so $1,415, shirt,
J A M E S TO L C H

it was ingrained in us from childhood.” $720, shorts,

$780, and
The preoccupation on the runways of late with craft and the scarf, $710.
handmade came after Bode began her label. “It’s so much part of my

54 APRIL 2020
56
VOGUE VIEWPOINT

$1,090, all per pair.

$1,090, $995 and
shoes, from left,
Salvatore Ferragamo

APRIL 2020
WORDS: AL CE B RRELL
A L L P R I C E S A P P R OX I M AT E D E TA I L S AT V O G U E . CO M . A U/ W T B
F O R TH E COOL AND
C ONF I D EN T. VEG AN
F R IE N D LY WORKO UT
S TAPL ES .

LUSH FAUX SUEDE MATS

MADE FROM RECYCLED
PLASTIC BOTTLES AND
NATURAL TREE RUBBER.

KORRFLEX.COM.AU
korrflex
VOGUE VIEWPOINT

Bright flash
ST YLING PH I LI PPA M O RO N E Y
PHOTOG R APHS JAM ES TO LI CH
 AFTER A CERTAI N time, show-goers and followers come to lean youthful approach with “lots of snaps and zips that gave quite a punk
on a designer for certain things: a spruced-up version of the rebel’s feeling to a more traditional garment”.
essential – a leather jacket, the urban wanderer’s wispy prairie dress, It all feels like a riposte to the untouchable perfection that governed
chunky shearling. These were the preserve of Coach’s creative director the fashion houses in which he worked after graduating from the
Stuart Vevers. That was until the music flicked on at the label’s show University of Westminster, first at Calvin Klein in the late 90s, then
on a warm and breezy Manhattan day – breezier thanks to the raised Bottega Veneta, Givenchy and Louis Vuitton. After spending two
location on the High Line – and all was blown away. In its place, years as creative director for Mulberry, he went on to Spanish luxury
unmistakably 80s ruched midi-dresses, muscle tanks and T-shirts house Loewe. “A lot of my training was the idea of perfection,” he
printed with the faces of Rob Lowe, Barbra Streisand and Michael says. “I started to tire of that, because I think sometimes if things are
J. Fox (a collaboration with the estate of late pop artist Richard too perfect you can lose desire. Something that is too perfect can lose
Bernstein), bomber jackets and sneakers in Marty McFly primaries. its attitude.” →
“I’m really glad people sensed that there was a change,” the
46-year-old British-born Vevers cheerfully explains, needlessly
relieved, after the show. He is in a glass box of a showroom bursting
with clothing racks and accessories, overlooking Hudson Yards.
“The things I felt passionate about when I joined
“When I’d started the collection, I was thinking: ‘I know that by the over six years ago have evolved. I always think
time I present this I’ll have had my sixth anniversary at Coach.’ a new decade creates that sense of change”
That felt like a milestone that I wanted to
celebrate, but in a way also challenge myself
to look at some new ideas, because the world
around us is changing so quickly.” Coach jacket,
As we dive into a new decade, those who $1,650. Coach x
Richard Bernstein
embrace breakneck change and can move on top, $150.
quickly are flourishing. Fashion in particular
has buzzed about the idea that we have tipped
into a brave new era in the 2020s, and everyone
is considering, like Vevers, what exactly this
might mean. “The things I felt passionate about
when I joined over six years ago have evolved.
I always think a new decade creates that sense
of change,” the designer continues. “I want this
to feel upbeat. I want to have an optimism going
into the next decade.”
Slipping into one of his Crayola-bright leather
trenches would certainly make most feel perkier.
The swathes of leather in lipstick red and
amaranth underscored the optimistic mood and
were markedly different from the traditional tans
and chocolate browns on Coach’s bags and
outerwear that accompanied his nostalgic,
sometimes romantic and often darkly tinged
H A R : R O R Y R C E M A K E- U P: J O E L B A B CC M O D E L : K R S T E N A P O L LO S

previous collections.
What hasn’t changed is how elements are drawn
A L L P R I C E S A P P R OX I M AT E D E TA I L S AT V O G U E . CO M . A U/ W T B

from American mythology: before it has been the

vast and wistful prairies, the photographs of Joel
Sternfeld, punks, Disney, road trips, David Lynch,
dreamers. For these, Vevers worked to capture a
freewheeling spontaneity through finishes, taking
great pains perfecting suede washes to give a
convincingly worn-in effect to a jacket, or scuffing
hardware and embellishment to look like they’d
taken a few knocks from a bar stool. Now, for
spring/summer ’20, a refined leather trench was
decidedly pared back, a first for Coach, although it
still had the hallmarks of Vevers’s characteristically

APRIL 2020 59

“I have a personal obsession with counter-
culture and youth culture because I think the
next generation is redefining what the world is”
Before Vevers came along in 2013, there was no ready-to-wear at
Coach. Founded to produce leather goods, the small family outfit
had an upgrade in 1962 when young designer Bonnie Cashin worked
the practical needs of modern women into bags. Fast-forward to 2020
and New York Fashion Week’s strength and direction is being
brought into question, but Vevers has made sure Coach, as an
American house with history, is a constant.
Young when compared to its European counterparts, the
1941-founded brand’s focus on accessible luxury seemed a perfect fit
for Vevers. His evolved idea of luxury was looser, more grounded and
also mirrored Cashin’s pragmatism. “Definitely when I joined Coach
[I liked] the idea of bringing ease into pieces, of materials having
60
a vintage patina; it was about knocking that
perfection out,” he says. “I often say the feeling
I want when someone puts on a Coach leather
jacket is just to feel a bit cooler the moment they put
it on. That doesn’t come through perfection.”
He set about capturing a quintessentially
American, and in particular a New York, feeling
with a wide-eyed but well-informed enthusiasm.
“I felt like I’d seen quite a lot of America before I
joined, but I’ve always wanted to keep that
outsider’s view. Like the films that I watched
growing up, it’s what drove my first fascinations
with America. That Hollywood glow is something
I always aspire to creating,” he says. He is not afraid
to go right for the mainstream touchpoints because
of the fact he didn’t grow up there. “For me they
can feel quite exotic, whether it’s the varsity jacket
or a runway set of an American gas station.”
Instead Vevers grew up in the north of England,
removed from fashion, but going out and making
his own outfits when he was young. “I was tall, so
I could get into nightclubs from quite a young
age,” he says laughing. His grandmother was his
unlikely accomplice, on one occasion helping him
piece together some PVC jeans. “We were running
out of time, because I was going out, so we didn’t
even bother to make pockets, which must’ve
looked quite unusual,” he says. “That’s when
I would start to research in magazines, pull
things out and started to get an inkling that there
was a creative fashion world out there.”
That youthful élan never left him. “I have
a personal obsession with counter-culture and
youth culture, because I always think the next
generation is redefining what the world is,” he
says. “I truly believe major changes are going to
happen in our world, because the next generation
is demanding that change happens. I think that power is fascinating.”
Colliding with this is the turn of a decade. Vevers is careful to
point out that spring/summer ’20 wasn’t about the 80s in its entirety
but its germination. “The soundtrack was from the Human League
album Dare, which was from 1981. It was this idea of the cusp of
a decade,” he says. “I think there was a certain sense of change. I was
A L L P R I C E S A P P R OX I M AT E D E TA I L S AT V O G U E . CO M . A U/ W T B
imagining it as the new New Wave.”
Pressing him to tell what the decade holds might be a stretch,
however. The designer admits that above all else he follows his
instincts and points out: “I’m not a big planner. I don’t think far
ahead.” But what we have is his infectious excitement about
possibilities and embracing uncertainty with optimism, be that in
the form of a daffodil-yellow skirt or sky-blue cross-body bag. “What
I love most about fashion is that I don’t know what it’s going to be
tomorrow. On Monday I get on a plane to Tokyo to start imagining
J A M E S TO L C H
what the next season will be about. I just love that I have no idea what
that is. It’s something that still really fascinates me about fashion: it’s
always about change with a certain sense of urgency. I love change.” ■
APRIL 2020 61
VOGUE VIEWPOINT
First there was K-film, then K-pop and K-beauty. As a collective
of fashion brands gain loyalists outside their native South Korea,
all eyes are on a burgeoning fashion capital. By Jen Nurick.
WH ERE WOU LD WE land if we returned from the future to look
back to now? Certainly, it could be Seoul. Back in the 2010s, before
Bong Joon-Ho’s Parasite won Best Picture at the Academy Awards
and K-pop band BTS broke Billboard records, a contingent of new
labels established South Korea as fashion’s next frontier. But only
now is the world taking note.
“It has been building up for a while,” says Eunhye Shin, who founded
Le17Septembre in 2013 after gaining a following through blogging.
Australian e-store My Chameleon added the label, identifiable by
its collarless jackets and classic shirting, to its mix in 2019. “Society is
becoming more multicultural, people are nurturing different ideas.
Fashion is leading the mingling of the international community.” Hers
is just one of the labels Net-a-Porter launched in its Korean Collective
in October 2019. Four-year-old label Gu_de, Andersson Bell and
Pushbutton also belong to its repertoire, and between them lay
claim to international stockists like Ssense, Shopbop and Farfetch.
This uptick in demand may well have been prophesied by Korean-
founded W Concept, a marketplace to discover brands from the
peninsula. Founded offline in 2006, it transitioned into e-commerce in
2011. That same year, W Concept added minimalist label Low Classic
to its list (its spring/summer ’20 collection recently sold out on Moda
Operandi). The platform has also popularised brands like 1064 Studio
and Kindersalmon and cultivated mainstream interest, replacing
them from the periphery and putting Seoul Fashion Week on the map.
“We remain dedicated to bringing local Korean designers to the
Western market,” explains Yoona Park, W Concept’s associate
marketing manager. “When we first launched [our e-commerce] in
the US in 2016, there were no other retailers carrying Korean
From left: a look from Minju Kim’s spring/summer ’20 collection; a Le17Septembre jacket in the label’s signature muted palette;
pieces from Low Classic spring/summer ’20; a look from Minju Kim’s Next in Fashion winning collection.
62
designers. [Nowadays] Andersson Bell, Low Classic, Margesherwood,
Reike Nen and more are being picked up by top e-commerce powers
in the fashion world.” But why has interest simmered until now?
“Brands like Low Classic and Andersson Bell are easily digested by
Western consumers,” reflects Park. Social media and price points
have also helped germinate brand awareness in the last few years.
Park also links recent momentum to the structured yet oversized cuts
and androgynous aesthetic Koreans favour, styles seen increasingly
on runways. We have the instalment of Daniel Lee at Bottega Veneta
to thank (at least in part), while the rise of labels like Peter Do and The
Row, with their affinity for subdued palettes and minimalist tailoring,
mirror the sensibilities of some Korean designers. Shin is familiar
with these tropes: “I try to show Korean traditional delicacy [by
using] the tie knot or concaving lines of the arms and shoulders.” She
cites traditional Korean clothing and architecture as inspirations.
For Minju Kim, who founded her namesake label in 2014 and recently
won Netflix’s Next in Fashion, any cultural inflections palpable in her
clothes are subconscious. “South Korean designers are very talented at
tailoring,” she explains, reflecting a cultural preference for clothing
driven by longevity, not trends. She adds that buyers have related her
silhouettes to hanbok, or traditional Korean dress, despite her having
lived abroad. “The clothes bring out this Asian aesthetic. People can
feel my culture from the way we tailor, the oversized style and mix of
fabric.” Her winning collection comprised of silk-twill mini-dresses
and taffeta peplum jackets is almost sold out on Net-A-Porter.
Hyun-min Han, Münn’s creative director, acknowledges that art,
film and music have stimulated the K-fashion boom. He cites Korean-
American artist Nam June Paik’s exhibition in London’s Tate Modern
as an example; designer Rejina Pyo’s dedicated London Fashion Week
slot another. “Korean culture has found new international audiences
in recent years,” he says. “There was a time in the 80s when Westerners
were crazy about Japanese fashion … I expect Korea will have such
a day in the future.” Fortunately for consumers today, access to
international brands is considered exciting, and purity of design is
top of mind. Perhaps the future is now. ■
I N S TA G R A M . CO M / L E 1 7 S E P T E M B R E  PA R K J O N G H A
APRIL 2020
New season collection at no other department store
VOGUE VIEWPOINT

STYLE FOCUS

Getting tangled up
in fashion’s latest
predilection is an easy feat
with these accessories that
rework the utility of rope
to great, functional appeal.
ART DIREC TION ARQ U E T TE CO O KE
ST YLING K AI L A MAT TH E WS
PHOTOG R APHS G EO RG I NA EGAN

A L L P R I C E S A P P R OX I M AT E D E TA I L S AT V O G U E . CO M . A U/ W T B
WORDS: AL CE B RRELL

64
Opposite: Stella McCartney bag, $1,470. This page, clockwise from top left: Christian Dior belt, $1,550;
Valentino shoes, $1,510; Giorgio Armani bag, $7,050; Chanel shoes, $1,680, from the Chanel boutiques.

APRIL 2020 65
VOGUE VIEWPOINT

Fashion-able
The adaptive fashion market has been unfairly underserved,
but is showing signs of change. Meet the innovators whose
‘anything goes’ approach to design is working to level the
playing fields of fashion and function. By Jen Nurick.
WH EN CH ER HOROWITZ confronted her high school nemesis
for wearing the same outfit as her own in Clueless, she famously
charged: “Do you prefer fashion victim or ensembly challenged?”
Though delivered in the movie as a joke, the question she posed
could apply to the one in five Australians who live with a disability
that can affect how they get dressed. If clothing is designed to
support us, in what ways does it fail us? And how can designers fill
holes in the adaptive market so that fashion – with its promise to
empower and uplift – can be a tool for positive change?
In 2020 designers are still wrestling with these questions. As the
fashion industry inches toward a more
even-keeled focus on inclusivity, body
positivity and sustainability, designers
are working to build positive change
“The available
into their businesses. At Gabriela products had a
Hearst, this meant staging a carbon- medical focus
neutral spring/summer ’20 show and
upcycling deadstock fabric. For
rather than a
in 2014, OSL is a nonprofit incubator for inclusive design educating
university students before they enter the industry. “We take fashion
designers, occupational therapists and engineers and put them with
someone with a disability,” she explains. “Together they create a
garment to help with dressing or to reduce body temperature –
different problems [clients] run into – but also make sure it’s beautiful.”
The results are incredibly innovative and fly in the face of
conventional garment design. Built-in bras make dressing easier,
while tactile textiles help the visually impaired feel their way to
expressing personal style. Mallon insists cross-pollination between
industries is key to nurture innovation, but she’s conscious adaptive
fashion can be highly bespoke and so remains difficult to scale
sustainably. As such, her team are making toolkits with needle,
thread and an enlarged version of a traditional threader, so users
with poor grip can hack clothing themselves instead of buying it
new. This could mean adding pockets where wheelchair-bound users
can access them, or replacing zippers at a garment’s back with Velcro.
As OSL’s CEO and assistant professor at Parsons School of
Fashion, Grace Jun, explains: “Style is the most intimate form of →
Model Lauren
Wasser walking
in the Savage x
Fenty show in
September
2019.

Balenciaga, casting everyday people as fashion focus”

models felt most progressive. Call it
feel-good fashion. They have made
meaningful strides (see age, race and size diversity on the Chromat
runway, or a loosening of gender-focussed clothing with combined
men’s and women’s shows at Eckhaus Latta), but a significant
demographic has been left out: people with disabilities.
The imbalance is shifting, though. Tommy Hilfiger is leading the
charge in the mainstream with apparel line Tommy Adaptive,
inspired by his autistic children’s struggles with dressing, while
Victoria Beckham and Alessandro Michele at Gucci are seating
disability activist Sinéad Burke in the front row to bolster visibility
at fashion week. For her Savage x Fenty show, Rihanna enlisted
model Lauren Wasser – whose legs were amputated after battling
toxic shock syndrome – to walk the runway. There’s hope that real
change will be felt from the top down. But there is no fix-all solution:
we cannot lump adaptive wear with clothing for the elderly, or point
little people to childrenswear that neither reflects their age nor
sensibilities. As Burke told Vogue Australia last year: “[Initially, my
style] was born out of availability, rather than personal taste.”
Since 2019, when Business of Fashion projected that the adaptive
market will be valued at $529.8 billion by 2023, brands are
recognising the category as an economic proposition as much as a
social one. But why haven’t they done so sooner?
“[Many brands] don’t have disabled voices within the company. They
GET T Y IMAGES

don’t want to offend anyone by not doing it right,” says Christina

Mallon, chief brand officer of New York-based Open Style Lab (OSL).
“We need to put it in the hands of people with disabilities.” Launched

66
self-expression. Whatever enables you to communicate yourself
independently with dignity, that’s our goal.”
She is honing in on the psychological effect that results from the
shortage of adaptive clothing. ‘Enclothed cognition’ – an idea
developed by Hoja Adam and Adam Galinsky in 2012 – refers to the
ways our experiences of wearing clothes can impact our psychology. In
the fashion industry, designers may perceive adaptive clothing as a
creative hindrance or a financial strain that requires additional fit
models, time and a rethink of scaling strategies. Imagine the
abbreviated length of a mini-skirt when it can only be worn seated, or
the process of throwing on a coat if you can’t use your arms. Given its
bespoke demands, adaptive fashion is certainly challenging, but
should be seen as an opportunity to better disabled people’s lives.
Parsons graduates and co-founders of design firm Cair Collective,
Amy Yu Chen and Claudia Poh recognise that we have to work at the
intersection between healthcare and fashion to innovate in the
category. This means including disabled people in the conversation
and enabling designers to work on flexible time lines, unlike the
fast-paced fashion schedule. “You’re not given enough time for ideas
to manifest,” says Poh. OSL facilitated both designers to study their
clients’ (whose arms were paralysed) routines and to innovate
accordingly, while limited resources called for creativity. “[One
client] used a doorknob, a bedpost, to get dressed. She would bite
onto a garment [to enter it],” says Poh. “We thought: ‘Okay, how can
we build upon these systems?’” They found their answer in air,
designing an inflatable skirt that could be manually pumped by foot
to drape down the body and defy gravity until deflated.
Camila Chiriboga, a Tokyo-based Parsons graduate and founder of
label Veº, has identified another underserved group, designing
clothing in collaboration with the visually impaired. All clothing is
reversible and special features like front-facing zippers minimise
dexterity challenges, while built-in scannable barcodes provide a
description of the garment. Chiriboga asked herself: “How do you
create a visual identity when visuals are as intangible as feelings?”
In lieu of sight she relies on sensory stimulation, using textures
– a single garment might include wool, velvet, padding – so clients
can express their style.
Sinéad Burke, front row at
Prada autumn/winter ’20/’21.
Footwear technology company Handsfree Labs (HFL) shares
Chiriboga’s philosophy that people with disabilities should not be
excluded from fashion. Working at the nexus of innovation and
fashion, it has developed patented technologies that enable users to
put their shoes on hands-free (the company partnered with Nike in
2019). As HFL’s CEO Monte Deere explains: “The ‘pain point’ of
putting on shoes is common to everyone, but is particularly
challenging for disabled persons.” The company’s F1 Titanium Arc
overcomes this challenge: the discreet paddle reinforces the back of
a shoe’s heel for hands-free entry and may be inserted into boots,
flats or sandals. “Consumers of adaptive fashion want fashion first,
not footwear and apparel that looks ‘adaptive’,” Deere says. But
these go hand in hand: “Technologies that will enable adaptive
functionality are both demonstrative and progressive in style.”
Locally, Matthew Skerritt is raising awareness in Australia and
New Zealand with EveryHuman, an online marketplace for adaptive
fashion founded in 2019. “It didn’t take me long to realise that the
available products had a medical focus rather than a fashion focus;
the options were poor quality with no marketing spent on making
clothes feel ‘sexy’,” he says. For Dr Beth O’Brien, who has diastrophic
dysplasia and was inspired by Burke to begin disability advocacy,
her engagement with fashion is stymied not only by the lack of
offerings available online, but also by the challenges she faces offline
when visiting stores in her wheelchair. “Making small changes to
store policy can have a substantial impact on the experience of
people with disabilities,” she says. “If brands provided more
information about fastenings (buttons or zips), material (stretchy or
stiff), arm length … it would allow people with different bodies to
make more informed decisions when buying online.”
Perhaps what is most important then is to reframe the ways we think
about inclusive fashion and avoid sidelining the adaptive market from
the mainstream. Poh advises not making assumptions and instead
including people with disabilities in the process so they can raise
problems that need solving and help devise solutions themselves. As
Mallon says: “You’ll never get something so innovative as human
interaction.” After all, fashion at its most fundamental is a vessel for
the body – and everybody should have a stake in what they wear. ■
A tactile Veº coat in
cotton twill and vinyl.
APRIL 2020 67
VOGUE VIEWPOINT

SPOTLIGHT
One of the original Instagram vintage
sellers, LA-based Stacey Nishimoto has
applied her handle on the past to a wistful
new line of dresses. By Alice Birrell.
ST YLING STACE Y N I S H I M OTO
PHOTOG R APHS COSTA VI RTAN EN
WH EN STACEY N I SH I MOTO skipped class in school, she didn’t know it would set
course for her career. “I would hide in the library and read about fashion history,” she
says, remembering the worlds of women like the 1930s flappers, who would use the
soot of a freshly extinguished match to create their doleful pencil-thin eyebrows.
“I went home and locked myself in the bathroom and started lighting matches,” she
recounts after one visit. “My dad walked by and smelled something burning and he
was banging at the door yelling. I was so scared – as if I was caught smoking.”
For Nishimoto, the thrill of breathing life into the past led to her future. Now the
LA-based owner of the tightly curated vintage offering The Corner Store is working on
her second offering of upcycled dresses, made from Italian linen and cotton eyelet. The
prairie dresses are all one style: a Victorian, pie-crust collared dress named Nina, after
her grandmother. (“A powerful dress is all that you really need,” she says.)
Nishimoto can count FKA Twigs among her label’s fans. “Never in a million years
would I have ever imagined that we would meet, that she would be customer and a
friend,” she says. “When I used
to shoot the vintage on myself
STACEY NISHIMOTO’S to sell on Instagram, I would
THREE RULES FOR listen to her music in my loft

SHOPPING VINTAGE and it literally uplifted me and

inspired me to be as creative as
1. “When buying online, always I possibly could be.”
make sure to know the condition Her self-styled world pulls
of the fabric and the stitching. from the world of 80s and 90s
Make sure you are okay with interiors, David Bowie and
flaws, if there are any.” “short-term obsessions” like
2. “Buy from all eras; don’t get knee-high socks with 60s
stuck in only buying from the
80s or the 90s or the 50s. Keep
an open mind: you will benefit long Laura Ashley dresses.
so much from this.” Having worked doing make-
3. “Be different. Buy pieces up at Chanel counters, she
nobody else is into — it’s usually
does the theatrical make-up, as
cheaper and you will start your
well as casting the models
own trends.”
herself, contacting them by
DMing them on Instagram.
A shared love of her dreamy imagery
and otherworldly pieces has drawn
a community of followers who leave a
flurry of admiring comments on her feed.
“I totally have maintained a sense of
closeness with my customers from the
very beginning; most of them have
become dear friends,” she says. And

A L L P R I C E S A P P R OX I M AT E D E TA I L S AT V O G U E . CO M . A U/ W T B
it goes beyond selling dresses. “Closeness
is very important me: it means
community, it goes above selling and
buying and capitalism, it is women
supporting women.”
Stacey Nishimoto
wears a vintage Her advice if you miss out on the ultimate
M A K E- U P: S TA C E Y N S H M OTO

dress from Strange vintage piece, or indeed one of her

Desires. Saint
Laurent shoes. in-demand Stacey Nishimoto dresses?
Right: Stacey “I don’t believe in attachment. There will
Nishimoto dress,
$860, and a
always be another beautiful dress; let it go.
self-made bustier. Resell, reuse, reduce … on all levels,
sustainability is at my core.” ■

68 APRIL 2020
VOGUE PROMOTION
 VOGUE VIEWPOINT

ERDEM S/S ’20

EMILIA WICKSTEAD S/S ’20

ERDEM S/S ’20

RACING

Return dressing up to its rightful place

this season by following our autumn
racing guide to deciphering dress codes.
LIV I N G I N AU STR A LIA affords us a relaxed
lifestyle, so the rigours of racing dress codes can leave
some at a loss. How to reconcile our climate (often
dry, sometimes humid and in some places always
unpredictable) with the requisites of being trackside?
Which rules must be followed with zeal and which
GIVENCHY COUTURE S/S ’20

are loose suggestions? Vogue enlisted Hiromi Yu, CEO

and managing director at Melbourne boutique Marais,
who knows her felts from her sisals, for her guide to
interpreting autumn racing dress codes.

HATS ON
Autumn racing has a slightly more traditional feel –
put it down to the weather that feels closer to Ascot
climes than our steamier months. Yu says seize the
occasion to be dressier, millinery inclusive – think hats
and oversized headbands that make a statement but
still won’t drown the wearer’s own taste. “It is very
important that we project our true style, and since
autumn means darker hues, I would always try to add
oomph,” says Yu. “It could be as simple as a bedazzled
beret to extravagant autumn floral fascinators or hats.”
EMILIA WICKSTEAD S/S ’20

For a more concrete parameter, Yu likes to follow the

Royals when it comes to hats, because “of how often they
wear them”, she says. Keep in step by choosing toppers
at least 10 centimetres in diameter for a traditional feel.
She also warns against complicating a beauty look.
DRIES VAN NOTEN S/S ’20

“Keep your hair simple, because autumn racing is all

CHANEL S/S ’20

about your outfit and millinery,” she says. “I like a

G O R U N WAY. CO M

simple side-parted, loose, low chignon with soft curls

as bangs cascading to frame the face – the mood for
autumn racing should feel classic and alluring.” →

APRIL 2020 71
VOGUE VIEWPOINT

HOT STEP FINE FINISH

The only firm rule for autumn should be no obviously Those added extras should telegraph a sense
open shoes or sandals. Yu recommends pointy, almond or of occasion. Try sumptuous outerwear and
peep-toe heels. “These are demure paired with knee- accessories that are high-finish and all class.
length or longer dresses. They are also very versatile and
can carry you through all the seasons.” A good place to
start is with neutral colours or, she says, “be daring

CHANEL COUTURE S/S ’20

enough and challenge yourself to try the complementary
footwear colour to your outfit palette, based on Isaac
Newton’s colour wheel”. The tip, Yu says, is to pair warm
with cool colours, and cool with warm colours.

COLOUR CORRECTION
Lighter summer colours and sometimes even white can
look out of place trackside in autumn. Instead, err on
the richer side. Yu steers herself toward deeper palettes,
typical of the season. “I love wearing either bold or darker
hues – I love my reds, as it is still a symbolic floral colour,
or stick to black for a safer colour choice,” she advises.
Camilla and Marc jacket, $880.
MATERIAL VALUE
Fabrics and finishes can also be used to lift a look for
autumn racing and should be chosen wisely: leave

EMILIA WICKSTEAD S/S ’20

lightweight materials like broderie anglaise and cottons
for spring. Yu proposes playing with textures and fabric
mixes – think velvets, jacquards, tweeds. “I suggest
wool blends for autumn racing, which provide
protection from outdoor cold and are also a great way
of adding texture,” she says. “For those who worship
fashion, try leather elements. Leather has a more
autumnal feeling due to the weight of the fabric.” Celine bag, $9,100.

GOOD SHAPE Longines

While dresses that are too short can preclude race-goers watch,
from gaining entry to certain areas at some race tracks $2,175.
(some members’ enclosures definitively ban short
playsuits, too), play it safe and choose longer lengths,
which Yu says are versatile. “Knee-length or below-the- Reliquia
knee outfits can easily be dressed up or down. headb
ALEXANDRE VAUTHIER COUTURE S/S ’20

I especially love pencil or mermaid-bottom dresses,”

she says, pointing to Alexander McQueen’s fluted skirts
or Balmain and Celine as go-to labels.

A L L P R I C E S A P P R OX I M AT E D E TA I L S AT V O G U E . CO M . A U/ W T B
Structure and sleeves are two appropriate style notes to
work with, and if you opt for pants, remember that some
venues only allow tailored versions. Casual or untailored
leather jackets may also be banned, so keep in mind that
outerwear shouldn’t be an afterthought. Other traps to
G E O R G N A E G A N G O R U N WAY. CO M

avoid are cut-outs – again this can be regulated at race

tracks, no matter how demure the rest of the dress is – and
straps should be a few centimetres thick, and never
spaghetti for autumn. Although Yu adds that you don’t Jimmy Choo
have to entirely avoid skin. “I would also go for off-the- shoes, $2,095,
shoulder to expose décolletage between the headpiece from David Jones.

and the dress for more elegance.” ■

72 APRIL 2020
VOGUE VIEWPOINT
JEWELLERY
Tiffany debuts a new collection, but despite its liberal use of diamonds,
T1 is an approachable, modern-take on jewellery. By Alice Birrell.
DIAM O N DS , TH E STO N E S that seem never to relinquish their mesmeric
grip on us, have been given a minimalist rework in Tiffany & Co.’s newest
collection. With streamlined bangles, rings and a trophy piece – a kinetic, sinuous
choker made to meld to the neck via articulated links – the precious stone takes
its surprisingly well-suited place in our everyday wardrobes.
The streamlined look is evidence of chief artistic officer Reed Krakoff’s belief
that diamonds shouldn’t be saved for special occasions (though Tiffany has a
bread-and-butter trade in this, too). “At Tiffany, we are looking to redefine
modern luxury, which to me means living with beautiful things daily and
making exquisite things part of your life and personal style,” he says. “The pieces
can be worn every day as a celebration of yourself.”
74
An evolution of the T collection, the pieces will be
unveiled this month in rose gold and build upon a 1980s
motif discovered in the New York jeweller’s archives. (For
close watchers, the choker, with 240 baguette and brilliant
custom-cut diamonds, made an early debut in London on
the neck of Charlize Theron at Tiffany’s BAFTA after-
party.) Simpler than their predecessors – there is just one
‘T’, which closes a full loop, unlike the slightly parted
double Ts of the first T collection launched in 2014 –
Krakoff sees the diamond bangles from the collection
lending “off-hand” and “irreverent” appeal to a woman’s
usual wardrobe. Paired as accessories to jeans and a
button-down, or this season’s ultra-abbreviated LBDs, it
would be easy to see how their clean lines and rectilinear
accent would achieve this goal.
Krakoff and the design and technical teams took a
year to bring T1’s elegant forms, though simple, to life.
“We went through several rounds of sketches and
renderings before the product was finalised for
production,” he says. Each piece is individually cast and
hand-polished by master craftspeople, and although not
A L L P R I C E S A P P R OX I M AT E D E TA I L S AT V O G U E . CO M . A U/ W T B
all will feature diamonds, those that do are responsibly
sourced, cut in Tiffany workshops and individually
N T E R V E W: A L C E B R R E L L A N D S O P H E T E R A K E S
placed by hand to create a glittering pavé setting.
An observer of modern life in his home city of New
York, Krakoff is studious about discovering how
jewellery fits into the usual routines of customers in
2020. “I’m always thinking about how people are living
today and working to understand what they want and
need,” he says. “We want to design beautiful things that
are relevant to modern life, that make people happy,
that people connect to in a meaningful way … luxury
should be effortless, even casual.” ■
APRIL 2020
VOGU E PA RT N ER SHIP

W O R D S : A L C E B R R E L L H A R : P E T E L E N N O N M A K E- U P: C L A R E T H O M S O N M O D E L : R O S S A N A L ATA L L A DA
Back to
black
The design tenets of Saint Laurent
A L L P R I C E S A P P R OX I M AT E D E TA I L S AT V O G U E . CO M . A U/ W T B

read like a definition of modern

glamour: refined, timeless
and precise, with a penchant for
black. Return to luxurious form.
Styled by Philippa Moroney.
Photographed by Duncan Killick.

76
VOGU E PA RT N ER SHIP
 VOGU E PA RT N ER SHIP

With the rigour of riding

attire, the knee boots from
spring/summer ’20 can lend
structure to an off-duty
look, or be put through their
paces for the working week.
Saint Laurent Gilet jacket,
$2,520, shorts, $1,475,
necklaces, $430 and $395,
bracelets, $800 and $400, bag,
$1,920, and shoes, P.O.A.
A L L P R I C E S A P P R OX I M AT E D E TA I L S AT V O G U E . CO M . A U/ W T B
DUNCAN K LL CK

APRIL 2020 79
80
VOGU E PA RT N ER SHIP

DUNCAN K LL CK
A L L P R I C E S A P P R OX I M AT E D E TA I L S AT V O G U E . CO M . A U/ W T B
 DUNCAN K LL CK
A L L P R I C E S A P P R OX I M AT E D E TA I L S AT V O G U E . CO M . A U/ W T B

APRIL 2020 83
VOGU E PA RT N ER SHIP
 Women in tech
shouldn’t be
science fiction.
Only 16% of qualified STEM professionals
are women.*
We’re here to help, with the Westpac Girls
Work-Experience Program, Young Tech
Scholarships and more. Together, we can
change this statistic.

Westpac STEM Commitment

*2016 Office of Chief Scientist Report. © Westpac Banking Corporation ABN 33 007 457 141 AFSL and Australian credit licence 233714.
VOGUE CULTURE

ARTS

Camera ready
ST YLING R EB ECCA B O NAVIA
PHOTOG R APHS JAKE TER R E Y

86
 WH E N D E SCR I B I N G K ATE Mulvany it is impossible not to
reach for a handful of adjectives, so varied is her career. Hollywood
film and stage actor, playwright, adaptor and screenwriter are just
a few ways you could describe the Western Australian native,
professionally at least.
I have had the good fortune of knowing Mulvany for 14 years and
can safely say ‘melodramatic’ is not a trait I would associate with
her. So when she casually drops into the conversation that she’d
recently had her throat cut open, you know they’re not the words of
an attention-seeker, although when you consider the off-screen
suffering this dignified woman has endured in life you wouldn’t
begrudge her if they were. Rather, Mulvany is relating how she
landed her lead role opposite Oscar-winner Al Pacino in the new
Amazon Prime series Hunters, which debuted in February.
A survivor of childhood cancer (more on this later), Mulvany was
rehearsing for the new Australian production of Ibsen’s An Enemy of
the People at Sydney’s Belvoir theatre in late 2018 when she noticed
something unusual in her throat. Fearing the cancer had returned,
her doctors ran a number of tests before happily concluding it was
the result of a benign branchial cleft.
“Basically, it’s when your body retains the gills we’re conceived
with. So I’m a fish or a mermaid! I am a Pisces, after all,” Mulvany
muses with a twinkle. “But it gave everyone a big scare and we were
so, so relieved. It still had to come out, so I had to have surgery and
have my throat cut open.”
The play and ensuing surgery concluded what Mulvany admits
was “a really big year that looked good on paper but was really,
really stressful”. It included her Helpmann award-nominated
adaptation of Ruth Park’s The Harp in the South and her adaptation of
Mary Stuart, both for the Sydney Theatre Company; co-writing the
Foxtel series Upright, starring Mulvany’s old friend Tim Minchin,
and rehearsing for the Foxtel original series drama Lambs of God
alongside Essie Davis and The Handmaid’s Tale’s Ann Dowd. Most
importantly, she was deeply mourning the death of her beloved
father, Danny, who’d died in 2017.
Mulvany and her husband, actor Hamish Michael, slipped away
for a rare holiday together, holing up in a ryokan in Japan, shutting
out the outside world for a week to catch their breaths. Of course, it
was during this week she received the offer of her career, via her
agent in Los Angeles: to put down an audition tape for a leading role
as Sister Harriet in the Jordan Peele-produced show Hunters.
“At that point Sister Harriet was covered in scars, so I really made
A L L P R I C E S A P P R OX I M AT E D E TA I L S AT V O G U E . CO M . A U/ W T B
the most of this slash across my neck. But I also said to Hamish:
‘Let’s do it in 15 minutes then go sightseeing, I don’t have a chance in
H A R : P E T E L E N N O N M A K E- U P: G L L A N C A M P B E L L
hell of getting it.’”
As we now know, she landed the role, news she received during
the Sydney season of her Helpmann award-winning performance
in the astonishing one-woman show Every Brilliant Thing, a tragi-
comic play about a child coming to terms with her mother’s suicide.
Within a month she and Michael had relocated to New York, where
they happily created a new home for themselves in a Brooklyn
brownstone in Fort Greene.
Inspired by real events, Hunters is created and co-written by
showrunner David Weil, and details the lives of various ‘Nazi
hunters’ in the late 1970s, groups which sought vigilante justice
against numerous former Nazi officials and Holocaust persecutors
who escaped the Nuremberg trials in Germany and were living
secret lives with new identities in various countries.
“Sister Harriet is a British nun and ex-MI6, James Bond in a habit,
who has a filthy mouth, smokes like a chimney, is quite cold and
doesn’t suffer fools easily. She’s terrifying; it was brilliant,” says
Mulvany delightedly. She is also the right hand to Pacino’s lead
character Meyer, who heads up the eclectic Nazi hunters.
When I ask Mulvany if she’s worked with Pacino before, she
bursts into uproarious laughter. “No! But I did have a picture of
him on my wall growing up. I love him as an actor and if there’s
a Pacino film, I’m there; I adore his choices,” she says, citing Dog
Day Afternoon and The Godfather films.
“I grew up with Sicilians, they adopted my dad, so Al was very
familiar to me; not that he’s Sicilian [his parents are Italian], but
there was a familiarity and safety with him, even when he’d do the
most awful things on screen. To find myself beside him, performing
with him … there were times when a lot of the cast would turn to
each other and say: ‘Can you believe it?’ I thought I was going
to get sacked the first month and a half I was there, because you’re
surrounded by such extraordinary talent. Kudos to Amazon for
taking a punt on an unknown Australian theatre actress.”
If it sounds like Mulvany is being unnecessarily modest, she’s not.
Although Australian theatre-goers will be well familiar with
Mulvany’s name, thanks to a long and celebrated local stage and
screen career, the broader entertainment industry won’t have heard
of her. Until now.
Locally, she is considered the hardest working person in theatre
and television, and not without reason. On stage she has appeared in
the titular, Helpmann award-winning role of Richard III for Bell
Shakespeare; she performed in Macbeth and Julius Caesar, in addition
to adapting Craig Silvey’s Jasper Jones for Belvoir. Baz Luhrmann cast
her as Mrs McKee in The Great Gatsby, where she got to have a pillow
fight with Tobey Maguire’s Nick Carraway, while she has also
featured on the small screen in Underbelly,
Secret City, Miss Fisher’s Murder Mysteries
“To find and Fighting Season.
Mulvany relishes the variety of working
myself across stage and screen, but makes no
performing secret of the fact there is one play of
with Al which she is fiercely proud: The Seed.
Initially written by Mulvany as a novel, it
Pacino… debuted on stage at Belvoir in 2008 and is
there were her family’s story.
times when Born in Geraldton, Western Australia,
Mulvany was only three years old when
a lot of the she was diagnosed with Wilms’ tumour,
cast would a cancer of the kidneys caused by her
turn to each father’s exposure to Agent Orange when
other and he was conscripted to fight in the Vietnam
War. She spent the next seven years of her
say: ‘Can you life largely confined to a hospital bed,
believe it?’” where she underwent lifesaving but →
APRIL 2020 87
VOGUE CULTURE
Bianca Spender coat,
$995. Georg Jensen
earrings, $2,700,
and ring, $3,750,
on left hand.
crippling chemotherapy and radiotherapy that left a number of her
organs and vertebrae irreparably damaged, while a number of
her ribs had to be removed. If there was to be a golden lining, it was
that during her years in hospital she discovered an uncanny talent
for mimicry and a love of performance, a talent she pursued at
school when she was finally in remission.
The ongoing downside is she was robbed of the chance to ever
have children, and is in constant, debilitating pain. It is a sign of
Mulvany’s extraordinary bravery and determination not to be
defined by it that she has quietly endured this pain – even standing
upright is agony – until she was cast as Richard III in late 2016 and
decided to revert to her natural, crooked posture to play the cruel
king who himself suffered scoliosis. She also made a decision to
accept and embrace the fact she was disabled and is now a proud
disability advocate.
But she was, and continues to be, angry with the hundreds of
thousands of senseless deaths and ongoing defects and suffering
88
caused by Agent Orange, generations later. She funnelled much of
that anger into the writing of The Seed after gently coaxing her father
Danny to open up about the war. She began when she was 20 and
continued writing draft after draft, slowly drawing out more from
her dad, who suffered PTSD and would ultimately succumb to
oesophageal cancer, but not before he had a chance to see the multi-
award-winning play that went on to tour nationally, with Mulvany
performing her own character, Rose.
She has now adapted it to film along with producer Nicole
O’Donohue and is also in the process of penning a TV series. Today
Mulvany continues to campaign for the clearance of landmines and
is a vocal supporter of affected communities in Southeast Asia. She
says her father made no secret of how devastated he was that it was
he who caused her physical suffering, but also how very proud she
made him and her mother Glenys.
When he was nearing the end Mulvany flew back to Perth
regularly, spending the better part of two months sleeping on his
floor. “After we opened Richard III I flew back to see Dad and that
was the last weekend I was ever going to see him. I knew that, he
knew that, and his last words to me were still about Agent Orange
and The Seed and how proud he was and how glad he was. For him
in the last throes of cancer to still be grateful for that story to be told
was amazing. He was my co-writer, he was my muse.”
As we sit chatting in Mulvany’s local Sydney cafe, a familiar face
wanders up to order coffee. I recognise Hamish Michael instantly,
having watched him deliver a brilliant performance the night before
in the STC’s memorable production of The Beauty Queen of Leenane
alongside Orange is the New Black’s Yael Stone and Noni Hazlehurst.
The warmth and tenderness the couple feels for one another is
palpable. They met in 2008 during a painfully dark time for Mulvany
following the suicide of her then-partner, All Saints actor Mark
Priestley, who had a long history of depression. She has always
talked openly about Priestley and the special place reserved for him
in her heart. In Michael she has clearly found a trusted and loving
partner and the pair became engaged and subsequently eloped in
New York in 2015 with Mulvany’s best friend and fellow actor
Damon Herriman acting as ‘bridesman’.
And now it is 2020 and Mulvany is relishing the unusual scenario
that sees her immediate future in the balance. If a second season of
Hunters goes ahead she’ll happily move abroad again, but if not she
has plenty to be going on with. She will be shooting a secret film
project later this year and she has recently finished a manuscript for
A L L P R I C E S A P P R OX I M AT E D E TA I L S AT V O G U E . CO M . A U/ W T B
an open commission from Washington’s Studio Theatre titled Sea
Wax Mad, based on a real life incident in 1986 in Cleveland, Ohio,
when a balloon festival went disastrously wrong and 1.5 million
balloons were released into the air, causing an eco-disaster.
“If a second season of Hunters happens I’ll be moving overseas
again, I don’t know where, but I’m happily in the dark. And if it
doesn’t I’ll be writing The Seed [TV series], working on my own
main-stage theatre projects, a couple of commissions for other
companies, and that will take up the year,” she says. “I’ve gone from
JAKE TERREY
Sister Harriet to being back at my desk, writing at home, cats at my
feet. It’s lovely. After years of knowing where I am, when,
it’s kinda nice to be powerless to it.” ■
APRIL 2020
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VOGUE CULTURE

CODES
“I have never
learned code, and
don’t intend to … I
am far better
As we kick off Vogue Codes for 2020, technology professional placed to play to
Renuka Kimber posits a surprising truth: in the tech space, creative
and critical thinking are just as valuable as traditional STEM skills. my strengths”
EVER B EEN I N a meeting surrounded by experts mapping concepts,
only to feel too unqualified to have a perspective? Imposter syndrome is a
common theme among those who have limited technical knowledge but
work in industries that are increasingly disrupted by technology.
It’s something I struggled with too when I began working in technology
for a consulting firm. I’d find myself sitting in meeting rooms with people
talking about code and cloud and wonder whether someone missed a key
question in the interview process when they hired a ‘non-technical’ like
me. It took me a while to overcome this self-doubt and recognise the
importance of my perspective in these conversations and break down the
internal dialogue of the technical/non-technical corporate class system.
How did I end up in technology? I simply stayed true to the advice of
a mentor: stay curious and don’t have a plan. Living this advice, I’ve done
three degrees: a BA in history, MA in anthropology and political science and
an MBA – all wildly inspiring and challenging. My professional career has
been similarly diverse. I worked in media, brand strategy and diplomacy
before transitioning into tech. I also co-founded and developed a thriving
international menswear business with my husband, designer Christian
Kimber, and I would say the use of technology to generate customer insights
to guide our business has been a cornerstone of our success.
Many of the skills required for each of these roles were transferable in Renuka Kimber
that they focussed on communicating powerful ideas in simple terms to
a target audience. The point being is that amid all of this, I never learned
to code, and I don’t intend to. Put simply, there are others – an increasing These days, so-called ‘soft skills’ such as communication,
proportion of whom, I am pleased to say, are women – who are deeply teamwork, problem-solving, adaptability and leadership skills
skilled in this area. While I would never dissuade someone from learning are increasingly in high demand across the technology domain.
the basics or pursuing formal qualifications, I know that I am far better I have found myself working in an incredible team focussed
placed to play to my strengths. Besides, when you look at some of the most on highly complex technology-enabled solutions to equally
successful women in technology today, a lack of computer science complex business and client problems. It’s my role to champion
capabilities actually stands you in pretty good company. the voice of the customer throughout the innovation lifecycle.
Of the Forbes 2019 ‘20 most powerful women in technology’ list, only two Ultimately, I see myself as a sort of translator between our
actually studied computer science or engineering. Although I’m sure that business partners, technologists and the end users.
now all of these women know enough about tech to be more than dangerous, For the majority of platforms disrupting businesses today,
it’s likely most of their technical knowledge was developed on the job. technology is the enabler, not the product. The product itself is
For these female leaders, the paths to study computer science and related still the transport you took via Uber, the music you listened to via
disciplines may not have been as open as they are to young women today. Spotify, or the information you analysed via Xero. Before people

T E A G A N CO U S I N S WA R D R O B E F R O M H A R R O L D S
And while I actively support programs designed to get girls to develop developed the platforms, someone identified the opportunity.
coding and technical skills, I always stress that this is no longer the only The need for clever people who can help businesses identify the P H OTO G R A P H : J A C K S O N G A L L A G H E R H A R :

ticket to ride. For experienced professionals like me, there are countless
opportunities to develop a career in technology.
Getting past the imposter syndrome, however, requires a shift from a
‘negative list’ view of skill-sets (what you don’t have) to a ‘positive list’ view
of the unique value you bring. In my organisation we are changing the way
teams are designed, from functional teams of small groups of people with
similar backgrounds making key business decisions, to horizontal structures
that bring together a mix of skills, strengths and backgrounds.
next one – diagnose a client problem or build businesses under
their own steam – is vast. More importantly, the potential to
apply ‘non-traditional’ skills in creative and critical thinking
to the solution of these opportunities opens up exciting
pathways for women looking to make their move into tech.
Renuka Kimber is a senior manager in technology and growth at a
‘Big Four’ professional services firm and is the co-founder of the
Christian Kimber menswear brand.

90 APRIL 2020
 Victoria Kluth
Managing Director, Araza
2018 top 20 winner

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will shape our business
for years to come.”
The Businesses of Tomorrow awards program recognises
200 of Australia’s most forward-thinking businesses.

Apply at businessesoftomorrow.com.au

© Westpac Banking Corporation ABN 33 007 457 141 AFSL and Australian credit licence 233714.
VOGUE PROMOTION

1.
2.
SHELF
Fashion consultant and vintage enthusiast Hannah Canham
has worn many hats, with her role as a collector leading to
her latest project Treasures, a global guide to the world’s
best vintage stores. Here, the Milan-based Australian
shares the books on her shelf focussed on eras past.
1. EILEEN GRAY (MÉMOIRES) (ASSOULINE, 2013, ORIGINALLY
PUBLISHED IN 1998) BY FRANÇOIS BAUDOT
“Photographs of incredible designs by the great Eileen Gray. It’s
hard to believe this furniture was designed in the 1910s and 1920s;
they appear modern and timeless but are also definitive of the times
with strong Art Deco references.”
I N T E R V I E W: A L I C E B I R R E L L P H OTO G R A P H S : G E O R G I N A E G A N
2. THE ART DECO STYLE: IN HOUSEHOLD OBJECTS,
ARCHITECTURE, SCULPTURE, GRAPHICS, JEWELRY (DOVER
PUBLICATIONS, 1972) BY THEODORE MENTEN
“[This book] is like a bible of inspiration. The cover boasts ‘468
authentic examples’ of Art Deco objects, architecture, sculptures,
graphics and jewellery, and it is exactly that – a collection of
photographs that encompass the important design details and
spirit of the Art Deco movement in the 1920s and 1930s.”
3. VOGUE ITALIA, MARCH 1969
“Old issues of Vogue are a constant source of inspiration, particularly
those from the 1960s and 1970s. I reference old magazines for my
VOGUE VIEWPOINT
5.
research and can get lost in the editorials. This particular issue of
Vogue Italia from 1969 is a favourite, and features photo shoots
of Twiggy and Jean Shrimpton.”
4. TREASURES, THE VINTAGE & SECONDHAND SHOPPING GUIDE
TO THE WORLD (THIS ERA ARCHIVE, 2019) BY HANNAH CANHAM
“As I am constantly travelling and on the hunt for vintage, it made
sense to consolidate the stores I’d uncovered into a guidebook.
Along with 23 other creatives, who shared their recommendations
through making this book, I connected with an incredible and
inspiring community around a love of vintage.”
5. ICONOS DE ESTILO (MUSEO DEL TRAJE, 2018)
“This exhibition catalogue from Madrid’s costume museum, Museo
del Traje, shows photographs of incredible traditional Spanish
costumes from the late 1800s to 1900s. The bold and moody
photographs allow the eye to investigate every fine detail and
inspiring styling. Pure beauty.”
6. BARBARA HEPWORTH (THE TATE GALLERY, 1968)
“I love to learn about the lives of artists I admire, such as Barbara
Hepworth. This book spans Hepworth’s life and work from the early
1930s to the late 1960s. It’s filled with photographs of her beautiful
sculptures; you can see how her work changed and evolved over the
decades while staying true to a consistent and recognisable aesthetic.”
APRIL 2020 93
VOGUE CULTURE
ART
Destiny calling
As one of Australia’s leading contemporary Indigenous artists,
Destiny Deacon has more than lived up to her name. With
a new exhibition at the National Gallery of Victoria, Myles
Russell-Cook, the gallery’s curator of Indigenous art, explores
the duality of comedy and tragedy that informs her work.
D E STI NY D E ACO N I S one of Australia’s boldest and most
acclaimed contemporary artists. A descendant of the Kuku and
Erub/Mer people from Far North Queensland and Torres Strait,
Deacon is based in Melbourne, where she is known for a body of
work that depicts her darkly comic, idiosyncratic world view. Her
practice, which spans photography, video, installation, printmaking
and performance, offers a nuanced, thoughtful and at times
intensely funny snapshot of contemporary Australian life.
Ordinarily I would insist on referring to any artist – woman, man or
other – by their last name. Picasso, O’Keeffe, Warhol, Kngwarray. It
is a mark of respect. But when it comes to Destiny Deacon, the
normal rules of the art world just don’t apply.
94
Destiny is the title of her solo show at the National Gallery of
Victoria, which opens this month, and true to her name, Destiny has
forged a path as an international artist with a distinct brand
of artistic humour, halfway between comedy and tragedy. There is
a duality that lies at the heart of everything she does. Making sense
of tragedy through comedy is partly what her work is all about. Or,
as she explains: “Most of my art is to tell stories of being an
Indigenous Australian, of colonialism, poverty, racism, sexism, etc
… jeez, that’s a mouthful isn’t it?”
Among the laughs there is another side, a darker side. Her
disturbing visual language marries two worlds, contrasting
seemingly innocuous childhood imagery with scenes taken from
the darkest reaches of adulthood.
For her 2004 exhibition, Walk & don’t look blak, Destiny said of the
photography included in the survey: “I like to think there is a laugh
and a tear in every picture.” In blurring the line between that which
is sad and that which is comical, Destiny draws audiences to
consider how the ‘truth’ is often absurd.
Through her outrageous cast of characters, she explores and
examines dichotomies – childhood and adulthood, comedy and
tragedy, theft and reclamation, the mask and the face. She transports
people into an ‘uncanny valley’ (a term describing the discomfort we
can feel looking at things that look like humans, but are not), a
chaotic world where disgraced dollies play out sinister scenes for
audience amusement. Decapitated, amputated, pants down, tied up,
Destiny Deacon with
her photographic
works including,
below left, Where’s
Mickey (2002).
A N D T H E A D E L A I D E F E S T I VA L / E U G E N E H Y L A N D
M A G E S CO U RT E S Y O F T H E A RT S T, T H E N G V
trapped in a blizzard or flying through the air, the world Destiny
creates both reflects and parodies the one in which we live.
Trying to understand Destiny’s work can be difficult. She resists
interpretation and ‘art speak’ by presenting the viewer with
a deceptively simple narrative. The ‘explanation’ is often hinted
at through a comical title, but to take this light-hearted approach at
face value would be a mistake. In only reading her images on the
surface as amusing standalone narratives, one fails to appreciate the
grander ideas and relationships that Destiny’s oeuvre has to offer.
These more philosophical contexts are in part her personal visions,
and they are things that we the audience must work to understand.
One of these themes is the idea of truth and reclamation.
In her photo triptych, Blak lik mi (1991), the artist famously
reclaimed three images. The first is a bamboo plate, painted
with Aboriginal girl’s face, the second is a blurry close-up of a
smiling Aboriginal girl printed on black velvet, and the third is a
picture of a little girl crying. The two images on the right are taken
from a 1960s reproduction of a 1957 Axel Poignant photograph from
his photo essay, originally titled Piccaninny walkabout, later renamed
Bush Walkabout. The Axel Poignant photographs were widely
reproduced (without his permission or knowledge), printed on black
velvet, and signed ‘Martinus’. Destiny calls these types of objects
‘Koori kitsch’; abject knickknacks, which at best portray Aboriginal
people as decoration and at worst perpetuate overtly racist
stereotypes. She has a massive collection of Koori kitsch. In her own
words, she has been rescuing Koori kitsch “since forever”, and
explains: “In the beginning I wanted to rescue them, because
otherwise they’d end up in a white home or something, somewhere
no-one would appreciate them.”
At first glance, the triptych is deceptively simple. But through the
simple act of photographing the reproduction, Destiny reclaimed
a genre. As always, the hidden meaning, or meanings, behind the
work is first introduced through the title. Blak lik mi, spelled in a way
so as to differentiate Destiny’s perceived blackness from her self-
determined ‘blakness’. It’s deliberately indirect.
Blak lik mi is widely accepted as the first
Among the instance where an Aboriginal person used
laughs there the spelling ‘blak’ instead of black. In
is another defining blakness, as unlike blackness,
Destiny distinguishes her Aboriginality
side, a from her skin colour. But in addition to
darker that, she originates a version of being blak
side. Her that comes entirely from within.
disturbing The legacy of this work has been massive.
Countless Aboriginal people now self-
visual determine their identity as blak. It is a
language helpful word as it provides a distinction,
marries two separating the experiences Aboriginal
people have within an Australian colonial
worlds structure from the experience other First
Nations people and people of colour (POC)
have within other colonial structures.
People often confuse the two, lumping together the experiences of
Aboriginal people with the experiences of black, POC and colonised
First Nations people. But the distinction is so important. Grouping
together the experiences of non-white people homogenises countless
tribal, cultural and linguistic differences, making anyone who isn’t
part of the dominant culture the same, when we are not.
By reproducing and redefining her perceived blackness, Destiny
stared back, switching her position from subject to photographer
and rewriting the relationship between contemporary Aboriginal
people and the Koori kitsch that betrays them.
Contemporary Aboriginal artists throughout Australia owe a debt
to artists like Destiny. A powerful and generous matriarch, her
artistic, blak humour has illuminated the way for the next generation
of blak artists. Through her art Destiny changed what the
contemporary art world understood Aboriginal art was and could be.
But more than that, she also shone a light on how Aboriginal people
can and do construct their identity outside of the colonial gaze.
Destiny is on at the NGV until August 20.
APRIL 2020 95
VOGUE CULTURE
A selection of intimate images taken in 1962 by photographer Douglas Kirkland (pictured below) of Coco Chanel.
EXHIBITION
When a young photographer spent three weeks with Coco Chanel
in 1962, he captured the essence of the designer. Now, a selection
of the images is on show in Perth. By Courtney Thompson.
IT SOU N DS LI KE the making of a Hollywood film. A young all-
American boy is sent to photograph an internationally renowned
designer who isn’t exactly known for her warmth. Over the course of
their association her walls come down and a new bond is forged.
That’s exactly what happened when 27-year-old Douglas Kirkland
was sent to Paris by his editors at Look magazine to shoot Gabrielle
‘Coco’ Chanel in 1962. At that point, Chanel (or “Mademoiselle” to
Kirkland) was making a name for herself in the US, thanks to
Jacqueline Kennedy wearing her designs in the White House. “She
ignored me at first”, Kirkland, now 85, tells Vogue over the phone
from his home in Los Angeles. “I was very young and not [Richard]
Avedon, so she didn’t pay me much attention and wouldn’t let me
capture her. I was to stick to the models.”
Of course, it didn’t stay that way for long. After requesting the
young photographer get the first round of photos processed, Chanel
96
decided he could stay. The mood shifted, says Kirkland, when he
found himself walking down a hallway of Chanel’s 31 rue Cambon
apartment and the designer addressed him directly. “She said: ‘Salut’,
and I didn’t know what that meant,” he says, laughing, before adding:
“She also told me: ‘You must learn some French.’” So he did.
Over the next three weeks, not only did Kirkland pick up the local
language, he spent hours one-on-one with Chanel (who was at this
point almost 80), photographing her as she worked from both rue
Cambon and her suite at the Ritz. While he captured her working –
Chanel adjusting a cuff or walking into a boutique – Kirkland also
managed more elusive, unguarded moments. Chanel smiling with
lightness in her expression; lying on her stomach on an oversized
lounge; and even standing alone in Versailles in a Burberry trench.
This month, 30 of these images will be on display at Claremont
Quarter in Perth as part of a free exhibition curated by the retail
precinct. As a collection, they constitute a portal back to a time
before fashion shows became spectacle. More poignantly, they also
offer one of the most intimate glimpses into the true charm of
Chanel. “When people are seeing these images in Perth for the first
DOUGLAS KIRKLAND
time I want them to realise how human Mademoiselle really was,”
says Kirkland. “That’s really important to me.”
Three Weeks with Coco Chanel by Douglas Kirkland is on now until
April 12 at Claremont Quarter, Perth.
APRIL 2020
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 VOGUE PROMOTION

C
ollagen, as the most abundant protein
in the human body, is the structural
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around 25 to 30 years of age, which shows
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HOW IT WORKS
Marine collagen, the most bioavailable and
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VOGUE BEAUTY

OUT OF THE
SHADOWS
Beyond a dusting of neutral
eyeshadow, this season’s
affinity for all manner of
eyelid adornment – from
candy-coloured paint strokes
to watercolour gradients –
is confirmation that an
adventurous new spin on
eye make-up is in sight.
WORDS R EMY R I PP O N PHOTOG R APHS S HAR I F HAMZ A M A K E - U P G R ACE AH N H A I R RYAN M ITCH ELL

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 S T Y L S T: J A S M N E H A S S E T T M A N C U R E : Y U K E M YA K AWA M O D E L : J O R DA N DA N I E L S
A L L P R I C E S A P P R OX I M AT E D E TA I L S AT V O G U E . CO M . A U/ W T B

GOING GREEN

APRIL 2020 109

VOGUE BEAUTY

DEEP DIVE
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M.A.C Eye Shadow in In The Shadows, $29.
Louis Vuitton jacket, vest and shirt.

110
 SHAR F HAMZA
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APRIL 2020 111

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FINGER PAINT

112
 SHAR F HAMZA
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WALK THE LINE

APRIL 2020 113

VOGUE BEAUTY

A L L P R I C E S A P P R OX I M AT E D E TA I L S AT V O G U E . CO M . A U/ W T B
WORDS: REMY R PPON

Clockwise from left: Estée Lauder Perfectionist Pro Rapid Brightening Treatment, $170; 111 Skin NAC Y2 Restorative Cleansing Balm, $94;
Dr Roebuck’s Ningaloo Firming Serum, $100; Nip+Fab Illuminate Vitamin C Fix Concentrate, $40; Dr Dennis Gross Stress Rescue Super Serum, $113;
Perricone MD High Potency Growth Factor Firming & Lifting Serum, $197; Peter Thomas Roth Pro Strength Lactic Pore Treatment, $145.

114 APRIL 2020

 MICRO-SCULPTIN
NG

Niiacin
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de 10 years
Vittam
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Niacinaamide
Aminno--peptid
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VOGUE BEAUTY

Made
to order
From using your DNA to
tweak formulations to made-
to-measure skincare, when it
comes to the future of beauty
the message is clear: take it
personally. By Remy Rippon.

A SLEEK , B L ACK cube the size of a household coffee machine sits
atop a bench at L’Oréal’s Sydney headquarters, whirring into action.
The device, developed by L’Oréal-owned SkinCeuticals, is busy
processing my skin concerns via a patented diagnostic system
following an in-depth consultation. In less than five minutes it
shoots out a unique SkinCeuticals serum concocted with a singular
objective: to target my complexion. The small apothecary bottle is
loaded with retinol (for lines and persistent breakouts) and potent
antioxidants (for post-inflammatory pigmentation), which the
gadget cleverly dispenses in real time, courtesy of its in-built
mechanics that are capable of analysing a remarkable 250 skin
trait combinations, 49 formula concentrations and varying doses of
15 key ingredients.
SkinCeuticals’s Custom D.O.S.E, which will be available at selected
dermatologists from April, is the newest and most advanced take on
beauty’s race to offer consumers hyper-personalised formulas. It
follows Rihanna’s Fenty Beauty launch in 2017, which set a new
benchmark for beauty inclusivity with no less than 40 shades of
foundation, and sparked wider conversation about personalisation.
Now, the gamut runs from make-up to skincare, with brands turning
to tech for advanced solutions to better cater to consumers’ ever-
changing and individual needs.
“A big value for technology and beauty is inclusivity. We have a
responsibility to reach everybody in the world,” says Guive Balooch,
who joined L’Oréal 13 years ago to spearhead the brand’s
San Francisco-based Technology Incubator. With his Silicon Valley

116
 start-up experience, Balooch assembled a team of unlikely beauty
folk – engineers, computer wizards, Apple alumni – who he tasked
with finding cutting-edge ways to deliver tailor-made beauty,
without sacrificing results.
The first launch from the Technology Incubator was Makeup
Genius. Balooch enlisted the visual effects experts who helped Brad
Pitt convincingly reverse-age for the film The Curious Case of Benjamin
Button to create a facial-tracking app that allows the user to
experiment with varying L’Oréal make-up shades. Then came
Lancôme Le Teint Particulier, which blends a bespoke foundation
shade at the beauty counter and is capable of colour-matching up to
22,000 skin tones. Both of these solved beauty dilemmas, but Balooch
projects the next phase of customisation will take the problem-
solving nature a step further. “It’s about longer term relationships
with data and the product. Meaning, I want to know how my skin
evolves. I want to know how my hair evolves, and I want to adapt
products. It’s going to become about longer term iterations of what
I do, rather than what’s the new thing,” he says.
It’s why, after receiving your first SkinCeuticals Custom D.O.S.E
flacon at the dermatologist’s office, you’ll be booked in for a ‘serum
adjustment’ every three months to dial up or down ingredients,
depending on your skin’s response. Trend forecasting firm
Wunderman Thompson Intelligence is calling dedication such as
this the future of beauty innovation, highlighting in a recent report
“growing demand for hyper-personalisation which is driving
innovation in product dosage and application”.
There’s arguably nothing more ‘hyper-personal’ than our own
DNA. Melbourne-based skincare aficionado Rationale is taking a
revolutionary new diagnostic approach to skin analysis, using our
very own genetics. Last year the brand launched DNArray, a cheek
swab DNA test to better understand your skin’s genetic make-up
and customise a skincare and treatment regimen accordingly. Is
your skin more susceptible to sun damage? Hyperpigmentation?
Or rosacea? The test will tell you.
“Healthy, glowing skin through each decade of life is a moving
target heavily influenced by internal and external factors. The future
of skincare lies in accessing individual skin DNA codes to meet the
skin’s changing needs in real time,” says Richard Parker, Rationale’s
founder and director of research.
Department stores are naturally getting on board, too. When it
opened its wellness clinic in 2018, British retailer Harrods started
offering DNA skin testing to better address the needs of its
high-flying clientele. In Japan, Shiseido has launched Optune. The
A L L P R I C E S A P P R OX I M AT E D E TA I L S AT V O G U E . CO M . A U/ W T B
app and dispenser duo evaluates the skin, taking on board
environmental and internal factors such as humidity, sleep and
hormones, and issues a single dose of the most relevant daily cream
– essentially taking out all manner of guesswork. Beauty tech
company Foreo, meanwhile, has debuted its latest hand-held smart
E L L OT & E R C K E D WA R D U R R U T A
mask, the UFO 2, which includes full spectrum LED light capabilities
and customisable skincare routines via its accompanying app.
While these increasingly savvy innovations appeal to our inner
skintellectual, they beg the question: where does the ritualistic and
comforting nature of beauty sit among all of this data-driven
innovation? Whether or not you relish the process of applying
multiple serums each day, there’s an undeniable element of self-care
that goes hand in hand with our beauty
“A big value routine. It’s this element, some argue,
for technology that risks being trumped by technology.
and beauty is “The balance comes with not developing
inclusivity. technology for technology. If you build
technology only when it can solve a
We have a problem that can’t be solved without [it],
responsibility then technology becomes warm and
to reach becomes part of the emotional process,”
explains Balooch. “But if you build [it]
everybody in just to say that: ‘I’m modern’, then people
the world” will be like: ‘Why are you giving me a
device to do something that I could just
do with my hands?’ ‘Why are you giving
me a formula I could just buy from the shelf?’”
Hitting the form-versus-function sweet spot is another Incubator
concept: La Roche-Posay’s My Skin Track UV. The device – worn as
a bracelet or attached to a phone – constantly tracks a person’s UV
exposure (as well as weather, humidity, air quality and pollen
count), before relaying the data to a smartphone. It pings a
notification when those factors are at levels high enough to have
a negative impact on your complexion. “We spent a few years
developing this sensor, which is the world’s first battery-free
wearable. So you just tap it onto your phone and its little window
measures the UV,” says Balooch of the tracker, which was developed
in an effort to curb rising melanoma rates.
“I really, really believe in this notion that products will become a
smart solution between consumers and the company. Meaning, we
won’t tell people what to use: we will work with them to create what’s
right for them,” explains Balooch of the ever-changing beauty
landscape. As for the future, imagine a world where a simple selfie
could be enough information for a hand-held device to apply a winged
eyeliner with the accuracy of a make-up artist. “I think there’s a lot of
room for precision devices,” Balooch continues. “If I want to do some
really artistic make-up, a device could be so precise that it could
move around and create some spectacular make-up results that
I could never do before. We’re not that far away from technology.” ■
MATCHMAKERS
From left: SkinCeuticals Custom D.O.S.E serum, $315; Rationale
DNA Personal Prescription (including prescription, formulation
d facial), $1,275; Foreo UFO 2 in Mint, $395.
APRIL 2020 117
VOGUE BEAUTY
3. Maison 4. Fanny Bourdette
Christian Donon as a child.
Dior Jardin
d’Orangers
candle, $120.
2. With friends Winnie Harlow, 4. As a baby
Bella Hadid and Renell Medrano. with her
parents.
IN PROFILE
The Paris-based creative and Dior Beauty’s international
PR and special projects manager charts the beauty rituals,
friendships and practices that reboot and motivate her.
1. “I don’t get facials often, but when I’m travelling a lot I see Joanna
Czech in Texas, who I simply adore. Joanna has the best style, gives
the best advice, is so kind and I always leave our little rendezvous
super-happy, inspired and, of course, glowing.”
2. “I spent most of my 20s in America between LA and New York,
so most of my closest friends live there. I’m lucky enough to have a
solid group of smart, strong, hard-working women and men around
me. We regularly check on each other, lift and cheer for each other.”
3. “The first thing I do when I get home from work is light candles.
My absolute favourite right now is Jardin d’Orangers from Maison
Christian Dior. I’m very sensitive and receptive to scents and smells.
I wear the same fragrance, Dior Homme Intense, every morning to
go to work. My evening routine, which also helps me unwind,
usually includes a bath followed by my skincare routine, which ends
by spraying my current Maison Christian Dior scent, Lucky.”
4. “The thing that helps me recharge is quality time with my mum
in our family house in the south of France or in Rwanda. We all live
in different parts of the world, so it’s very important for us to allocate
quality time together. I love helping Mum cook. My dad will DJ
old-school African hits, my brother will launch discussion topics while
I follow my mum’s orders and make sure all wine glasses stay full.”
118
5. “I have the tendency to get bored easily, which might explain why
I change hairstyles often. I met Rio Sreedharan a couple of years ago
in London. He put a weave on me for the first time and since then
I’ve been completely addicted to it and the ability to change
hairstyles without damaging my own hair. I recently met Stella Yato
in Paris who took things to the next level and introduced me to wigs.
Stella made me blonde dreadlocks a couple of weeks ago, which
were so fun.”
N S TA G R A M . CO M / FA N N Y B O U R D E T T E D O N O N E D WA R D U R R U T A
6. “One of my favourite things to do in Paris is to be seated at a cafe
A L L P R I C E S A P P R OX I M AT E D E TA I L S AT V O G U E . CO M . A U/ W T B
for hours with a good book, daydreaming or simply watching people
walk by. I live in the 7th, in a little street near the Eiffel Tower, so I sit
on the terrace in the morning and watch Parisians and tourists.”
7. “The things I love most about my job are getting to meet and work
with such incredible artists and talents, organising breathtaking
events and travelling the world. I’m a very social person and I love
to meet, entertain and take care of people, but I also need some alone
time – I need to spend evenings or days alone where I catch up on
my favourite magazines, reorganise my apartment and listen to my
favourite podcasts. My top picks are Oprah’s Supersoul Conversations,
my friend Olivia Perez’s Friend of a Friend podcast, and Deepak
Chopra’s Infinite Potential.”
APRIL 2020
esteelauder.com.au
VOGUE BEAUTY

120
 TH E FI RST TI M E I saw a cuttlefish swimming in the wild
I was astounded by how prehistoric and alien it looked.
Cuttlefish are astonishing creatures with heads like elephants,
eight arms that they occasionally splay then join together like
a trunk, and small bodies ringed with thin, rippling fins that
look like a silk shawl. They glide across the ocean floor,
changing their colour to match the surface underneath them,
– from gold above sand to brown and red over seaweed – and
even their texture – from smooth to thorny – blending in with
the background so effectively that they are often only
noticeable when they move their silken frills.
Cuttlefish are not just otherworldly in appearance, consider
these facts: their pupils are shaped like the letter W, and it’s
speculated that cuttlefish eyes are fully developed before
birth and that the young start observing their surroundings
while still in the egg. Their blood is colourless until exposed to
air, when it turns blue-green. They have three hearts and
a doughnut-shaped brain that is larger in proportion to its
body size than that of any other invertebrate. The cuttlefish
bone – that white oval-shaped object you often see washed up
on beaches or in budgerigar cages – is actually a thick, calcified
internal shell that helps cuttlefish control flotation, and
separates them from fellow cephalopods such as squids and
octopuses. There are four or five male cuttlefish for every
female – an excellent ratio in my view – but all live for only
a year or two.
For me, cuttlefish are symbols of awe. After my first sighting,
I was charged with a peculiar kind of electricity for hours. I
regularly spend the winter admiring them, then mourn when
the spring tides cast their light white bones onto the shore.
When I dive down to swim alongside cuttlefish, as I have
several times this week, the world slows to the rhythm of
ruffling skin. Seeing them regularly in the bay at the foot
of my hill has given me an unexpected insight into awe. If
I had guessed that spying them gliding along reefs could be
part of my daily ritual, I would have devoted myself to ocean
swimming decades ago.
These days I begin every morning I can by diving into the
sea, swimming with a group at Sydney’s Manly. Our mob
can’t quite be called a squad, or a club – we’re just a big motley
crew who meet at seven in the morning at our local surf club
and swim 1.5 kilometres across a protected marine park. We
formed a decade ago when a group of women plucked up the
courage to swim out past the headland to the next beach, even
though they knew sharks will always be there, somewhere,
though, of course, they leave us alone. There are a few show-
offs and competitive blokes in the swim now, and sometimes
it gets a little crowded, but mostly, it’s for all shapes, sizes and
levels of fitness. Some wear enormous flippers and wetsuits,
ELINLETICIA HÖGABO
others swim in just cozzies and budgie smugglers right
through winter.
Something happens when you dive into a world where clocks
don’t tick and inboxes don’t ping. As your arms circle, swing
and pull along the edge of a vast ocean, your mind wanders, and you open
yourself to awe, to the experience of seeing something astonishing,
unfathomable or greater than yourself. For swimmers, it is often sightings of
dusky whalers, seals, dolphins, turtles, cuttlefish, fevers of rays or schools
of fish. For others, joy can be found in all kinds of things in the skies, outside
windows, on footpaths, mountains, backyards, rivers, night skies.
Studies have shown that awe can make us more patient and less irritable,
more humble, more curious and creative – even when just watching nature
documentaries – and it can ventilate and expand our concept of time.
Research by psychological scientists Melanie Rudd, Kathleen Vohs and
Jennifer Aaker concluded that “experiences of awe bring people into the
present moment, and being in the present moment underlies awe’s capacity
to adjust time perception, influence decisions, and make life feel more
satisfying than it would otherwise”.
Research conducted by social psychologist Paul Piff and his colleagues
suggests that people who regularly feel awe are more likely to be generous,
helpful, altruistic, ethical and relaxed. In one case, people who spent time
staring up at towering eucalypts were more inclined to help someone who
had stumbled and dropped a handful of pens than those who had not. In
other words, when dwarfed by an experience, we are more likely to look
to one another and care for one another and feel more connected.
Several of my swimming friends have stopped taking antidepressants:
they call the ocean ‘vitamin sea’. Wallace J Nichols, author of Blue Mind,
a book about the benefits of being in or near water, says water has the
ability to meditate you. A study published in the British Medical Journal in
August 2018, posited the theory that swimming in cold, open water could
be a treatment for depression, which is again science starting to catch up
with what we already know. Why else would I, a night owl, find myself
rising before dawn to jump into black seas if it wasn’t an addictive high?
The study was based on the experience of a 24-year-old woman who found
that a weekly swim in cold water allowed her to stop her medication. The
authors were uncertain why this happened – one suggestion was that the
water worked as an anti-inflammatory or treatment for pain. For me,
though, the explanation that rang true was put forward by co-author
Michael Tipton, who said: “One theory is
that if you adapt to cold water, you also
“As your blunt your stress response to other daily
stresses such as road rage, exams or getting
arms circle, fired at work.”
swing and The awe found in daily swims does bring
pull along a sense of connection, as does the
companionship. In an era of increasing
the edge of disconnection, digital-only relationships,
a vast ocean, and polarisation of political views, it
your mind is great to sit among such a varied group
of people – with most of whom you only
wanders, and really share one thing – and talk rubbish
you open and riptides. I walk down the stairs at the
yourself to south end of the beach each day knowing
awe, to seeing that I will see dozens of beaming faces
before I put in a toe in the water, and that
something each of them knows how lucky they are to
astonishing” have and to share this experience. →
APRIL 2020 121
VOGUE BEAUTY

The importance of daily contact with
people – the old fashioned face-to-face kind
“We spend a
– has been well documented by researchers, lot of time in
including American sociologist Robert life trying
Putnam, who lamented the decline in
America of social organisations such as
to make
churches, unions and community groups in ourselves feel
his 2000 book, Bowling Alone: The Collapse bigger – to
and Revival of American Community. In recent project
years, the number of people who say they
have very few or no confidants or close
ourselves,
friends has rocketed, with worrying occupy space,
implications for our wellbeing: greater command
isolation and loneliness have been linked
to increased risk of chronic illness and
attention …
dementia, alcohol abuse, sleep problems, so that we
obesity, diabetes, hypertension, poor seem to have
hearing and depression.
A sense of community can also make us
forgotten how
more resilient. One of the world’s longest comforting it
studies of adult life, the Harvard Study of can be to
Adult Development, followed subjects for
80 years from 1938 – and found that social
feel small”
connection and relationships are the single
greatest predictor of health and happiness
throughout your life. Why then don’t we all do more to foster a sense of
community? It’s hard when you’re shy, or blue, or sick, or struggling – my
own instinct is often to close the shutters and be quiet and solitary, too. But
that instinct is not always the healthiest one. In order to endure, to survive
trauma or even just to stay afloat when life threatens to suck us under, we
need to know we are not alone.
It’s not just relationships with friends and family that count: connections
with people who live on the same streets, work in the same offices or ride
the same trains as us also matter. A 2014 study by researchers at the
University of British Columbia found that even interactions with ‘weak
social ties’ – like members of a sporting club – were significant. Students
who interacted with more classmates than usual on any given day reported
being happier, for example.
Swimmers and surfers concur: if they don’t have the chance to jump in
the ocean before work, they are twitchier, less settled and less focussed
than on the days when they do. After having major surgery a few years
back, I yearned to slip back into the sea. When I finally rejoined the swim
group, I practically danced for the rest of the day. As my shoulders began
to grow stronger, so did my mind. Swimming is a form of meditation. As
the amazing Diana Nyad, who in 2013, at the age of 64, became the first
person to swim from Cuba to Florida without the protection of a shark
cage, told The New York Times, swimming is the ultimate way to deprive
your senses: “You are left alone with your thoughts in a much more severe
way.” Sound is diminished, yes. But, for me, ocean swimming is the
ultimate way to expand my senses – of sight, space and subdued sounds
– and heighten my awareness. Afterwards, through my working day,
images of thrashing waves and gliding turtles flash through my thoughts.
An ocean swim is also a reminder of the vastness of the sea and all it
contains. We spend a lot of time in life trying to make
ourselves feel bigger – to project ourselves, occupy space,
command attention, demand respect – so much so that we
seem to have forgotten how comforting it can be to feel small
and experience the awe that comes from being silenced by
something greater than ourselves, something unfathomable,
unconquerable and mysterious.
This sense of smallness seems to be a key to a true experience
of awe, and in turn to linking with others. Attempting to
provide an academic definition of awe, social psychologists
Dacher Keltner and Jonathan Haidt wrote: “Two appraisals are
central and are present in all clear cases of awe: perceived
vastness, and a need for accommodation, defined as an inability
to assimilate an experience into current mental structures.”
They pointed out that architects of religious structures have
always attempted to engender a sense of smallness, and
consequently awe, by designing buildings on a grand scale:
soaring ceilings, domed canopies, enormous columns, vast
stained-glass windows.
In one study of American and Chinese people, Keltner found
that after experiencing awe, people signed their names in tinier
letters. He told New Scientist that he believed the reason for this
is that “awe produces a vanishing self. The voice in your head,
self-interest, self-consciousness, disappears. Here’s an emotion
that knocks out a really important part of our identity … I think
the central idea of awe is to quiet self interest for a moment and
to fold us into the social collective.”
This is also what we sense when we swim in the sea and
stand under the stars. We become small. When we shrink in
importance, we become better at living with and caring for
others. And we become more content.
Fortunately, cultivating awe does not have to mean daily
ocean dives or annual trips to see the northern lights. One of
the more surprising findings of recent research is how
commonly awe can be found: in museums, theatres, parks,
ponds, while listening to a busker, or even, surprisingly, in
micro doses, while watching a commercial or reading a story.
American social-personality psychologist Amie Gordon
found that on average people encountered something that
inspired awe every three days, such as “music played on a
street corner at 2 am, individuals standing up to injustice, or
autumnal leaves cascading from trees”.
Today, scientists are trying to measure awe by goosebumps.
In an increasingly awe-deprived culture, when we are more
likely to get lost in our screens than in the woods or public
galleries, when we hedge our children’s explorations with our
anxieties and fears, it seems increasingly vital that we
deliberately seek such experiences whenever we can. The
good news is that they are very often all around us, in every
corner of nature.
This is an edited extract from Phosphorescence: On awe, wonder
and things that sustain you when the world goes dark (Fourth
Estate, $32.99) by Julia Baird, out now.

122 APRIL 2020

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126
 True to form
This month, Vogue celebrates creative forces speaking their own truths,
loudly, boldly, authentically. It’s time to be real.

APRIL 2020 127

She’s one of the fastest-rising pop
stars and is intent on using her
voice for more than just music. On
the eve of her highly anticipated
second album, Dua Lipa explains
why she’s determined to dance,
but also stand for something.
By Noelle Faulkner. Styled by
Jillian Davison. Photographed
by Charles Dennington.
APRIL 2020 129
 C H A R L E S D E N N I N G TO N

Y/Project bodysuit,
$1,405. Tiffany & Co.
rings, $3,650 and
$3,150. Dorateymur
boots, $1,315.
 Off White dress,
$2,000. Tiffany &
Co. earring, front,
$2,800, for a pair.
Her own earrings.
Gucci choker, $580.
O
ver the past 12 months, a post-modern revolution has YouTube, was a freak accident, she insists, and the result of stumbling
been afoot. Driven by YouTube, Instagram and, most of upon a winning formula. “I just created a video around my reality
all, video social media apps TikTok and Dubsmash, and my friends. It came across as very strong female empowerment,
there has been an unstoppable wave of young people which I’m so proud of and happy about. I continued with that because
putting their own spin on mixtape/playlist culture as I love how it made other women feel, how it makes my friends feel,
we know it. Using video, these creators are pushing old songs back and how it makes my little sister feel.
in the charts and giving fresh meaning to new ones. The example “I never knew it was going to do what it did! Never in a million
we’re specifically talking about today is a highly addictive dance years,” she continues. “It completely changed my life, but I never
routine created by 19-year-old Filipino-Australian TikToker Hannah thought it would have the impact it did.”
Balanay, to the tune of Dua Lipa’s latest anthem of independence A universal leveller between celebrity and fans is social media. For
Don’t Start Now. The #DuaLipaChallenge, as it’s sometimes known, Lipa, it’s where she’s learned the names and faces of her supporters
is one of the biggest viral dances on the platform. The song itself (many who are the same age of her), and grown with them. It’s where
features in at least four million TikTok videos – and it’s less than six shrine accounts dedicated to sharing the many pap shots of her also
months old. live – particularly since she began dating Anwar Hadid, singer and
“What dance?!” exclaims Lipa, when she learns of the phenomenon. younger brother to Bella and Gigi last year. But Lipa admits the love/
Having created her own TikTok account just days before, complete hate relationship has become asymmetrical and describes social
with a choreographed dance in a New York media as a breeding ground for anxiety. “I grew up
stairwell, she’s been so on the move that she’s been with social media; it’s always been fun,” she says.
oblivious to the internet-fuelled frenzy around her
song. “OH MY GOD, I NEED TO SEE THIS!” The
“It’s important to “But it became difficult, especially on Twitter,
towards the end of my first album campaign. The
24-year-old pop star is sitting on a Sydney hotel me to show unity more fun things I had to do, or the bigger things
couch, after stepping off set with Vogue Australia, between women. got, there would be more opinions and negativity
and out of the exquisite sculptural millennial pink and a lot more voices … I didn’t feel supported.”
Valentino spring/summer ’20 couture gown you see
We should be It’s ironic that the more news Lipa had to share, the
on our cover, just hours before. She’s back in her seeing more girls, less she felt she was able to. “I think social media
own clothes: a very late-90s mall girl look of baggy
cream jeans and a Paco Rabanne floral top, her top-
more diversity, really kind of takes it away from the actual fans.
I’m trying to figure out a way to be able to bring a
deck coloured hair parted with triangle snap clips. more togetherness. closeness with my listeners that’s a lot more
“This is incredible – I can’t believe it. They’re all so For so long, people personal, like writing letters or doing hangouts or
good,” she says, laughing as she flicks through them. meet-ups.” Lipa admits that without a social media
Unlike the negativity found on Twitter and
have pitted women detox, a second album, like the incoming Future
Instagram, the online tribes of (mostly female) being against each Nostalgia, wouldn’t have happened, either.
creators dancing in their bedrooms with friends
on TikTok encompass everything Lipa’s music
other. That’s not “I probably would’ve gone into a vicious cycle of
trying to recreate the same thing,” she shrugs.
stands for: community, freedom, empowerment, how it should be” During her detox, the singer undertook her own
acceptance, creativity and sentimentality. “It’s research, as seen in a talk she did for the Cambridge
important to me to show unity between women,” Union in November. “I looked at the impact social
she says. “We should be seeing more girls, more diversity, more media has on women and what is expected of us, and the differences
togetherness. For so long, people have pitted women being against between male and female artists,” she explains today. “We need to
each other. That’s not how it should be.” Lipa not only makes music for figure out a way to be kinder to ourselves and each other, instead of
celebrating your girl gang, her entire creative output is based on it. bring each other down … I’m not even saying like: ‘Oh, I just want
Born in London to Kosovo-Albanian parents, and raised in Kosovo people to be nicer to me’, I just think we should be creating safer
for four years, until she moved back to the UK alone at 15 to pursue environments in general for everyone. Words affect people. We’re
singing, Lipa’s girlfriends became her family and are still among the losing touch with empathy, compassion and kindness.”
most important people in her life. If you look at the videos of her major As an artist, Lipa is incandescent, but she also captures the essence
hits Blow Your Mind (Mwah), IDGAF and New Rules, you’ll notice two of how it feels to be a young woman in a post-#MeToo era by
things: the elegant and vibrantly stylised visuals set to an overture of canvassing sexuality, intelligence, power, vulnerability and
feminism and how Lipa is constantly surrounded by a diverse army playfulness. And naturally, Future Nostalgia reflects this. Track
C H A R L E S D E N N I N G TO N

of women. “When I was creating the videos, it was almost just like:
‘Well, obviously this is what I’m going to do.’ Because that’s where
I feel most comfortable. When I’m supported or surrounded by other
girls, it’s empowering” she says. New Rules from her 2017 debut
eponymous album, which has had more than two billion views on
number one, Don’t Start Now, is an effervescent power bop about
how she’s “so moved on it’s scary” from a terrible breakup –
something that Lipa is well versed in, if her oeuvre and admission
about writing from experience, is anything to go by. The final stamp
Boys Will Be Boys is much more poignant and written by Lipa →

132
Ellery corset, sold with
dress, $1,025. Versace
jacket, P.O.A. Tiffany &
Co. bracelets, worn as
necklace, $7,600, and
$26,400. In right ear:
Tiffany & Co. earring,
front, $2,800, for a pair.
Her own earrings. In left
ear: Meadowlark earring,
front, $265, for a pair.
Tiffany & Co. earrings,
$2,400, for a pair.
C H A R L E S D E N N I N G TO N
 Proenza Schouler
dress, $3,850, and
shoes, $1,405.
Gucci choker, $580.
Falke tights, $45.
C H A R L E S D E N N I N G TO N
as a conversation starter. “It’s about the growing pains of what it’s through art.” Lipa name-checks Jean-Michel Basquiat, Jeff Koons,
like to be a girl,” she says. “For me, that was walking home from Yayoi Kusama, FriendsWithYou, Ben Is Right (Ben Evans), Harland
school and putting keys through my knuckles … So much of the Miller, the Connor Brothers, Magda Archer and CB Hoyo as her
human experience for women revolves around men; how they make favourites – artists who are famously mischievous, colourful and
us feel, whether that is good or bad.” She adds: “Girls have to go pop, but often ironic in their sensibilities. “I try to include art in my
through so much. You cover up yourself to avoid confrontation from live shows as much as I can, too,” she reveals. “Like what James
men, avoid sexual harassment, people throwing words or catcalling. Turrell does with lighting – I love that! My last tour, I had lots of
We change our ways to fit somebody else’s lifestyle. It’s really sad.” Rothko-inspired visuals.”
Though not always comfortable with her role model status, Lipa While the accolades are certain to continue pouring in, Lipa is
wants the song to be taken as a guiding light for her young fans. ambitious, focussed and has aspirations beyond the associated
“I want [them] to be able to listen to it and pose questions, and ask superlatives of fame (though an Album of the Year Grammy
their siblings or ask their parents, or try and figure out a way to nomination is up there). “I want to do this for as long as I can and
change that feeling so we don’t have to go through the same thing still feel hungry,” she says. “But I would love to sign artists at some
for so many generations.” point, support young girls in the industry. That’s a
It’s a well-worn cliché in music journalism to talk really big dream of mine.” In 2016, Lipa set up the
of a new album being “the artist at their most “I think it’s Sunny Hill Foundation in Prishtina-Kosovo with her
honest”, but compared to her hit debut, Future father, a charity to support an oft-forgotten
Nostalgia is indeed more considered, artistic,
important to do generation of young people in her homeland. “We’re
authentic and clever. It feels familiar, yet not. things that you opening an arts and innovation centre this year.
Furthermore, it slaps – this album is a nonstop disco,
with Lipa flexing her musicology muscle, revealing
believe in. Being We’ve got three young artists in Kosovo scholarships
to attend art school in Los Angeles,” she says.
her as a postmodern pop artist intrinsically wrapped a part of this “Music’s my first love but I want to keep pushing
in the now. “When I was putting it together everyone feminist wave in with this kind of stuff, and give kids a leg-up.”
was like: ‘Oooh, second album,’” she says. “I had to As one of the few British female artists in the top
shut off the craziness … I went into the studio with
music without echelon of the charts at the moment, Lipa is a self-
my friends and decided that all I wanted to do was even initially appointed spokesperson for young women in the
make music that made me happy and made me
dance. I just want to have fun.”
thinking about it UK and takes advantage of every public speaking
event to champion equality in creative industries. At
Lipa describes the danceability of the record as is something I’m the very base level of what she does, Lipa, with her
“relentless” and draws upon musical touchstones of so proud of creative autonomy and empathetic, genuine and
her childhood, with nods to the 80s, 90s and early 00s zero-fucks-given attitude, is transforming the role of
music played in the Lipa family home. Parallel to
because of the a modern-day pop star, and making it look effortless.
what’s largely seen in culture right now, the Brit is impact it has” “I think it’s important to do things that you believe
also elegantly performing an homage to her idols, in,” she says. “Being a part of this feminist wave in
many of which share her appetite for experimentation music without even initially thinking about it is
with fashion. There are hints of Kylie Minogue (particularly Fever era), something I’m so proud of, because of the impact it has.”
Moloko and Róisín Murphy, Blondie, Gwen Stefani, Eurythmics, When quizzed on how she sees pop culture’s role changing with
Jamiroquai, OutKast, Pink and Prince; and reworked samples of the current state of the world, particularly among young people,
INXS’s Need You Tonight and White Town’s Your Woman. It’s a noble Lipa offers: “For me, everything that’s happening in the world at
tribute without feeling on the nose, partly because Lipa’s incredible the moment can be hard to digest at times … I guess, with this
vocals are always confidently front and centre. “At the end of the album, I wanted to try and get away from the current political
day, we’re all just on the backs of giants,” she says. “Everything climate. I wanted to make music that takes your mind away from
keeps coming back, from fashion to music. I think it’s important to that.” She makes the point, after all, music harnesses the power of
try and recognise that but create a new way of doing things.” escapism. “Talking about injustice and politics, it angers and
Lipa is a cultural bowerbird of sorts and a contemporary art lover, upsets me. I wanted to just make it a bit easier for me to get out of
which spills into her playful nature with fashion – particularly bed and not think about the negative things that are going on in
when it comes to experimenting with texture, colour and mood. In the world all the time.
fact, having her list her favourite artists probably reveals more “The most important thing is to be authentic. That’s what makes it
C H A R L E S D E N N I N G TO N

about her as a creative than anything else. Among Lipa’s delicate
tattoos, two stand out – the Keith Haring running men on each
thumb. “I love everything he stood for and the freedom of what
street art stands for,” she explains. “I’ve always felt inspired by art.
My parents would take me to the Tate Modern, to galleries … I learn
relatable. You never know what the next thing is that could unite
people,” she says with a shrug. “What is amazing is that more artists
are speaking up about important things. That is the most you can
really hope for from pop culture.”
Future Nostalgia is out April 3.

140
 CLASSIC FANTASTIC

142
BEIGE BRIGADE

MAC FACTOR Defer not to past

references: these
mackintoshes
are distinctly of this
moment, retooling
the trench coat, the
cape and culottes
to say something
fresh. Styled by
Sarah Richardson.
Photographed by
Stef Mitchell.

APRIL 2020 143

WORDS: JEN NURICK
STAY IN NEUTRAL
Blessed are the fruits of Maria
Grazia Chiuri’s imagination. Here,
her ideas take root in their most
distilled form: a simplified trench
coat made special again with
oversized lapels and dainty
buttons. Bring on the rain.
Christian Dior coat, $11,600.
Saint Laurent shirt, $1,510.
Annakiki skirt, $590. Vintage
bracelet, from Linda Bee. Hermès
ring, P.O.A. Gucci bag, $3,300.
Marc Jacobs shoes, $2,755.
SHORT STORY
 CHECK, PLEASE
History is on its side: Thomas
Burberry designed the house’s
iconic trench coat more than
100 years ago and still it
remains. Trousers evolve the
style just enough, without
stealing all the attention.
Burberry trench coats, $3,350 each.
Kate Spade New York blouse, $630. Jil
Sander pants, $1,000. Bienen Davis bag,
$4,445. Marc Jacobs shoes, $2,755.
S T E F M I TC H E L L

SEEING DOUBLE
Emotional thread
Simone Rocha says she wants her clothes to stir the emotions. Clare
Press meets the Irish designer who achieves this by drawing on memory
and narrative. Styled by Kaila Matthews. Photographed by Isaac Brown.
Simone Rocha dress, $3,175, shirt, $1,280, headband, $520, earrings, $700, and ring, $575. All prices approximate; details at Vogue.com.au/WTB.

150
 Designer Simone Rocha.

S
urely the most exquisite, memorable and emotional show at London
Fashion Week spring/summer ’20 belonged to 33-year-old Simone
Rocha. The Irish designer commandeered the Victorian theatre at
Alexandra Palace, a grand old dame of a space, recently awakened from
an 80-year slumber.
Rocha filled it with Irish choral music and 46 models (several of whom were
actually Irish theatre actresses), clad in her mysterious, layered silks and
voluminous embroideries, some inspired by faded Victorian wallpaper and
broken Delftware, others accessorised with spooky macramé. Could the flash of
scarlet sequins be a reference to blood?
Her starting point was the folkloric tradition of ‘wren boys’ in her native
Ireland. “My mother is from the countryside,” she explains, “and it’s something
we were discussing. She was talking about how they used to knock on doors,
these guys all face-painted or in masks, wearing costumes they’d made from hay.
They’d go around from house to house asking for money. It’s an old tradition,
from way back when people used to hunt and kill wrens on Saint Stephen’s Day.
The door-knocking still happens a little bit, here and there, although these days
it’s probably a bit more Halloween-ish. I’m drawn to old stories,” she says. “I feel
very connected to home and history. I started looking into it, and building
a narrative from the fabrics.”
Rocha knew she wanted to present the collection somewhere atmospheric,
with faded grandeur, “and I really wanted it to be in a circle”. When she heard Simone Rocha jacket,
about the restoration of the “Ally Pally”, which dates back to 1873, she knew she’d $5,095, shirt, $1,280,
skirt, $2,625, headband,
found her mark. “They’ve tried to preserve the crumbling plaster, and the result $610, socks, P.O.A., and
is magical,” she says. “If I could’ve built the set of my dreams from scratch, → shoes, $880.

152
ISA AC BROWN
 Simone Rocha coat, $5,095,
slip, P.O.A., hair clip, P.O.A.,
earrings, $880, socks, P.O.A.,
and shoes, $975.
Hair: Madison Voloshin
Make up: Joel Babicci
Model: Victoria Massey
 that’s what it would look like. We removed all the chairs. It was a bit after something that has a weight to it, that will last. You know, that
of an endeavour. Totally worth it, though.” piece that’s still going strong in 10 years’ time? I feel a lot of that
Recently, there has been a lot of talk about the future of fashion comes from a handwork element.”
shows. A new report, put out by the Carbon Trust and Simon Lock’s Rocha lives this theory in her own wardrobe, mixing pieces from
digital showroom company Ordre, found that in a 12-month period, old and new collections (with her staple Nike sneakers), and says
wholesale buyers criss-crossing the world to see the work of more “many of the people who work here do, too. And I see it in our
than 5,000 designers emitted 241,000 tonnes of CO2. Perhaps we shops or when we do our shows, that customers come proudly
should have virtual runways? Do away with flight shame by watching wearing old pieces that they love. You know what? I’m so proud to
them online instead of in person? Extinction Rebellion wants to see be my father’s daughter. The number of people I meet who tell me
fashion weeks become a thing of the past, and even insiders, such as they’ve been wearing a John Rocha piece for 30 years … for me,
veteran show producer Alexandre de Betak, are questioning their role that’s the ultimate benchmark.”
in fashion’s future – he recently Simone Rocha is the
told Business of Fashion that he’s daughter of Hong Kong-born
convinced brands will soon fashion designer John Rocha
start to “revisit their format”. In and his Irish wife Odette
this context, how do we justify Gleeson. Rocha grew up in
traditional shows? Dublin, getting about in “big
Rocha has a back-to-basics jumpers and short shirts from
answer. “They make us feel,” thrift stores”. At 17, she went
she says. “For me, it’s an to Ireland’s National College
essential part of my creative of Art and Design. “I did a
process. I design a collection year of multi-discipline study
with a beginning, middle and – painting, sculpture, textiles.
an end – and the show is the I came to fashion last, but it
end. It’s theatre, music, just worked for me.
narrative, all the elements and I remember the feeling of
creatives coming together to realising this was where
make the clothes vibrate. I could translate my ideas
“I love that emotional into something physical.” In
response, don’t you? Like if London, she did her MA at
you went to see [the late Central Saint Martins with
dancer] Pina Bausch and got professor and course director
blown away. As a designer, it’s Louise Wilson, who she
a real privilege to be bring appreciated for her talent and
people together and share help. “I’m very lucky in that
something with them, and I came along in the last leg of
make them feel something. Do her legacy, as it were. There’s
we still need that? I think it been a few people who really
has its place.” helped shape my career, like
Rocha says that the current Lulu Kennedy, who gave me
sustainability conversation such a huge opportunity
is unavoidable, and she showing through Fashion
regards that as a positive. “It’s East. Adrian Joffe, who bought
something everybody needs to talk about. I’m not a fantasist – I don’t my collections for Dover Street Market. I remember my very first
think fashion’s role is only to dream. I’m actually a very practical appointment with them, it was Adrian and [his wife] Rei
person. I think most designers today are trying to figure their way [Kawakubo]. They gave me my first shop-within-shop.”
through all of this.” Now Rocha has three stores of her own (the latest opened in Hong
Her personal route aims for the integrity of craft, with a detour Kong last August) and a lucrative contract with Moncler – she joined
via longevity. “Craft is my response, perhaps always has been. It’s its Genius project last year. Her business remains privately owned.
something I’ve done naturally with the label,” she says, adding Asked to drill down to the secret to her success, she says: “I don’t
that her embroideries and prints are developed in her atelier in really see myself as a businesswoman, although I have built a good
north London, where she employs about 25 people. Everything business. I have a really good team. I have made decisions for the
starts, she says, with fabric. “I don’t sketch or draw: I work on label that have been a luxury because I am independent. For me, it’s
a stand and with a model. still all in the story. To design, I have to find a thread that I feel very
ISA AC BROWN

“I’ve never been interested in making clothes that are fast or stimulated by, whether it’s physically or emotionally, and then
disposable or trend-driven,” she continues. “It’s always about I follow it. Maybe you don’t necessarily see it, or even know about it,
evaluating, developing, retraining, rethinking and exploring. I’m but it’s there, giving the work its shape.” ■

APRIL 2020 155

 THE
WAY
WE
WORE
As fashion reckons with the current way of
doing things gross excess, wasteful practice
and hasty schedules is reinstating the ways of
the past the key to our future? By Alice Birrell.
Have you heard the legend of the origin of pleated skirts? It goes like this:
a woman, wanting to find a unique skirt, searched the landscape for
inspiration. A flower with many folds gave rise to a beautifully crafted,
pleated creation that was worn by women far and wide. This isn’t the stuff
of fashion fairytale but an important story in the 5,000-year-old history of
Miao dress, the technicoloured clothing worn by the Chinese ethnic
minority, which includes lavishly embroidered cloth, regal silver
headpieces and carefully pleated skirts, and how it wound up as the
unlikely inspiration for Marni’s newest collaboration.
The Italian house’s creative director Francesco Risso, who has just
released the collection, citing disillusionment with fast consumption in
fashion and lack of purpose, isn’t the only one turning away from now to
look back. Designers, concerned with the fate of diminishing artisan
numbers and local manufacturing in a throwaway culture, have
highlighted the skills of some of the world’s oldest makers. Simone Rocha
engaged Aran knitters of the tiny windswept archipelago to make Irish
oatmeal knits the “colour of the unbleached wool from the sheep”. Marco
Zanini recently used pinstripe fabric from 1772-founded English firm Fox
GET T Y IMAGES

Brothers on suiting and Sarah Burton at Alexander McQueen spring/

summer ’20 famously employed a beetled fabric woven at William Clark,
the oldest linen mill in Ireland. →

APRIL 2020 157

 This month the Met presents About Time: Fashion and Duration,
examining the change from a local industry in the 19th century to
the global one we know today, and “the temporal impulses of
fashion over 150 years”. There is a signalling of a returning to the
past, not only in the expected ways for inspirational fodder, but
instead as an interrogation of the practices, ideals and philosophies
that govern how we dress.
“The current wave of this renaissance has
come from the widespread desire to be
more sustainable,” says Carolyn Denham,
co-founder of fabric and haberdashery
supplier Merchant & Mills, which supplies
McQueen for its bespoke tailoring service
as well as brands like Barcelona-based
Heinui, whose seamstresses hand-sew
clothing. She points to an environmental
impetus and discomfort with the pace at
which we make clothes, and the time we
keep them – which Greenpeace reports is
around half as long as 15 years ago for the
average person. “The huge amount of
resources that clothing uses is no longer
acceptable. Some of the industry is taking
on these challenges and we see modern
eco-considerate factories turning to
traditional sources.” “We need to rethink the
Denham has noticed a surprising rise in
dressmaking among individuals who are
system, and this is just the
making their own clothes, something she beginning of that. Really, it’s
says has grown from the ground up. “We
saw a real desire to reclaim forgotten skills.
about moving backwards”
The quality of fabric, construction and style
brings a practical, emotional fulfilment
greater than the instant buy-now click of
the mouse.” She says her customers “earn a
wardrobe more considered, more conscious
and personal”.
Consider the fact off-the-rack machine-
made apparel is a relatively new idea. Even
into the early stages of the 20th century,
clothing was habitually made by the person
who would then wear it – only the wealthy
in Victorian society could take an
illustration of a desired dress to a
seamstress, while the middle class were left
to copy high-fashion designs themselves. Top and above: the careful construction of Richard
Mass production seldom occurred, usually Malone’s spring/summer ’20 collection.
only for military uniforms. Indeed, factory
production began roughly a mere 250 years
ago and average sizing was only introduced into American around
1940, when tailoring to fit was still commonplace.
The drive to question why we’ve abandoned smaller, considered
production goes further for some, and becomes existential. Winner
of the 2020 International Woolmark Prize, London-based Richard
Malone is known for challenging the whole fashion system of
158
creation, shirking usual seasons – he will present numbered
collections only in future – and offers a bespoke service, making to
order to decrease waste. Beyond solely his core sustainable values,
he is convinced history has something to offer us. “We need to
rethink the system, and this is just the beginning of that. Really, it’s
about moving backwards,” he says.
Malone employs ancient hand-weaving,
uses plant-based dyes and does all his
pattern-making himself, just like couture
masters of old. “All our processes are really
vested in tradition and rich histories,” he
says. His constant return to working class
dress codes – he draws on the practicality
and utilitarian nature of uniforms, and
solemn respect for ritual in dress he
observed growing up in Wexford, Ireland
– is because “they have longevity embedded
into their very fibre”. In other words, they
were made to last, to weather the wearer’s
life with them. “They are also extremely
egalitarian between men and women and
represent something incredibly beautiful to
me personally.”
His sentiment manifests as a respect for
quality, one that is reminiscent of a time
before fast fashion and the sea of synthetic
fabrics fashion finds itself adrift on now.
“The older generations had it right in that
they purchased better quality accessories,
had them repaired and kept them for
decades,” says Jenny Velakoulis, general
manager at Evans Leather Repair in
Melbourne, a family-run business founded
in 1956. “A pair of leather shoes cost a lot, so
you were more inclined to take care of them.
Quality is a lot harder to come by these days.
Things are stuck together with glues rather
than stitched – shortcuts are taken.”
She says clients are beginning to see the
value of investing in more costly, higher-
quality items, and re-servicing or repairing
to keep them for longer. “People come in
with an old Chanel bag or Gucci make-up
box looking to get it restored.” She admits
their processes can take time and money,
but the result is customers trust them with
treasured pieces. “All our work is
personalised and we don’t compromise.”
This means sourcing leather from overseas,
remaking bag handles from scratch in their workshop if needs be,
re-dyeing, re-waxing and carefully colour-matching even difficult-
to-reproduce metallics.
This kind of repair goes hand in hand with the make-do-and-
mend catchcry that is being heard more frequently. Tom Lee, senior
lecturer of design studies at the University of Technology Sydney,
 All looks spring/summer ’20.
Balenciaga’s tailoring.
“We saw a real desire to reclaim forgotten skills. The quality of fabric, construction and style
brings a practical, emotional fulfilment greater than the instant buy-now click of the mouse”
notes the appeal of the custom. “While the practice still remains
fringe in many respects in Australia, visible mending workshops,
where the aesthetic quality of repair is highlighted, rather than
hidden, are on the rise,” he says. Sew Make Create is one Sydney-
based collective teaching people to sew, while Thread Den in
Melbourne is another. “Repair is one of those issues that seems to
unite people across political divides, and people born before the
1970s often have much to say with regard to how … repair skills
were both more common and more useful.
“Patagonia is an example of a clothing brand that have made
product durability a central focus of their brand for some time now,”
he continues, pointing to its mending services. The brand reports
making 40,000 repairs at its Nevada centre every year, while Nudies
and Levi’s will fix jeans, English heritage brand Barbour re-proofs
waterproof jackets, R.M. Williams re-soles, and Australian label
Arnsdorf will repair for life.
Lee points to the counter-culture appeal of a patch-up. “It’s anti-
establishment, or at least has that feel. The punks were obviously
very keen on DIY. Repair suits a certain liberal attitude.”
And while mending was a necessity in wartime, and the same
could be said now of our finite natural resources, not everything can
be repaired. He points out that barriers do exist in things like common
G O R U N WAY. CO M I N S TA G R A M . CO M / R I C H A R D M A LO N E
consumer electronics if people want to repair things themselves (a
movement – ‘Right to Repair’ has sprung up in the US campaigning
against built-in obsolescence and prohibitive designs that mean users
simply can’t open something up to fix it). He’s cautious about calling
it a widespread return. “I sometimes wonder whether there’s a lot of
aspirational repair, and less actual repair. People need services that
make it easy. The industry needs to make it part of their branding.”
LVMH, for one, is making efforts to safeguard traditional know-
how. Its Institut des Métiers d’Excellence offers training programs in
Italy, developed in collaboration with Fendi and Loro Piana, to train
new generations in artisanal skills like savoir-faire in tailoring. Last
Beetled linen at
Alexander McQueen.
year they expanded the program to knitwear and women’s
dressmaking, with the goal of preserving passed-down knowledge.
Other efforts at reintroducing older, slower fashion models
include nearshoring – bringing manufacturing back home – like
Maggie Hewitt, who makes 95 per cent of her Maggie Marilyn
collection in her native New Zealand. Established department
stores like Harrods in London are revamping their long-standing
services including in-house tailoring, with workers trained to fix
everything from a hem to an elaborately embellished gown. Capsule
wardrobes and classically focussed labels like The Row, which look
more like the condensed wardrobes of times past, are having cut
through in a world of choice. Demna Gvasalia at Balenciaga may
employ computer technology to make his tailoring, but the goal is
very traditional: perfectly cut suits.
But, the question remains, can the ways of the past fix our present
problems? Lee says it isn’t clear-cut. “Personally, I don’t think there’s
any value in reinstating past ways unless the outcomes lead to more
sustainable consumption and production. It’s easy to get caught up
in nostalgia when the present seems disagreeable,” he says, noting
the answer is somewhere in between. “That might mean abstracting
or being inspired by some aspects of the past, but this ought not to
be at the expense of making positive impact at scale.”
While sectors of fashion dip here and there into history, there are
shining examples. Marni’s cross-cultural collaboration is one,
Alexander McQueen’s support of historical mills is another, as we
invest in durable clothes over trend-driven fashion. “Glass bottle
milk and juice deliveries are currently growing rapidly in London.
Who knows what else will be reintroduced that, at once, has the look
of the past and the future?” Lee says. “Hopefully, in the fashion
sphere, the recent trend towards fast fashion will come to be seen as
a blip in a far longer history … In that sense, the past seems very
modern, a place we’d like to get to in the future.” Fashion might do
well with a few more looks over the shoulder. ■
APRIL 2020 159
Rows of white sheets drip-drying on washing lines in
the sun, gravel below sprinkled with water marks and
a soapy scent wafting through the air – this may seem
like an incongruous setting for a Chanel haute couture
show. And yet it was the scene that greeted guests as
they filed into the Grand Palais in Paris for the house’s
haute couture spring/summer ’20 show. In the centre
of the space was a romantically overgrown garden,
a replica of the cloister grounds at Aubazine, the ancient
Cistercian abbey in south-western France where
Gabrielle Chanel and her sisters were sent by their father
after their mother’s death in 1895. The purity and rigour
of Aubazine became ever-present in Chanel’s aesthetic
– even shaping her interlocking C logo, which is said to
originate from the geometric interlacing patterns of the
abbey’s stained-glass windows – and became, more than
a century later, the source of inspiration for Virginie
Viard’s latest haute couture collection.
It has been over a year since Viard succeeded the late
Karl Lagerfeld as artistic director of Chanel’s fashion
collections, meaning that for the first time since Gabrielle
Chanel, a woman is at the helm of the largest and longest-
surviving haute couture house in France. Having spent
32 years working under Lagerfeld, Viard is his natural
successor and there has been no seismic shift or mass
staff turnover since her appointment. ‘Continuity’ is how
a number of employees within the walls of Rue Cambon
describe the first year without Lagerfeld.
While Viard’s solo collections in the past 12 months
have been undeniably ‘Chanel’, she has introduced
a softness and simplicity to her silhouettes that clearly
belong to the hand of a woman designing for women, or
even designing for herself. Some may argue it only
appears as such in contrast to Lagerfeld’s showmanship,
which was beloved by clients, press and anyone with
a social media feed, however, the same audiences have
fallen for Viard’s more wearable and accessible take on
haute couture. “I like that you can feel waists and hips
and the woman’s body now,” said Caroline de Maigret,
a long-time Chanel ambassador and dear friend to both
Lagerfeld and Viard, after the house’s haute couture
show in January. “It embodies our personality rather
than swallowing us … yet [Viard is] very precise in the
fact that Chanel is something very special and it has to
be extraordinary. So it’s still really strong and elegant.”
This collection, with its strict suiting followed by
diaphanous dresses, delivered this message loud
and clear.
The first half of the show consisted of mostly black-and-
white looks borrowed from Aubazine’s schoolgirl
uniforms and nuns’ habits. Bertha collars and pelerine
capes were embroidered to resemble the abbey’s
cobblestone pavements, inlaid with the celestial motifs of
its coat of arms, while supermodel Gigi Hadid emerged as
the star pupil in a black button-down dress with Peter Pan
collar, sequined belt, white stockings and socked booties.
Colour was introduced with skirt suits in ecru tweed or
made entirely of hand-painted matt pastel sequins. →
 The collection then softened into tulle petticoats and two-
toned ankle-grazing dresses, lending a deceptively light
flounce to the weighty craftsmanship. Despite the
transparency of the fabrics, most details were invisible, even
to the eyes on the front row: hand-painted feathers and dried
wildflowers were sewn between two layers of sheer organza
on skirts, while wisteria branches were embroidered onto the
bridal veil, in subtle tribute to Aubazine’s gardens.
The day before the haute couture show, the ateliers above
Rue Cambon in Paris are calm and quiet. Jacqueline Mercier,
head of one of the two ateliers for tailleur (tailoring), oversees
the collection as final touches are made by the 48
seamstresses under her supervision. “With couture, it looks
simple, but actually it’s not, because you don’t see the
sewing. Everything is perfectly aligned so you don’t even
see the pocket,” she says.
As an atelier worker is finalising a skirt suit that becomes
look 33, Madame Jacqueline says: “Here, the fabric is totally
embroidered with painted sequins. It’s like the stained-glass
windows of the [Aubazine] abbey.” The worker deftly pulls
out a string of sequins from a small sample of fabric, passing
it over: it’s perhaps the closest a casual observer can come to
ever owning haute couture.
At Lemarié, the Metiers d’Art plumassier – the atelier,
founded in 1880, that produces flowers, ruffles, ruching and
other textile manipulations – we witness one craftswoman
hand-moulding petals for the famous Chanel camellias
using a hot iron boulé. “It takes years to have the right hand,”
says Sophie Waintraub, director of the atelier, of the patience
and skill required for this job. Another woman is sifting out
imperfect feathers, while yet another is fluffing the perfect
ones. These feathers are then hand-painted and glued or
stitched onto fabrics.
In 1987, four years after Karl Lagerfeld was appointed
artistic director of Chanel, Viard joined the house to work
alongside the designer, first in haute couture embroideries,
and eventually as his right-hand woman, until his passing in
February 2019. “Virginie is the most important person, not
only for me but also for the atelier, for everything,” Lagerfeld
said in an episode of the 2018 documentary series 7 Days Out.
Processes and relationships between Viard and the ateliers
remain as they always were, eliminating the disruption
a change in leadership and vision has caused at other fashion
houses. Aska Yamashita, artistic director of Montex
embroidery workshop, which has been a member of Chanel’s
Métiers d’Art since 2011, has worked with Viard for almost
three decades. “Even if I need a courier, I still call Virginie,”
says Yamashita.
And though the haute couture tradition may still be out
of reach for most of us, continuing to command six-figure
price tags, 12-month-long wait lists and employing made-to-
measure mannequins, the way it is now presided over by
Viard is a reminder the medium can be a platform for far
more. The designer’s disciplined, austere and refined approach
may have brought Gabrielle Chanel’s formative time at
Aubazine back into focus, but with it Viard has also carefully
crafted her own version of a living, moving legacy, through
which the spirit of Chanel can go on. ■
T I M E L K A Ï M /CO U RT E S Y O F C H A N E L
A
WORK
OF
ART
With celebrated careers on both sides of the camera, the
Otto family is one of the most illustrious dynasties in
Australian stage and screen. A project linked to Barry’s
lifelong passion for painting recently brought them
together for a colourful reunion. By Jessica Montague.
Styled by Jess Pecoraro. Photographed by Hugh Stewart.
Family portraits are often stiff and tense affairs, all carefully arranged limbs, awkward
smiles and general discomfort at something so staged and unnatural. But not for the
Otto clan. Photographing acting legend Barry in his overgrown backyard, with
daughters Miranda and Gracie and granddaughter Darcey, is raucous and fun. A scene
of slapstick comedy with some high fashion and theatrics thrown in.
At one point, Barry (dressed in top-to-toe peach Gucci with high-heeled boots)
windmills his arms in full flight to show the crew how his shoulders work after having
surgery. After another take, Gracie runs off to retrieve Bluebelle, one of the family’s
beloved Burmese felines, who happily poses in 90s-style reflective sunglasses Gracie From left: Darcey
O’Brien wears a Fendi
bought online. Miranda, meanwhile, attempts to look all poised and professional, but shirt, $1,450. Gucci
has the giggles because no-one will shut up and stare down the barrel of the damn pants, $1,400, and
camera. An onlooker manages to squeeze in among the laughter that it’s looking like shoes, $1,175.
Miranda Otto, wears a
an Aussie backyard version of an Alessandro Michele campaign. “We’re available for Gucci jacket, $5,200,
hire,” Gracie shoots back. “If anyone will have us!” pants, $1,900, and
shoes, $1,175. Barry
The word that most often comes up when describing the Ottos – both self-prescribed Otto wears a Gucci
and from outsiders – is eccentric. An eccentric creative family that wears the label loud, shirt, $1,350, pants,
proud and endearingly over-the-top. But such a phrase, even if the Ottos don’t mind it, $1,700, and boots,
$2,320. Gracie
belies their respective talents. Barry has starred in many of our most iconic films Otto wears a Fendi
(Strictly Ballroom, Cosi, Australia, The Dressmaker) and been a theatre stalwart since the jumpsuit, $4,700. All
prices approximate;
early 70s. Eldest daughter Miranda, 52, was born into the biz, but has carved out her details at Vogue.com.
own stellar career across blockbusters (The Lord of the Rings trilogy, War of the → au/WTB.

164
Worlds), television (Homeland, Rake) and stage (A Doll’s House). Meanwhile her 32-year- Sydney as a hometown is firmly where the
old half-sister Gracie is a respected short-film, documentary and TV director, whose heart is. The old family house, which has been
2013 project The Last Impresario was a festival favourite. theirs for decades, serves as the anchoring point
While they are all undeniably close, their careers have naturally taken them all over when everyone is here and, in this case, doubles
the world, and they only really share quality time together once a year. It’s usually over as the set for Vogue’s shoot. Barry shares the
Christmas, when Miranda, actor husband Peter O’Brien and 15-year-old daughter rambling freestanding Victorian house, built in
Darcey – shot here with her family for the very first time – fly back from their base in 1885 and situated in Sydney’s inner west, with
the US. In typical Otto fashion, this last festive season they ditched a typical sit-down second wife Sue Hill (Gracie’s mum) and the
dinner for a fun game of Finska on Coogee Beach instead. “It’s a Finnish game with pair’s son Eddie, 34, along with Bluebelle and their
blocks and they’ve all got numbers on them and you’ve got to throw and knock them other cat Bogart. “Like, it’s all falling apart, but
over to reach a total of 50,” explains Gracie. “It was just really simple, but it always is there’s just so many memories,” says Gracie of her
with our family. Everyone can play.” childhood home. “For years I’ve always continued
to live here [between being overseas] because it’s
always centred around eccentrics and my
eccentric family.” (There’s that word again.)
Darcey and her To an outsider, the house is part antique store
mother Miranda.
with a touch of the Grey Gardens about it, but with
an undeniable charm. Crates of old cricket balls
litter the living room floor, while dozens of
canvases clutter the downstairs hallway. There
are more canvases, as well as hundreds of
oversized art books (Rossetti, Renoir, Pre-
Raphaelites), stacked all over the house that hint
to Barry’s other, less well-known career: that of an
amateur fine artist.
Unbeknownst to many, painting has been a part
of Barry’s life since his upbringing in Brisbane. It
was recently brought to more public attention,
thanks to a solo exhibition at Belle Epoque Fine
Art and Antiques, five minutes down the road
in Petersham.
“It was an obsession at such a young age.
I remember being a four-year-old with a pencil
and drawing little funny things, like a fly settled
near me on a little desk,” recalls Barry. “I started
to draw it, but then, of course, it flew off.
“I went to Brisbane Tech and studied art for
three years and loved every minute of it,” he
continues. “This was before wanting to be an
actor, seeing the theatre and being educated
about that. It was always art. Always drawing
and then painting with a brush when I was six or
seven, before watercolours and oils later on.”
Now aged 79, Barry paints from the back
verandah every day and stores a lot of his work in
the original coach house at the rear of the
property. Both Miranda and Gracie grew up
knowing this creative pursuit was just as
important to their dad as his acting career. “It’s
sort of what he did when he wasn’t on stage,”
explains Miranda. “Like, if he had three months
off before another play, he’d probably be working
on an exhibition. When I was growing up it was
a really big part of his life.”
 Gracie wears a
Fendi shirt, $2,450.
Chantelle bra, $100.
Coach skirt, $1,295.
Charles & Keith shoes,
Barry’s exhibition Otto: An Artist’s Life, which $90. Barry wears
his own clothes
ran for a month over January and February, and jewellery.
coincided with the tail end of the recent family
reunion. The apt timing allowed the Ottos to
celebrate Barry’s lifelong passion and also sift
through fond memories.
“When Gracie first sent me some of the pictures
that were going to be in [the exhibition] some
were things that have been on Dad’s walls forever
that I thought he would never give up,” continues
Miranda. “At first I was really shocked that he
was willing to part with some of these pieces. So
in some ways it was confronting he was willing to
give up works he loved so much over the years,
but I think we all go through things where you
just want to let go of stuff. It was really lovely also
to see the periods he’s been through and to look
back at times when he was doing the different
styles over the years.”
While Barry’s artistic style may have shifted
slightly over the decades, his method has stayed
consistent. He’s found muses close to home
(Miranda has been the subject of two entries to
the prestigious Archibald prize), but Barry also
largely chooses to replicate other works. He’ll
take a painting from late 19th-century greats,
such as Leighton, Klimt, Rossetti or Renoir, and
re-create it before overlaying it with his own
ethereal style.
“I’ve got all these great painters who have ever
lived that I can look at and really study and sort of
be encouraged by them,” he explains. “I’m always
finding, in going through my art books, that: ‘Oh,
there’s a painting I love. I’d like to have a crack at
that.’ I’ve got a lot of other art that’s been
photographed too, that I love.”
It was only too fitting that a gallery named after
the La Belle Epoque, the golden age of European
beauty at the tail end of the 19th century, hosted “The work is so special because it is reflective of his
Barry’s latest exhibition. “I once asked him once unique talent and creativity but also his eccentric
why he chooses to paint adaptation artworks
instead of original compositions, and he wants to
personality. They represent a lifelong love of art”
get inside [artist’s] minds, absorb their life, dissect
their methods and dismantle their brushstrokes,” beauty,” Capel continues. “His muses are not only a mix of the Victorian era glamour,
explains gallery director Leigh Capel. “The work but primarily the beautiful inspirational Otto women. In this light, his oeuvre is
is so special because it is reflective of his unique extremely personal.”
talent and creativity but also his eccentric And also, it seems, a crowd-pleaser. On opening night, legends from the local film
personality. They represent a lifelong love of art.” industry, including Gillian Armstrong, Neil Armfield, Dan Wyllie, Brendan Cowell
Capel first came across Barry’s art working in and Claudia Karvan, were only too happy to spill out onto the footpath for an
auction rooms back in 2013, and learnt that while impromptu block party when the gallery became jam-packed. Inside a cello and violin
many people own originals, few are willing to duet complemented the artworks, while cans of Hawke’s Lager did the rounds among
H U G H S T E WA RT

part with them (and more often than not wanted the thespian crowd weaving down the street.
insurance appraisals). “His work reflects his The lead-up – and opening night itself – also doubled as perfect fodder for Gracie’s
incredible admiration for women and female latest project. For the last year and a half, she’s been filming her famous dad for →

APRIL 2020 167

 “I think Dad is such a one and only,” Miranda
weighs in. “It’s really nice to see somebody
celebrate that and try to capture him in some way.
Most people who know him in the business know
him really well and know of all Dad’s flourish
and enthusiasm and eccentricity, so it’s nice to
celebrate that and document it.”
Judging by Gracie’s social media, there’s
audience demand for it, too. “He’s such a star on
my Instagram even though he has no technology,
no idea what the internet is or social media or
anything like that. He just knows when I say to do
something that he should do it,” she says,
laughing. “When I have 700 people watch a video,
there will be the same 700 watch the next video –
no-one drops off. People message me and say:
‘Oh, he’s so entertaining, he’s such a lovely man,’
so he’s definitely got a new audience in a way.”
Barry is the last person to be basking in a
newfound attention among millennials, though.
He’s much more inclined to wax lyrical about the
women in his life and recount their achievements
with all the gesticulation and verve as if he was
performing on stage.
While Miranda is now predominantly based
in Vancouver, where she films the popular
Netflix series Chilling Adventures of Sabrina, Barry
makes it known several times that she is a “real
movie star” and has set up a beautiful life in Los
Angeles for Darcey with her husband. Speaking
of which, his only grandchild has acted in one of
Gracie’s short films (2018’s Desert Dash), but says
she has no concrete plans to follow the family
profession. (“I really like maths at school,”
Barry wears his own she counters.)
clothes and jewellery. “She’s a gorgeous girl and talented,” gushes
Barry. “She can play three instruments and she
loves sport, female sport. We’re so very proud of
her.” As for Gracie, he reaches for another gear.
“I think Dad is such a one and only. Most people “She’s the perfect example of a 21st-century
who know him in the business know him really well and woman and has travelled the world. When she
know of all Dad’s flourish and enthusiasm and eccentricity, grew up I think she thought there was nothing
a boy could do that she also couldn’t. She just
so it’s nice to celebrate that and document it” knows the sort of life she wants and she’s living it
and challenging herself all the time.”
an upcoming documentary, Otto On Otto. At present it’s an unscheduled passion While everyone in the Otto family clearly
project between jobs, the most recent of which was season two of Matt Okine’s comedy adores Barry and wants to celebrate his various
The Other Guy, which Gracie directed for Stan. pursuits at this latter stage of his life, it’s equally
“I’d been meeting people overseas and trying to work out my next project, but it apparent he’s has been reflecting on the most
hadn’t really worked out,” she says of the film. ”Everyone was like: ‘Why do you idolise meaningful role he’s ever played.
all these older men that you know and think are cool that you’ve met at Cannes when “The best thing that ever happens to you are
H U G H S T E WA RT

you could just do a doco on your dad, who is way cooler than any of them?’ For me it’s your children,” he concludes, “watching them
a way of capturing his life in the last leg. There’s no rush. I think maybe it could be an grow up and do what they want with their lives.
observational film, because he’s so interesting to watch.” I’m just so very proud.” ■

168
From left: Gracie wears
a Gucci shirt, $950. Bianca
Spender pants, $365. Darcey
wears a Louis Vuitton dress,
$2,970. Miranda wears
a Dion Lee dress, $790.
Hair: Madison Voloshin
Make-up: Sarah Tammer
 ACTION
HERO
Teenage climate-change activist Daisy Jeffrey has been praised
as the voice of a generation and is the latest Australian to have
contributed to the On … series of small books, designed to
pair leading thinkers with complex themes. Her new release,
On Hope, explores the hectic juggle of balancing activism
with high school and the ongoing mission to be heard.
Last September, 17-year-old Daisy Jeffrey found her face beamed
across the country. As part of the group of students who organised
the Australian school climate strikes, she galvanised more than
300,000 people to demand climate action and became the local face
of the movement in the process. In her new book On Hope, the year
12 student writes about juggling her activism with assignments,
being invited to attend the UN Climate Conference last December
and why it’s important to raise your voice, especially on the topic of
climate change.

I
t’s 8.30am in August 2019 and I’m struggling to process the
maths being written out on the smartboard. Just four and a half
hours earlier I was discussing strategy on a call with strikers
from around the globe. The reality of having been awake and
engaged at four in the morning three times in one week has
caught up with my brain, which is now screaming for sleep.
How do I balance activism and school? It’s all a bit of a shemozzle,
really. My mind is always in a million different places at once – trig
over here, Adani over there and a desperate need for coffee at the
front. I should not have to be doing this. This is the government’s
responsibility, not mine.
That month before the strike left no room for despair, however.
I was in a constant state of caffeine-fuelled panic, running from
a meeting with union officials to a meeting with tech corporation
Atlassian’s co-founder and resident billionaire climate activist Mike
Cannon-Brookes. From there, I’d rush back home to work on
assignments and jump onto a meeting with the NGOs helping us
with logistics on strike day. At 7.30pm I’d grab my meal and head up

170
 to my room for a national coordination call with strikers across conundrum. We know, according to the Intergovernmental Panel on
Australia. We were all exhausted. Climate Change, that gender, ethnicity, race, income and age all
The night before the second Global Climate Strike on September affect how exposed communities are to the impacts of climate
20, 2019, the Sydney team came to stay at my house. We set up a change. In order to achieve climate justice, disadvantaged
corkboard in the corner of my living room with a timetable for the communities must be included in international negotiations,
next morning tightly pinned to it. All of us had interviews at around but what the United Nations climate conferences have shown over
six or seven, so we’d have to pack up and move out fast. We laughed the last two and a half decades is that rich countries are reluctant to
until sometime past one in the morning, whereupon we realised give poorer countries a seat at the table, let alone indigenous peoples
we’d be royally screwed if we didn’t get some sleep. and the youth.
And that brings us back to the beginning, but I’ll give you a quick The schedule of a youth climate activist is a hectic one. We hop on
run-through, just in case you’ve forgotten. There was a lot of panic, two-hour calls and then jump onto another one and, if you’re extra
then the realisation that we’d hit 80,000 people in lucky, another one. At the same time, we’ll work on
Sydney, then a lot of joy, then the realisation we’d hit assignments or send out emails or plan actions.
330,000 people nationwide, then six million Fifteen or more strikers would sit down in the
worldwide. We’d just done the impossible. What
If you think morning for a meeting, discussing whose voices
would we do next? That night I arrived home and your voice needed to be elevated and which countries needed to
then headed off to my school social, which was doesn’t matter, be targeted. We’d then head off to our various other
infinitely less exciting than trying to save the world. meetings, rallies and press huddles, and meet up at
remember

A
lunch in working groups to more extensively plan
fter the Global Climate Strike, I was that there are our actions and long-term strategy. The next item on
invited to attend the UN Climate
Conference in Madrid in December 2019.
millions of the agenda would be dinner and then workshopping
ideas until 11pm or possibly even later, and then we’d
As I boarded the flight, I had two things people who feel hang out until we fell asleep at around 3am. We’d be
on my mind. 1. Would this conference exactly as you back at it at 6.30am. One of the greatest challenges we
achieve anything? 2. Bugger, I’d better start on that faced was not falling into the same patterns of
English assignment. So, I did. I filled the first nine
do, and if you international conflict as our elected representatives.
hours with maths and English. For the first time in do not raise We needed to avoid a white-centric approach and
forever, I delved into schoolwork and left activism at
the door. It was a relief, because it felt like a massive
your voice, instead help elevate the voices of those less likely to
be heard at these negotiations
weight had been lifted off my shoulders. Then then who will? That week, the most impressive people I met were
I landed in Hong Kong, connected to the WiFi and the kids who, just like me, had put school on hold to
my messages came flooding through – back to reality. fight for a safer future. Our determination and
I was staying in a hostel in Madrid with six others, strikers from commitment to forging a better world, however, was not shared by
Uganda, Russia and Chile, who I’d get to know and love over the those actually running the negotiations. We left that conference
coming week. bitterly disappointed by the world’s inability to work together to
On Monday, we heaved ourselves out of bed at 6.30am, chowed tackle a crisis that already affects all of us. I returned to Australia in
down some brekky, and headed out. The metro was full of people despair. How was I supposed to write a book about hope if I didn’t
with the same destination as us – 30,000 human beings all hoping to have any? As the fires increased in intensity and smoke and ash
make the world a better place (with a few exceptions). As we arrived, smothered Sydney, I sank further. It felt like we’d failed. But then, as
I was in awe. I was about to enter the place where countries from all the fires continued to rage up and down the coast, a nationwide
over the world come together to make change. Imagine 10 Bunnings sense of anger grew.
Warehouses strung together, only without the snags and a hell of a We are a country prone to fire, flood and drought, but not like this.
lot fancier. I was among world leaders, scientists and activists from Climate change is exacerbating the conditions that cause these
across the globe. disasters to become catastrophic and a source of constant torment
The school strike movement is striving to achieve climate justice. for humans and wildlife around the world. When you ask me about
You might be wondering what the difference is between climate hope, I will tell you it comes from you. If there ever was a time to use
justice and climate action. Well, the two aren’t mutually exclusive, your voice, now is the time. If you think your voice doesn’t matter,
but fighting for climate justice recognises the injustice of climate remember that there are millions of people who feel exactly as you
ELLEN VIRGONA

change: those who have done the least to contribute to the problem do, and if you do not raise your voice, then who will?
are the first to be affected. Climate justice frames climate change This is an edited extract from On Hope by Daisy Jeffrey (Hachette, $16.99),
as an ethical and political issue, rather than simply a scientific out on March 31.

APRIL 2020 171

VOGUE VOYAGE

Treading lightly
As we rethink the environmental costs of tourism, New Zealand is leading
by example with a concerted push for sustainable travel. By Mark Sariban.

172
 Q U E E N STOWN I S B E ST known as New Zealand’s adventure
travel capital, with its ski fields on the imposing Remarkables and
surrounding mountains, jet-boat rides and, of course, bungee
jumping. But this South Island town has also become an epicentre
for sustainable tourism ventures addressing the growing demand
for more environmentally responsible holidays. Here you can do the
rounds of certified-organic wineries making magnificent pinot noirs
and white varietals and take a tour of rugged Queenstown back
country in a Tesla Model X powered by renewable energy, and
return to town for a night of locally sourced fine dining before
retiring to a five-star hotel that’s enthusiastically embraced
sustainable practices.
Encouraging the drive to more responsible tourism is a national
government with an appetite to address the challenges of climate
change and which has committed the country to becoming a world
leader in climate action. Then there’s the partnership between
Air New Zealand, Tourism New Zealand, the Department of
Conservation and the Maori tourism body, among others, to develop
the Tiaki Promise. This initiative encourages both overseas and Kiwi
travellers to experience the country in a considerate way that
protects New Zealand’s environment for future generations and
respects local cultures. Visitors are asked to commit to the Tiaki
Promise at the beginning of their journey to New Zealand – go to
tiakinewzealand.com for full details.

ORGANIC WINE TRAIL

The Central Otago wine region is home to dozens of world-class
wineries, including more than its fair share of organic producers.
In fact, around 25 per cent of the vineyard land area in the region is
certified organic or biodynamic, well above the national average.
Appellation Wine Tours (appellationwinetours.nz) can create a
customised itinerary to visit the cellar doors of some of the leading
sustainable wineries of Central Otago. This may include Quartz
Reef (www.quartzreef.co.nz), a pioneer in biodynamic wine-making
under Austrian-born Rudi Bauer. Bauer converted the first vineyard
in the region to organic production, a process he started in 1989 and
which took three years to complete. You can sample Quartz Reef’s
award-winning biodynamic sparkling wines, pinot gris and pinot
noir at its tasting room in the town of Cromwell.
Then there’s Peregrine (www.peregrinewines.co.nz), on the main
road out of Queenstown in the Gibbston Valley, which was certified
organic across its range of whites and pinot noir in 2017. Peregrine
director Fraser McLachlan says being organic “is a no-brainer for
us”. “As a kid I sprayed herbicide [in the vineyard] but I didn’t
understand it, and now that we’ve converted to organic I wouldn’t
have it any other way. It’s just as commercially viable as
non-organics, once you get through the conversion process, but it’s
better for the environment and it’s better for our staff, to know that
they’re not having to inhale or touch poisonous products, and know
the soil is being looked after as well.”
For Carrick, a small Bannockburn winery (www.carrick.co.nz), the
need to care for the soil also prompted a move to organic and
The Lindis lodge
biodynamic practices. All its wines have been certified organic since
in the isolated
Ahuriri Valley, on New 2011. “The soils here are really poor: they’re old glacial loess, really
Zealand’s South Island. sandy, high in minerals but low in organic matter,” says Carrick
winemaker Rosie Menzies. “So to encourage organic matter in →

APRIL 2020 173

VOGUE VOYAGE

the soil, organics is really important, as is biodynamics.”

Alongside pinot noirs, chardonnays and rieslings, Carrick
also produces a surprisingly drinkable natural wine, the Billet
Doux pinot noir – sample them at the winery’s restaurant,
which serves hearty fare such as slow-cooked lamb for lunch
daily using produce from its kitchen garden.

RENEWABLE OFF-ROADING
Minimise your carbon footprint while still exploring the high
country beyond Queenstown with a private tour in a Tesla
Model X electric car. Nomad Safaris (www.nomadsafaris.
co.nz) runs a number of zero-emissions itineraries in its
bright-red Model Xes, which are powered using electricity
from renewable sources. These range from jaunts to nearby
Skippers Canyon to a half-day ‘Enviro Experience’, in which a
Model X, with its independently powered front and rear
wheels, deftly navigates rock-strewn dirt tracks to ascend
Queenstown Hill. Here you can help with local efforts to
remove wilding pine tree saplings – invasive conifers that
pose a grave ecological threat to native plants and animals.
Nomad Safaris managing director David Gatward-Ferguson A quintessentially
Kiwi vista in the Lindis
says he and his wife Amanda launched electric-powered tours Valley, on the drive from
because they are “quite driven to improve what we do in any Queenstown to the Lindis.
way we can … we believe we should do all we possibly can
to leave the world a better place than we when joined it”,
and plan to replace all of the conventional 4WDs in their fleet
with electric vehicles.

SLEEP EASY
The Rees, half-hidden below the road into town from
Queenstown airport, is one of only a handful of five-star
hotels in the country to attain Tourism New Zealand’s
Qualmark Gold sustainability certification (www.therees.
co.nz). Across the Rees’s mix of luxe hotel rooms, apartments
and residences looking over Lake Wakatipu to the
Remarkables, the under-floor heating, wall-mounted heaters
and gas fireplaces can all be controlled remotely – realising
energy savings that are just one of the myriad measures the
hotel has taken in its quest to become carbon neutral. And at
the Rees’s True South fine-dining restaurant, which, as you
Budding vines at
would expect, sources its produce locally, flip the menu over Carrick, an organic
and you’ll find a comprehensive list of the kitchen’s suppliers winery in Bannockburn,
Central Otago.
in the region, complete with succinct descriptions and contact
details for the businesses. The drive to become more
environmentally responsible “is something we have the buy- The view from the
Bordeau Wine Lounge
in from our customers and our team”, says Roman Lee-Ho, at the Rees Hotel
director of operations at the Rees. “We’re responsible for huge in Queenstown.
waste in the hotel industry and I think the very least we can
do is look at ways to better cater to our international visitors.
We surveyed our past guests and a lot of people who came
back to us talked about sustainability and environment – so
it’s important in the marketplace.”

EAT AND DRINK LOCAL

In Queenstown proper, the most tempting eco-friendly dining
choice is Rata (www.ratadining.co.nz), which has for many

1 74
 years created adventurous fare with a commitment to source
organic ingredients and follow sustainable practices, such as
having a no-waste policy and ensuring traceability of
ingredients – the kitchen also offers a vegan menu. Further
afield, a few minutes’ drive down the road to the airport past
the Rees, is the Sherwood (sherwoodqueenstown.nz). This
mock-Tudor former motor inn has been reinvented using
low-impact upcycled and recycled materials as a laidback,
solar-powered ‘community hotel’. Locals and visitors are
welcome at its award-winning restaurant, which uses all
organic, all seasonal produce sourced locally. Even the fish are
line-caught (sometimes to order by the chef) exclusively from
“We believe South Island waters. The Sherwood’s bar focuses on natural
we should wines, and has pioneered arrangements with some Central
do all we Otago wineries to have leading wines delivered in bulk to
reduce the impact of transportation.
possibly can
to leave the INTO THE WILD
world a better The bustling tourist town is also the perfect starting point for
place than forays across the South Island. The Lindis (www.thelindis.
com), a five-suite lodge at the foot of the glacial Ahuriri Valley,
when we is a two-and-a-half hour drive from Queenstown through
joined it” some spectacular countryside. Arriving at the Lindis via a few
kilometres of gravel track off the sealed road, it’s hard to pick
out the low-set lodge, as the undulating wooden roof mimics
the gentle rise of the surrounding hillocks. Inside, each suite
and the guest lounge and dining room, which are all warmed
with an underground heat-transfer system, looks out over two
flanks of snow-capped mountains and a river braiding its way
across the valley floor. This river is a major drawcard for its
world-class fly fishing (on a catch-and-release basis for
minimal environmental impact), and guests can jump on an
e-bike or saddle up a horse to explore the expansive farm
holding in which the Lindis sits. The lodge is bordered on
three sides by conservation parks and is well away from
sources of light pollution, so the stargazing here is spectacular.

TAKE OFF AND OFFSET

One of the obstacles to minimising the environmental impact
The guest lounge of your trip is, of course, the fact that air travel is so energy-
at the Lindis, featuring
a Mollusk bench intensive. Alongside its FlyNeutral carbon off-setting program,
by Russian designer Tiaki Promise partner Air New Zealand is rolling out all
Oleg Soroko.
manner of initiatives to reduce emissions and waste, some
more visible than others. Besides switching to plant-based
compostable cups made from paper and corn, which means 15
million less coffee cups going to landfill every year, the airline’s
Project Green has diverted nearly 900 tonnes of inflight waste,
such as unused coffee and sugar sachets and sealed napkins,
from landfill since its launch in late 2017. And recent trials of
the use of edible vanilla-flavoured coffee cups by New Zealand
innovators Twiice have proved a hit with passengers. So one
day you may well find yourself saving your coffee cup not just
from landfill but from composting as well.
MARK SARIBAN

Air New Zealand flies direct to Queenstown year-round from

Sydney, Melbourne and Brisbane. Visit airnewzealand.com.au for
the best deals and to book.

APRIL 2020 175

VOGUE SOIREE

Guests seated at the elegantly decorated tables.

Ylla Somaia, at centre, with guests.

Below: Nadine Rosham.

Above, from left: Nina Aberdeen, Kenneth

Watkins and Prue Brown.
Below: designer Kit Willow.

The Australian Ballet Family Lunch committee.

The Australian Ballet Foundation and Ballet Ambassadors

Board hosted a Ballet Family Lunch in Melbourne‘s
Greenfields Albert Park on February 18. In celebration
of the company’s patrons, supporters and ballet
ambassadors, guests were treated to a beautiful lunch
and enjoyed local wine from nearby vineyard Yabby
Lake. Principal artists Amber Scott and Adam Bull joined
Kenneth Watkins, the Australian Ballet’s director of
philanthropy; Libby Christie, executive director; and
artistic director David McAllister as former principal
WORDS: JEN NURICK

artist Olivia Bell interviewed designer Kit Willow.

Willow spoke about her costume collaboration with the
company and the upcycled materials she used to make David McAllister, at centre, on stage with
costumes that were both stunning and sustainable. dancers Amber Scott and Adam Bull.

176
 At centre, GQ art director Dijana Maddison.

From left: Matilda Dods,Jake Terrey and friends. Bringing a touch of the Riviera to the heart of Sydney, French
vodka brand Grey Goose launched its impressively high
Fountain of Goose at Circular Quay’s First Fleet Park last
summer. Guests made the most of the balmy evening,
lounging on the surrounding deckchairs emblazoned with
the brand’s signature blue and white colours while enjoying
complimentary Peter Rowland canapés and bespoke
cocktails inspired by the brand’s French heritage. Along
with Alex Dimitriades spinning the tunes, pop-up
performances by dancers added to the entertainment. In
Guests enjoy Grey Goose cocktails. keeping with tradition, attendees were also invited to make
a wish by tossing a coin into the fountain. All up, a perfect
way to celebrate the brand’s motto to ‘live victoriously’.

Philippa Moroney and Jake Millar.

Above: Christopher Riley and Gabrielle Allfrey.

Below: Jake Tyerman and Penny Sippe.

Alex Dimitriades, who starred as event DJ. A ballerina at the event.

APRIL 2020 177

VOGUE PROMOTION

ON THE
HUNT
With fashion trends constantly evolving,
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be a time-consuming challenge.
This is where Paris Findley, the founder of PH Luxury, comes to
the rescue. Paris is an Australian-based fashion guru and expert in
sourcing in-demand, luxury items from all over the world.
From an early age, Paris developed a love of luxury fashion, falling
for a Louis Vuitton bag when she was just 11 years old. Her passion
continued to grow, and after graduating with a business degree
majoring in marketing, she used her expertise to build a successful
shopping business.
Her company, PH Luxury, offers a level of customer service unlike
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team of sourcing assistants, Paris’s comprehensive service guarantees
any item can be yours – no matter how hard it is to track down.

“REST ASSURED I WON’T STOP

UNTIL I HAVE YOUR REQUESTED
ITEM ARRIVING AT YOUR DOORSTEP”
– Paris Findley

Paris Findley

Delivering
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PH Luxury’s premium service is
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base, having sourced a genuine
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“I have been trying to find this bag

everywhere and PH Luxury Shopper came
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purchase on an Instagram story. on Instagram or email paris@phluxuryshopper.com.au.
 TAURUS
21 APRIL–21 MAY
Your recent heavy schedule may
have stretched you to your limits,
so revamping your health routine is
a priority now, and you’ll get better
results by pampering rather than
punishing your body. Career
pressure eases up too, but money’s
on your mind, so get clever with cash
and don’t be shy about sharing costs.
STYLE ICON: Behati Prinsloo
LEO
23 JULY–23 AUGUST
There’s been intensity with your work
and love partnerships lately, but this
month brings more passion and less
pressure. Consider double dates or
group gatherings to avoid coupled-up
overkill in a long-term relationship.
Insights into new ways of working
may emerge now too, so stay open
to what’s unexpected or unusual.
STYLE ICON: Meghan Markle
SCORPIO
24 OCTOBER–22 NOVEMBER
A bewildering start to the month may
make you feel rather exposed, but it
will also bring a valuable lesson and
allow you to clear up any confusion
or doubt. Deal with deeply personal
concerns in private. What follows this
essential emotional detox will help
bring positive new beginnings with
partnerships, passion and money.
STYLE ICON: Alexa Chung
AQUARIUS
21 JANUARY–18 FEBRUARY
If you’ve been getting nowhere
lately despite extreme efforts and
your best intentions, this month
you’ll start to see progress. Abandon
A S T R O LO G E R : S T E L L A N O VA
aiming for the impossible or having
too many projects on the go, as
changing your usual rules and
methods is the starting point for
all good things.
STYLE ICON: Doutzen Kroes
GEMINI
22 MAY–21 JUNE
Don’t be surprised if good things
and good people seem to be more
plentiful in your life this month.
A realisation that you can’t have
everything but you can have the best,
rather than settle for less, may make
you get off the fence with a romance
and either commit or let it go. Start
making smart judgement calls now.
STYLE ICON: Angelina Jolie
VIRGO
24 AUGUST–22 SEPTEMBER
The heart wants what the heart
wants, and this month your heart is
intent on expanding your life options
and finding ways to fund a travel
quest. Your career is the key, as you
get to excel in your role now with
financial rewards potentially
available. A work-related romance
could also add a sparkle to the month.
STYLE ICON: Michelle Williams
SAGITTARIUS
23 NOVEMBER–21 DECEMBER
This is a fine time to refresh your
day-to-day routines. If you do, you’ll
be laying the foundations for bigger
plans and dreams to work out
beautifully. Apply the same strategy
to friendships, too. Romantic and
work connections will benefit from
mutual understanding, as balance
and harmony are restored.
STYLE ICON: Miley Cyrus
PISCES
19 FEBRUARY–20 MARCH
If love and money issues have
clouded your joy of life lately, now’s
the time to accept it and move on.
You have a chance to get advice that
will put things into perspective, so
rather than keep the peace, speak up
from an informed, secure position.
Your home is about to be a big focus
for you from now through to August.
STYLE ICON: Jessica Biel
CANCER
HOROSCOPES
22 JUNE–22 JULY
Home is usually your happy place,
but this month sees you turning your
back on what’s happening chez vous
to look for inspiration elsewhere.
Love is on your mind too, via a secret
liaison or by healing since a break-up.
Either way, this will take a lot of
thinking about. By August you’ll
be truly ready to rock romance.
STYLE ICON: Joan Smalls
LIBRA
23 SEPTEMBER–23 OCTOBER
It’s a good month for some down
time to recharge your batteries.
Planning a long-distance or
knowledge-expanding trip would do
you good now, but first you need an
in-depth review of your cash flow. If
romance has been lacking, reducing
the financial pressure will also help
to bring back that loving feeling.
STYLE ICON: Dakota Johnson
CAPRICORN
22 DECEMBER–20 JANUARY
Life’s been all about responsibilities
lately, so this month you get to
indulge in what gives you pleasure.
Ways to shed some of your workload
and to tackle the not-so-appealing
sides of your job are also highlighted.
This might improve your work
environment, but it could also
develop into an office romance.
STYLE ICON: Jessica Origliasso
ARIES
21 MARCH–20 APRIL
What you value most could undergo
a revolution this month. You might
decide to let go of some of your
‘material girl’ instincts or take a
wild financial risk. One-on-one
relationships could feel intense now,
but the desire to communicate and
cultivate connections is strong within
quirky group collaborations.
STYLE ICON: Emma Watson
APRIL 2020 179
VOGUE COLLECTION

INCA ORGANICS PROTEIN & SUPERFOOD POWDERS

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 ZEBRANO | FASHION LIN
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APRIL
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ATANA BRIDAL
Curated with the modern woman in mind, each Atana design evokes
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 VOGUE COLLECTION
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Givenchy’s ID93 bag holds court in a sturdy yet soft form, balancing Clare Waight Keller’s
ambitions with the timeless, distinctive confidence of the French house.
ART DIREC TION ARQ U E T TE CO O KE ST YLING K AI L A MAT TH E WS
$4,150 each.
Givenchy bags,

APRIL 2020
P H OTO G R A P H S : A L A M Y E D WA R D U R R U T A CO L L A G E : M C H A E L S Y K E S
A L L P R I C E S A P P R OX I M AT E D E TA I L S AT V O G U E . CO M . A U/ W T B