Troye Sivan &

Lily-Rose Depp
ICON
STATUS
Bound by the most
talked-about TV show
of the year
Troye Sivan
COLLECTION MÉTIERS D’ART 2022/23
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22 Editor’s letter 62 Sky’s the limit

24 Contributors We check in with two past
26 On Set Vogue Codes participants.

30 League above 64 True story

The dynamism of sports influences The best non-fiction reads penned
every part of a modern wardrobe. by A-list actors to feminist critics.

39 Code red 67 Stars align

Our April issue features three New creative director Maximilian It was love at first sight for Lily-Rose
different covers, as seen on this page. Davis has brought a pulsing young Depp and Troye Sivan when they met
Cover one: Troye Sivan wears
CARTIER earrings and necklace.
energy to Ferragamo. on the set of their headline-grabbing
Lily-Rose Depp wears a CHANEL television series The Idol.
necklace, from the Chanel boutiques.
Troye: Make-up from Yves Saint
41 Curated by: Renee
Laurent starting with All Hours and Gibson Fox 88 Rich mix
Foundation in LN4, and Touche Éclat
Illuminating Pen in 1.5; on eyes,
Local founders of label Daisy share Chanel invites fashion to lose
Couture Clutch Eyeshadow Palette in their culture and fashion inspirations. itself in the colour and layered
Desert Nude, and Lash Clash Mascara
in Brown; on lips, Rouge Volupté Shine
influences of Dakar.
Candy Glaze Lipstick in 1. Lily-Rose: 42 Living colour
Make-up from Chanel starting with
Les Beiges Water Fresh Complexion
With NAIDOC’s theme of 100 Fever pitch
Touch in B30, and Les Beiges Healthy For Our Elders, ancient stories As the Matildas get set for the
Glow Bronzing Cream in 390 Soleil
Tan Bronze; on eyes, Les 4 Ombres
are finding brilliant new life. tournament of their life, four of the
Quadra Eyeshadow in 334 Modern top players speak of their bond and
Glamour, and Noir Allure Mascara in
10 Noir; on lips, Le Crayon Lèvres
45 Face value their desire to turn the moment into
longwear lip pencil in 162 Nude Brun, Cartier’s Baignoire watch ticks on greater momentum for women in
and Rouge Coco Gloss in Icing.
with studied, elegant evolutions. sport, with the proud support of Nike.
Stylist: Christine Centenera
Photographer: Daniel Jackson
Hair: Sophie Roberts (Troye Sivan); 46 She’s like a rainbow
Sam McKnight (Lily-Rose) A colourful collaboration between
Make-up: Isamaya Ffrench
stylist Catherine Baba and
Manicure: Adam Slee
Set design: Tilly Power Lesleigh Jermanus of Alémais.
Production: Honor
Hellon Production
48 We can be heroes
These passionate young women are
pushing boundaries in female sport.

54 A different ball game

Australian football player Steph Catley
and Optus Sport host Amy Duggan
champion a new era of female sport. Cover three: CHANEL
dress and necklace.
56 Candid camera Pocket hoops from the
National Theatre,
Nan Goldin’s seminal photographic London.
work The Ballad Of Sexual Dependency
Cover two: THOM has found a home in Australia.
BROWNE dress. DOLCE
& GABBANA shirt and
tie. CARTIER earrings 58 Playing by ear
and necklace.
The Grammy-led success of Rhian
Teasdale and Hester Chambers.

16 Vogue July 2023

 July 2023
120

67

108 The Wun and only 144 The scent of a memory

Robert Wun is on a roll. After 10 years establishing The alchemy of perfume has long been linked to memory, in
his own label, his designs have become the go-to all its peculiarities. But why do certain smells recall such
for razor-sharp originality. specific memories and what makes their pull so potent?

112 Lost and found 147 Ffrench press

For her latest role in the adaptation of a bestselling
Australian novel, actor Alycia Debnam-Carey
finds her way back home.
120 Light and heat
In the lingering Spanish sun, Australian model
Aylah Peterson tries on the season’s standout eveningwear.
Make-up renegade and industry disruptor Isamaya Ffrench
plays by her own rules in the world of beauty.
148 Making magic
For Byredo’s creative image and make-up partner,
Lucia Pica, inspiration comes in many forms. She
charts her enduring passion for beauty.

130 French impressions 150 Calm waters

Languor and rigour collide in the unmistakable house codes
of Saint Laurent, filtered through Anthony Vaccarello’s
modern prism of liberated women.
As new research reveals, our long overlooked and
misunderstood lymphatic system does way
more than we ever suspected.
LILY-ROSE DEPP WEARS AN ALAÏA TOP, P.O.A.
DAVID GOMEZ-MAESTRE, DANIEL JACKSON

136 The eyes have it 153 Hideaway: Zanzibar

Emphasise the lash line with a double
sweep of decadent liner.
143 Show your colours
In sunset hues and luscious candy colours that
mesmerisingly flow together, it’s the bottles that
do the talking for this season’s scents.
Designer and Commas founder Richard Jarman shares
the spots he and his wife, Emma, visited on these
east African isles known for their serenity.
154 Soiree
159 Horoscopes
160 Final note

18 Vogue July 2023

 CHRISTINE CENTENERA
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF PUBLISHED BY CONDÉ NAST
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20 Vogue July 2023

 Editor’s letter
his issue revels in the spirit, passion and power of youth
T and the incredible achievements it gives rise to.
In the lead-up to the world championships, we managed
to wrangle four of the Matildas – no mean feat, given their focus
is on being game-ready right now. The Matildas’ training has
been intense and their dedication exemplary, and for our
collaborative feature with Nike, ‘Fever pitch’ (see page 100), we
meet incredible athlete and captain Sam Kerr and celebrate her
world-class star striker prowess alongside teammates Steph
Catley, Kyah Simon and Hayley Raso. It’s estimated that 1.5
million seats will be filled across Australia and New Zealand for
the special event, and excitement is building. We wish the
team the best of luck in the opening game against Ireland.
Another young woman with moxie is 24-year-old actor Lily-
Rose Depp, who has appeared on our cover once before, and
this time stars alongside one of Australia’s brightest talents,
actor and singer Troye Sivan. Last year, Lily-Rose and I were
living across the street from one another while she was filming
The Idol in LA, and I witnessed her hard work and dedication.
Cut to seeing the final version of the series, and it really shows
what an incredible actor she is. Lily-Rose is a remarkable person
to be around in real life, too. Wise beyond her years, she is
honest, self-possessed and sets the benchmark for fearlessness.
The Idol ’s exploration of sex, drugs and celebrity is confronting
for some, but Lily-Rose plays her fallen pop star character
Jocelyn in a way she feels is realistic – her overt sexuality is about
empowerment, not objectification. There has been some dissent
22
around The Idol, but whether you enjoyed it or not, there’s no
denying it has an amazing cast, which includes co-creator Abel
Tesfaye, aka The Weeknd, Blackpink’s Jennie Kim, Hari Nef
and the ever-professional and affable Troye Sivan.
Troye, who plays Xander, Jocelyn’s creative director, met
Lily-Rose two years ago when filming started, and the two are
now the best of friends. Having them together on the cover felt
like a natural fit. We caught the pair in Cannes, right after The
Idol premiered, with Troye admitting to our writer Hannah-
Rose Yee: “I party, but I work really hard …”
Sam McKnight, who styled Lily-Rose’s hair for our cover
story was a familiar face for the actor, as he also did her hair on
her first-ever photo shoot. Isamaya Ffrench, meanwhile, created
the make-up look, which was a great thrill for everyone since
she is considered one of the most beautifully disruptive make-up
artists in the business right now. Find out how her own range of
make-up is pushing beauty boundaries on page 147.
We all know that Lily-Rose and Troye are the cool kids, but
we wanted to shoot them in an elegant, elevated Vogue way.
Some captures are reminiscent of a 2008 French Vogue
cover story called ‘Beautés fatales’ with Lily-Rose’s mother,
Vanessa Paradis, and shot by Mert & Marcus. Lily-Rose
thought the same thing.
Scheduled close to print deadline due to delays in Lily-Rose’s
next film project, it was a challenge to make this story happen
on time. Thanks to photographer Daniel Jackson and, as ever,
the team at Vogue who never fail to deliver. Glamour and grit.
DARREN MCDONALD
CHRISTINE CENTENERA Editor-in-chief
Vogue July 2023

Four of the celebrated creatives responsible for contributing to this month’s issue
reflect on how a youthful spirit and the realm of sport inspired their vision.
MICHELLE DACILLO
Ahead of the FIFA Women’s
World Cup kicking off this
month in Australia and
New Zealand, Michelle
Dacillo worked alongside
photographer James Robjant
to capture several Matildas
players in ‘Fever pitch’, shot
recently in London. (See
page 100). “I don’t think I’ve
worked with athletes before,
let alone at this level. They
were so laser-focused and
their physical and mental
dedication left such an
impression on me,” says
Dacillo, who pared back
each look in an effort to
convey an authenticity
inspired by the team’s playful
nature on set. “I wanted
these women to feel
confident, comfortable and
very much [themselves] and
so we did a version of their
own go-to beauty looks.”
24
Contributors
MAHALIA CHANG
“Broome, the town where
I grew up, always had a
particular and beautiful
scent to me: sea salt, pindan
and dry heat,” recalls
Mahalia Chang when
quizzed on her earliest
scent-inspired memory. This
issue, Vogue’s head of digital
content takes to print to
pen a piece exploring the
connection between scents
and memories, from page
144. In her day job, Chang
helps lead a team of young
creatives across vogue.com.
au. “One thing I always
admire about the youth in
my team is their capacity for
change and their willingness
to take any challenge
head-on,” says the editor.
“You have to be able to do
a thousand things at once
and constantly upskill – I’ve
never seen them cowed by
a new challenge. They’re
just brilliant.”
LILLI WATERS
Photographer Lilli Waters
was inspired by the youthful
spirit of Saint Laurent’s
autumn/winter ’23 collection
and aimed to explore “the
limitless possibilities of
children’s imagination, where
wonder and magic collide”.
Captured along the scenic
yet cloud-covered coastline
of Sydney’s Clovelly, Waters
hopes these images (from
page 130) invite viewers into
“a whimsical afternoon on a
hill where we explore nature
and let our imaginations run
wild”. For the Melbourne-
based creative, a particular
encounter left a lasting
impression. “There was a
magical moment where we
witnessed whales jumping
out of the ocean right in
front of our eyes.”
DR CHRISCHONA
SCHMIDT
Manager of Ikuntji Arts
Centre, Dr Chrischona
Schmidt, says showing at
this year’s Australian fashion
week was “exciting, daunting
and overwhelming” for the
First Nations creatives who
flew from Central Australia
to see their work on display.
Ikuntji was the first ever art
centre to host a solo runway
in the event’s history. “I had
to ensure the vision, the
launch of the new textile
design range, and the artists
who created them were
always at the core of the
project,” explains Schmidt.
(See page 42.) The event
honoured this year’s
NAIDOC theme, For Our
Elders. “All the stories, our
Tjukurrpa, are handed down
to us by our Elders,” says
Ikuntji Artists chairperson
Roseranna Larry. “We are
keeping their stories, their
legacy and their art alive.”
(CHANG) LIZ SUNSHINE
Vogue July 2023
ON SET

Lily-Rose Depp and Troye Sivan on set in London with hair

stylist Sam McKnight and make-up artist Isamaya Ffrench.

Double take
Bold originality was the brief for this issue’s cover shoot, which features
two of our most iconic young stars, Troye Sivan and Lily-Rose Depp.

D
uring this issue’s exceptional cover shoot,
fronted by The Idol co-stars and close friends
Troye Sivan and Lily-Rose Depp, a palpable
energy coursed through the studio as photographer
Daniel Jackson captured the pair unlike they’ve ever
been shot before. “There was this feeling in the air like
we were creating something really unique and special,
so everyone was in high spirits,” says junior fashion and
“Christine and Dan wanted to capture the two young
stars in a way that they have not been seen before,” says
Crawford. “Often, Lily-Rose is shown in this undone,
French-chic way, but Christine wanted to push an
overly stylised direction. It was sculptural silhouettes
– like art forms – and super-polished.”
Dripping in Cartier jewels, Depp and Sivan make
a powerful pair. “They were very close, their body
WORDS: ANGELICA XIDIAS

market editor Harriet Crawford.
Tasked with assisting editor-in-chief Christine
Centenera execute her vision for the 21-page feature,
Crawford helped source the gravity-defying looks worn
by both Sivan and Depp, which were designed by
Chanel, Harris Reed, Puppets and Puppets and Alaïa.
language spoke to that,” recalls Crawford. “What
struck me was their open and honest conversation.
They had confidence in their thoughts and actions, and
in their generation,” she says. “Not in a way that felt
beyond their years or contrived – it felt like this new
gen Z way of being.”

26 Vogue July 2023

ULTIMATE EDIT

League above
The dynamism and ease of sports influences transfigure every
part of a modern wardrobe with a focused, street-wise energy.
STYLING HARRIET CRAWFORD PHOTOGRAPHS JAMIE HEATH

Jersey girl
Rugby stripes and the classic polo emerge as major
everyday players. Keep the prep factor in check
with undone match-ups like denim and leggings.

Above: MIU MIU

sweater, $2,370,
shirt, $1,400, and
skirt, $2,650.
Right: POLO
RALPH LAUREN
top, $299. ST.
AGNI shorts, $279.

30
 Right:
DONOVAN
DARLING top,
$590, and socks,
$40. GIVENCHY
skirt, $1,750, and
bag, $3,450.
SONG FOR THE
MUTE belt,
$245. HERMÈS
shoes, $1,610.
WORDS: ALICE BIRRELL HAIR: RORY RICE MAKE-UP: NISHA VAN BERKEL MODEL: MIA ARLOVE
ALL PRICES APPROXIMATE DETAILS AT VOGUE.COM.AU/WTB

Above: P.A.M. shirt, $395. LIA ARAM

pants, $310. TIFFANY & CO. necklace,
$16,800. SPORTMAX bag, $2,320.

Scan the QR
code to shop
Vogue’s edit
of the best of
the trend.

Vogue July 2023 31

ULTIMATE EDIT

Into the fold

A pleated tennis skirt has
a put-together insouciance
that is the current
way to make a play for
feminine effortlessness.
Left: BOTTEGA VENETA
blazer, $4,230, and sweater, $1,750.
P. JOHNSON skirt, $325.
HUMPHREY LAW socks, $25.
SPORTMAX loafers, $1,235.

ALL PRICES APPROXIMATE DETAILS AT VOGUE.COM.AU/WTB

Above: P.A.M. shirt, $195. HAULIER shirt,

JAMIE HEATH

worn underneath, $225. PRADA skirt, $4,700,

and bag, $6,100. CARTIER earrings, $12,900.
SONG FOR THE MUTE belt bag, $545.
BOTTEGA VENETA shoes, $5,140.

32
 FENDI top,
$4,150, camisole,
$1,980, pants
(with skirt),
$2,590, and
shoes, $1,650.

Vogue July 2023 33

ULTIMATE EDIT

Level field
Sneakers that take from the style leanings of soccer boots are the shoes to
invest in now, melding technical appeal with an energetic kick of colour.

Scan the QR
code to shop
Vogue’s edit
of the best of
the trend.

ALL PRICES APPROXIMATE DETAILS AT VOGUE.COM.AU/WTB

JAMIE HEATH

Clockwise from top left: PRADA socks, $325. ADIDAS X GUCCI sneakers, $1,170; LOEWE sneakers, $1,105, from
Marais; FALKE socks, $20. MONCLER sneakers, $1,200; NIKE sneakers, $330, from Above The Clouds.

34
 Track changes
The windbreaker translates beyond
the realm of athletics when paired
with polished separates. Underscore
the masculine-feminine tension
with demure accessories.
Left: P. JOHNSON jacket, $395. GUCCI
shirt, $1,520, skirt, $9,250, and tie, $475.
GUCCI X ADIDAS bag, $5,090, and
shoes, $1,350. FALKE tights, $50.

Scan the QR
code to shop
Vogue’s edit
of the best of
the trend.

Y-3 tracksuit jacket, $420, and jacket,

worn underneath, $830.
ALIX HIGGINS skirt, $325.

EMPORIO ARMANI jacket, $1,250.

ST. AGNI skirt, $689.
PASPALEY earrings, $9,760.

Vogue July 2023 35

ULTIMATE EDIT

Bowled over
Top-handle bowlers
with a retro feel get
another look-in for
their roominess
and compatibility
for day, or night.

Right: HERMÈS shirt,

$6,310, bag, $13,395,
and boots, $4,115.
ST. AGNI shorts, $279.
BULGARI bracelet,
$8,900, and ring, $3,160.

LOUIS VUITTON sweater, P.O.A., pants (with tag),

$2,670, and bag, $2,160. TIFFANY & CO. cuff, $4,050.

CHRISTOPHER ESBER dress, $1,445.

GIORGIO ARMANI bag, $3,500.

36
 Shell company
Oversized outerwear that borrows from flight and
baseball jackets emanates instant throw-on cool.
ALL PRICES APPROXIMATE DETAILS AT VOGUE.COM.AU/WTB
JAMIE HEATH

Above: BURBERRY jacket, $6,190, and pants, $3,350. CHRISTOPHER

ESBER T-shirt, $595. Right: SONG FOR THE MUTE jacket, $1,595, from
Ssense. P.A.M. shirt, $285, and skirt, $285. BEARE PARK cap, $40.

Vogue July 2023 37

 OBJECT OF DESIRE

Code red
New creative director Maximilian Davis has brought a pulsing young energy to
Ferragamo. Take the house red, now closer to the shade of fast cars and lipstick.
Seen in the slick Wanda bag, it exemplifies his bold vision of elegance.
ALL PRICES APPROXIMATE DETAILS AT VOGUE.COM.AU/WTB
WORDS: ALICE BIRREL ARTWORK: ORSON HEIDRICH

FERRAGAMO bag, $3,650.

ART DIRECTION ARQUETTE COOKE STYLING ISABELLA MAMAS PHOTOGRAPH ANNA POGOSSOVA

Vogue July 2023 39

 CURATED BY
Far left: “We created
three couture bridal
looks for our friends
Bianka and Chima
Ferguson’s wedding.
We constructed Bianka’s
dress from 150 metres
of tiered tulle.” – Renee.
Left: Film: “We Were Once
Kids, a 2021 documentary
by Australian director
Eddie Martin [based
on the 1995 film Kids,
pictured].”– Gibson

“I miss Lucien in New York

City. The steak au poivre
with fries is always
number one.” – Gibson

Jewellery:

RICHARDSON an 18-carat
bag, $440. yellow gold
Below: TOM Day-Date –
FORD Cherry a precious
Smoke EDP, Renee and instrument
50ml for $535. Gibson Fox. for everyday
use.” – Gibson
ROLEX
watch, P.O.A.

Renee and Gibson Fox

The local founders of label Daisy share their
culture and fashion inspirations.

W
Top: Accessories:
“We just built my horse
a new yard and
Richardson x Kong tools
have been equestrian
essentials … the
WEIR, ALEKSANDAR ZARIC
hat began as a thought bubble during a honeymoon drive across
the United States has become a brand that now claims cult
status. Australian couple Renee and Gibson Fox founded Daisy
in 2015, and since then, its coquette-meets-risqué corset dresses, filmy
boudoir slips and Y2K cut-outs have found fans in Bella Hadid, Charli
XCX, Rosalía and Devon Lee Carlson.
It follows then, that a collaboration with another gen Z favourite,

Richardson Tool Bag

also makes a great tote.” Heaven by Marc Jacobs, helmed by fellow Australian Ava Nirui, was in
VOGUE.COM.AU/WTB

Above: Fragrance: DAISY x HEAVEN

“Cherries! Tom Ford’s the works. Taking cues from the duo’s Stateside ventures, Renee describes dress, $380.
Cherry Smoke, and,
of course, my puppy Ice Spice modelling
Cherry!” – Renee for a Daisy x
Heaven campaign.

Left: Paris Hilton

wearing a Daisy x
Heaven top. Right:
Fashion name to
watch: “Vanna
Youngstein [crop
top on Hunter
Schafer] makes the
cutest clothes … you
won’t get through a
season of Euphoria
without seeing
every character
in something of
hers.” – Gibson

Vogue July 2023 41


a continent-spanning project illustrates how ancient stories are finding
brilliant new life at the potent nexus of art and fashion. By Alice Birrell.
W
hen Ikuntji, or Haasts Bluff, in Central Australia, is
punched into a map from some of Australia’s capital
cities, the curvature of the earth can be seen across
the route. Almost 3,500 kilometres from Perth and almost
3,000 kilometres from Sydney and Brisbane, it could
be considered remote by prevailing standards in the
non-Indigenous world. But anyone, be they Indigenous or non-
Indigenous, would agree that it is at a huge remove from the
main fashion centres in this country.
“From remote communities, how do you access this world that
is so inaccessible, from somewhere in Central Australia?” asks
Dr Chrischona Schmidt, manager of Ikuntji Arts Centre,
situated 230 kilometres west of Alice Springs (Mparntwe) in
the West Macdonnell Ranges. She knows that First Nations
creatives who want to become involved in fashion often
compromise on needing to be connected to their ancestral lands,
instead moving to big cities. “They have to move to Melbourne
or Sydney because there is just no way they could live in the
territory and get jobs.”
So Schmidt, together with the Ikuntji artists and community
leaders, decided to take control, bringing the vibrancy of the
acclaimed art centre and several of its artists to the fashion
industry. Driven by a desire to open up the art and the stories it
contains to the wider world, they enlisted Yorta Yorta, Gomeroi
and Wiradjuri woman Anastasia Keshan, a stylist and creative,
42
From left: print by
Virgillia Multa; print
by Alison Napurrula
Multa; Cindy Rostron
in a design by
Ikuntji artist Mitjili
Napurrula; Ikuntji
Designs dress with
Pam Brown’s work
Papa Tjukurrpa; print
by Lisa Multa; print
by Roseranna Larry;
print by Mavis Marks.
Keturah Zimran’s
work on the runway.
to produce their first standalone ready-to-wear show at
Australian fashion week in May.
“We just wanted to tell the story of the Western Desert,” says
Keshan. Though Ikuntji art is exhibited in museums around
Australia and the world, and pieces used previously on one-off
clothing capsules, Keshan wanted to underscore the currency of
First Nations art with a solo runway show. “It’s a great vessel to
tell the story and share the history of Aboriginal Torres Strait
Islander culture,” she says of fashion. “I’ll just say it – we haven’t,
you know, always felt welcome in these spaces. So, for us to use
fashion as our armour while carrying art that tells Dreaming
stories passed down through so many generations, it’s been
a really interesting vessel.”
In the inverse of the usual creative process, Keshan didn’t
GETTY IMAGES, SONNY PHOTOS, LIZ SUNSHINE
design with her own vision first. Instead, she worked in harmony
with the artworks, with approval from each artist, and allowed
each print, gestural line and Dreaming story to guide the
silhouette and cut. “What I wanted to do was bring really bold
design elements that weren’t just the singular art piece, but that
was the artist’s story, their family’s history; which part of
Country in that remote community they’re from,” she says. Like
the sweeping train of an off-shoulder balloon-sleeve gown in an
electric pink print with linear brushstrokes in dusty gold by
artist Mavis Marks. “A part of that Dreaming artwork was
about the kapi [water]. It’s like the water flowing through the
 VIEWPOINT

desert, so that’s why the design element was a flowing Master strokes
train. We wanted to represent the kapi that comes through
the desert and brings all the bush tucker and everything to
The artists behind the prints
life. I think that’s really cool that we were able to, not just
turn the fabric into runway garments, but really use design
to tell the full story.”
The trust, unity and connection needed to give over
these stories to something entirely new is layered and
complex. Add to that the many hands – Keshan says that
although there were 24 looks, more than 60 artists’ works
have been drawn upon – and the many kilometres this
collection travelled, it begins to dwarf what goes into the
average couture collection. Six dressmakers across
the country and one tailor physically put it together, and
Keshan had to work in concert with them to combine it
all after visiting Ikuntji. “Within days I was flying around
the country to meet with our makers, hand over the fabric
so it could get done in time.”
It was also purposefully multigenerational. With
NAIDOC week this month themed For Our Elders, it
held extra significance that Ikuntji is working hard to pass Keturah Zimran OAM Hayley Dodd
Age: 45 Age: 24
old stories on in this way. The artists chosen were from all Artwork: Dalhousie Hotsprings
Artwork: Puli Puli Rocks
age groups, a reflection of what happens at the art centre.
Sometimes three generations can be painting alongside “I still remember all “It’s based on water. There’s
each other in the same room. “I guess it’s a part of telling the memories that [my a hot spring in the middle of
grandmother] left behind nowhere. It’s like an oasis. It’s
the story, the full story,” says Keshan. “Trying to promote for us, for me and my just hot fresh water bubbling
that new generation, that new wave, but always we’ve got parents as well. You have out of the earth at Dalhousie
to honour our Elders and those that paved the way.” to be there with your Springs in between
grandmother, mother, to Oodnadatta, in the Simpson
And it goes both ways. “We’ve got to help the young sit, so they can share Desert, not far from the South
ones. Teach them how to collect bush tucker, all that and stories with you … In Australia border. The sand
Tjukurrpa (Dreaming), teach them stories,” says artist the future, I know my is like beach sand … My
Pam Brown, whose prismatic lines in delicate dawn blue grandkids maybe one grandmother was born right
day they might see and there next to a creek called
appeared on a refined silk shift dress. For the 63-year-old think about what I was Bloods Creek. That’s all
artist, the culminating runway was emotional, like many doing for my future, our land there, traditionally
of the artists who had made the long journey to see the and this is my design.” owned from my grandma.”
show and take their bow at the end.
One of those was Kelly Dixon, whose late mother was
also an artist at Ikuntji. She describes the feeling of her
mother walking with her, as she did when her designs were
on the cover of Vogue Australia, on Elaine George last year
in May. Along with one of the models, Sheryldeen
Marshall’s great grandmother, Dixon’s great great auntie
was one of the key founding artists of the art centre.
“They’re walking down the runway with us,” says Dixon
with tears in her eyes, who didn’t paint her mother’s designs
until after she had passed away and is also an accomplished
jewellery-maker and printer. “I’ve been thinking about
what my mother always taught me, to find the designs.”
For young artist Hayley Dodd, who wore her own work
on the runway in a russet Watteau-style dress, she saw her
art, and herself, in an entirely new light. Worried her work
wasn’t good enough, she transformed when she stepped
out remembering her ancestors walking on this land. “And
Pam Brown Kelly Dixon
Age: 63 Age: 53
then all these generations after it, we walk today in the Artwork: Papa Tjukurrpa Artwork: Tjilkamala
streets, in the city in the bush – everywhere,” she says. (Dog Dreaming) Tjukurrpa
“I want them to feel how deadly we are,” Keshan “I started painting my “The painting is
says. “I want them to know that we belong in all spaces, in grandfather’s Tjukurrpa porcupine, that’s my
the fashion space. You know, we have so much to bring – (Dreaming). It’s south-east mother’s Country. I was
look at the history of Aboriginal art,” she continues, but of Kintore [near the Western happy for that Ikuntji
Australia border]. [When the design on clothes … I’ll
not without nodding to the next generation. “We wanted designs were on the runway], I was go back home now, but
it to feel new. Forward-facing.” really proud and we all cried.” I feel so strong inside.”

Vogue July 2023 43

 DIRECTED BY

David HALLBERG

Face value
Cartier’s Baignoire watch has more than a century
of history, but its renewed relevance, and status
as an investment piece, ticks onwards.
ART DIRECTION ARQUETTE COOKE STYLING ISABELLA MAMAS
PHOTOGRAPH ANNA POGOSSOVA
PHOTOGRAPHS: GETTY IMAGES
WORDS: ALICE BIRRELL
VOGUE COLLECTOR
S
hake off notions of classic
timepieces being fusty mechanisms
under lock and key. The always
inventive Cartier knows how to do this,
and its hero – or heroine, owing to its
feminine curves – the Baignoire, is an
exemplar. Yes, it’s French for bathtub,
which its silhouette mirrors, and yes, it’s
an investment, but it’s all about elegance
delivered with a playful exterior.
The antithesis of hard-edged, heavy-
case watches with utilitarian metal, it is
all litheness and graceful curvature. The
soft glow of gold and its organic,
voluptuous case balanced with the slim
and supple wrist strap means there’s
nothing hard or cold about it, but that
doesn’t make it meek. Cartier’s newest
iteration is mini in size but boasts a newly
plumped bezel. It follows many
evolutions of the unmistakable oval
shape, going back to 1912. It was then
that Louis Cartier was the first to round
out a watch face, which became the
Baignoire in 1958, then going on to
transform with the times (connoisseurs
will know the Allongée or cult favourite
the Crash …).
Its feminine delicacy proudly speaks
to the female forebearers of the often
male-dominated watch world. The first
watch ever was made for a countess, and
Baignoire women were fierce and
singular. Draw from Romy Schneider at
Nice airport in 1968 who, even if she
was clocking off for the French Riviera,
kept her Baignoire on (what else goes
with a crisp white summer shift?). Or
even super-fan Catherine Deneuve, in a
Roman theatre, flicking the glint of
gold on a slim band of leather towards
her, checking the minutes until her new
film premiered.
With a very precious 18.7-millimetre
face, it is small but mighty, marrying
Cartier’s weighty tradition as a jeweller
with horology. Marie-Laure Cérède,
current creative head of jewellery and
watchmaking at Cartier, noted its duality
as both watch and jewellery, with an
emphasis on precious metal. Today there’s
a new patent calfskin band and an all-
gold bangle rendition. Vive l’évolution.
From left: Catherine Deneuve, 1965; Jeanne
Moreau, 1961; Catherine Deneuve wearing her
Baignoire in Le Chant du Monde (1965).
Vogue July 2023 45
 VIEWPOINT
This image and right:
backstage at Alémais’s Return
to Oz resort ’24 show, which
took inspiration from the
1985 film of the same name.
She’s like a rainbow
A collaboration between stylist Catherine Baba and Lesleigh Jermanus of Alémais
revealed a shared love of colourful expression and a deeper conversation about creativity.
F
or the Australian fashion week debut of her three-year-old
label Alémais, Lesleigh Jermanus turned to Catherine
Baba, the Paris-based but Sydney-raised stylist and
costume designer who has consulted for Chanel and Givenchy.
Known for its rainbow of prints, Alémais’ resort ’24 collection
not only mixed Jermanus and Baba’s vision, but sparked a rare
friendship between the two. Here, they connect on the act of
creating, Australia (Oz to them) and how to truly nurture
freedom in creativity – that rare thing.
VOGUE AUSTRALIA: After meeting, what lessons have
you taught each other about creativity?
LESLEIGH JERMANUS: “Everything. Catherine was
a mirage to us, because she’s a sartorial icon, and there are so many
images of her, the iconic ones of her riding the bike, all these
moments … When we first met on Zoom, Catherine wasn’t aware
of the collection’s direction and inspiration. When we sent it to
her, the idea of Return to Oz sparked a connection, because I
didn’t realise Catherine had not returned to Oz for over six years.”
CATHERINE BABA: “I felt it was personal. An immediate
attraction happened, sparked by the personal sentiment of
returning to Oz, going back in time, but also moving forward
… It’s not just about the external Oz, but the internal Oz as
well. For me, it was a celestial divine intervention.”
LJ: “Not only myself, but our whole team was very inspired by
Catherine’s otherworldly point of view. The world could be very
serious at times, and we all want to go down our own Yellow
Brick Road to a world of fantasy and imagination. Catherine has
been able to [push] that. We had designed maybe 60 per cent of
the range when she joined, all the way over in Paris, and we were
on Zoom. We all have to lean in to things that may not feel
comfortable, but we’ll never learn and grow if we don’t open up
to new opportunities and ideas. We wanted someone who had
expertise, and who has vision, and who is strong in their
convictions, and that’s Catherine.”
CB: “We played a lot … The energy was inspiring because
I could feel there was not an urgency but a genuine joy in creating.
Sometimes we can lose that within this industry and things can
be diluted. The more dreams, the more fantasy, the better.”
46
VA : How is Australia’s environment conducive to creativity?
LJ: “When I need to connect, I think a lot about the colours of the
earth and growing up being very close to the earth. Nature and
humans are inextricably linked. Growing up in Australia, and not
being overexposed to different [parts of the world] promotes
a different lifestyle. We’re always out in the sun, celebrating
nature. We started the brand with a very resort, holiday-style
focus, and with this collection, I felt inspired to do something we
called ‘glam couture’. A lot of people have now said, ‘Wow, you do
resort so well, and now you can do the night, too.’”
VA : How does a brand like Alémais balance commercial
success with a desire to push the envelope creatively?
LJ: “This show did that for us. If we were in Paris, it would be
called couture as everything was hand-cut and hand-sewn …
we would never have tried those shapes without the direction of
Catherine. It gives us an opportunity to keep expanding
[creatively] otherwise people start becoming very repetitive.”
VA: Did you have any historical experiences or inspirations
that informed your work together?
CB: “I’ve worked in couture houses, I have a lot of experience
with big brands and smaller brands, in cinema. Creating
characters and a cinematic mood is in my DNA – and David
Bowie. When I mentioned I’m a Bowie baby, Lesleigh responded,
‘I have a baby called Bowie!’ [Her son.] And it was a kaleidoscope.”
PORTRAIT: SONNY VANDEVELDE PHOTOGRAPH: ROB TENNENT
VA: How has your friendship evolved since you met?
LJ: “It’s not often you get to meet people who are so inspired
and quite progressive in their thoughts, and who are
so open-minded. It’s important for Australian fashion and
designers to open themselves up and try something new, and tap
into fantasy, open their psychedelic minds … My mother met
Catherine and said, ‘Who is this otherworldly woman?’”
INTERVIEW: JONAH WATERHOUSE
CB: “I have that effect on mothers.”
LJ: “Our whole team were on such adrenaline in this moment
of fantasy, and were in this fantasy cave, and when we felt
Catherine’s presence leave the building, it [was] heartbreak,
postpartum. We all had Mother’s Day together, and we’re all
mothers in some way, so our whole team said even today, ‘Will
Catherine come back and visit us?’”
CB: “Of course I will!”
Vogue July 2023
VOGUE CODES IS
PROUDLY PRESENTED BY L IMIT ED T ICKET S AVA IL A BL E.
DO N’ T MISS O UT. BO O K NO W.
VO G UE. CO M. AU/CO DES
 VOGUE VANGUARD

We can be heroes
With their remarkable talent, determination, grit and passion,
these young women are already winning medals, breaking
records and pushing boundaries in female sport.

WORDS CUSHLA CHAUHAN AND HANNAH ROSE-YEE

Mary Fowler
There are some moments that football fans will remember forever, such as watching the then
18-year-old Mary Fowler shoot the ball into the back of the net, cementing victory over the
fearsome Great Britain Lionesses in the quarter finals at the Tokyo Olympics. The goal was not
only a sign of the striker’s prodigious skill at such a young age (Simone Biles, who also achieved
Olympic success as a teenager, happens to be one of her heroes) but also of her potential as the
future of Australian football.
Born in Cairns, Fowler grew up kicking the ball around on the beach with her four siblings.
Hers was a family crazy for football; her older sister Ciara now plays for Adelaide United. At 15,
she made her debut playing for Australia at the Tournament of Nations – the fifth-youngest
Matilda of all time – before signing first with Montpellier and, in 2022, with Manchester City.
She is sanguine about the pressure that comes with such high profile caps. “I think what’s helped
me is just knowing what I want from myself and what I’m doing this all for,” she explains. Before
each match, she grounds herself in preparation and off the pitch, she paints. “It helps me clear my
head and just be in my own world for a little bit away from football.”
Now 20, Fowler is gearing up for her second World Cup with the Matildas later this month.
“Being able to represent your country on home soil is something else. When you hear the home
crowd cheering you on it just gets you so hyped.” What makes the Matildas so special is their
team spirit and their closeness: “It’s nice to be able to get shit done on the pitch while also having
a good time together.” Fowler can’t wait to see the crowds in Sydney. “I think it’s going to give us
all goosebumps,” she admits. The fans “just fuel my motivation to want to be better even more
because I can see how much it means to so many people.” – Hannah-Rose Yee →

Vogue July 2023 49

VOGUE VANGUARD

Chloe Covell
Some moments can change the trajectory of life
forever. For Chloe Covell, that moment came
when she was just six years old and received the
gift she was desperate for. “I got my first skateboard
for Christmas because I was begging my mum
and dad for one,” she says. “I instantly loved the
feeling of skating and just had a spark with it.”
Seven years later, Covell has earned a place
among Australia’s growing cohort of world-class
female skateboarders. From her first success,
taking third in a small competition near her home
in Tweed Heads, she went on to win silver and
bronze at the 2022 X Games, age 11, and earlier
this year claimed the silver medal at the World
Championships in Dubai, just shy of 13. “The
feeling of getting on a podium is really awesome,”
she shares, “but I think the best feeling is knowing
you have done your best and I’m also very proud
to represent my country in skateboarding.”
With her UAE success contributing points to
qualify for next year’s Olympics, Covell has her
sights firmly set on Paris. “Watching the Tokyo
Olympics made my skateboarding a lot better.
I wanted to really step up my game and hopefully
make it to [Paris]. That would be my dream.”
The young skater, who is sponsored by Nike SB
and has a burgeoning Instagram following, is also
inspiring other girls to jump on a board. “It has
been proven by all of these other great professional
girl skaters that it’s definitely not a male-dominated
sport,” she says. “Seeing girls at the skatepark
makes me super happy; knowing that women in
skateboarding is growing.” Cushla Chauhan

Mariafe Artacho
del Solar
Born in Peru, before moving to Sydney at
the age of 11, Mariafe Artacho del Solar
grew up with volleyball in her blood. Her
older sister played for Peru, and her
brother entered her in her first tournament
on Manly Beach, with him and a few of
his friends. (They won). It was “love at
first sight,” the athlete reflects. Even now,
when she gets her toes into the sand, she
feels that same electric thrill.
The 29-year-old has competed at two
Olympics: in Tokyo 2021 she and her
partner, Taliqua Clancy, clinched silver.
Theirs is a record-breaking partnership; in
their first season together they won the
most titles of an Australian team in beach
volleyball history, and have since yielded 21
world tour and championship medals. For
Artacho del Solar, her whole journey has
been a pinch-me moment. “I have
experienced some amazing times,” she says.
“All these experiences have played a part in
who I am now. I’m grateful for that.” HRY

50
 Monique Conti
Australian rules football star Monique Conti was 16 when she was selected for the AFL Women’s Academy and around the same time,
signed a four-year contract with the Melbourne Boomers basketball team, having represented Australia at the U17 basketball world
championships where the team won gold. Though her speed and agility allowed Conti to compete at an elite level in both codes, she was
asked to choose. “Having to limit my abilities to one sport never made sense to me,” says the Richmond midfielder, 23. “I think we should
be embracing young women in sport, and if that means to encourage playing football and basketball then we should be applauding
that. Being told at a young age to pick one made me feel restricted, it made me question why? I used it as motivation, fuel to the fire.”
PORTRAIT: (CONTI) DYLAN BURNS

Conti still dreams of playing basketball on the world stage again one day, even while her skill and determination has seen her shine
PHOTOGRAPHS: GETTY IMAGES

on the field. She has won five best and fairests in a row, secured an AFL Women’s premiership with the Bulldogs in 2018 where she
was named Best on Ground, and took the AFL Players Association Most Valuable Player Award in 2022.
“Being a part of the AFLW right now is a rewarding feeling,” she says. “The most exciting part is being able to make a living from
playing AFL, and it’s still on the rise! Not in a million years would I have thought this could be my life right now. Seeing the growth
of the sport within young girls across the country really validates us athletes as role models for the next generation.”
While barriers to women in sport still exist – Conti cites blatant sexism, judgement and online abuse – she sees strength in unity.
“It’s a matter of standing together and continuing to do what we love,” she says. CC →

Vogue July 2023 51

VOGUE VANGUARD

Molly Picklum
They’re calling it a meteoric rise: Molly Picklum, just 20 years old and only in her second attempt at the World Surf League Championship
Tour, became the number-one female surfer in the world in February after a stellar turn on Hawaii’s North Shore. In truth, Picklum has
been competing in surf events near her home on the NSW Central Coast since she was just 13, and was named Australian Pro Junior
in 2019 and Female Rising Star at the 2020 Australian Surfing Awards. She is in possession of that athletic alchemy: indelible talent
and a fierce competitive streak. “I love competing because I get to test myself against the best women in the world,” she says.
Picklum calls surfing a “humbling experience”, the feeling of being at the mercy of the ocean as the waves rise and fall. It’s something
she has already experienced on a professional level after she was cut from her first year on the Championship Tour in 2022 after losing
in the quarterfinals at Margaret River. But Picklum fought her way back into the top rankings, winning the Hurley Sunset Pro in
February. “I’m glad it happened,” she says now. “I learned a lot about myself and feel proud of how I worked through the challenge.”
The World title and the Paris 2024 Olympics are now both in sight, and Picklum – also an Optus Youth Ambassador, where she
hopes to inspire teenagers to achieve their dreams – can call on surfing legends Layne Beachley, Mick Fanning and Stephanie
GETTY IMAGES

Gilmore as mentors. She also has the support of Ash Barty, who is Optus’s Chief of Inspiration Officer. “Stay true to yourself,” was
one piece of advice that both Barty and Fanning shared with her. “Both are loved by Australians,” Picklum says, “because they have
a good honest crack!” That’s something we can count on her for, too. HRY

52
 Mollie O’Callaghan
She’s a 2021 Olympian and a 2022 World
Champion who represents Australia in
swimming internationally, but Mollie
O’Callaghan says she didn’t show the greatest
promise when she first entered the pool as
a toddler. “I kinda just floated there,” she smiles,
explaining her parents then put lessons on hold.
Dipping her toes back in the water at age seven,
the young Queenslander admits, “I didn’t love
the training. It wasn’t until I was 15 or 16 when
I made teams and grew to like the training,
made new friends and got to travel that I really
began to enjoy swimming,” she says.
Now 19, O’Callaghan is one of the country’s
brightest young talents. Her international
career began in 2019 at 15 at the Junior World
Championships in Budapest and won silver in
the women’s 400-metre freestyle relay. She
made her Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020 in 2021
at 17, the youngest squad member, and brought
home two gold and a bronze. At the 2022
World Championships, she claimed the world
title in the 100-metre freestyle, and at the
2022 Commonwealth Games in Birmingham
won five gold medals and two silvers.
O’Callaghan’s rapid rise is gratifying, but also
intimidating. “The legacy, especially in women’s
freestyle, is so strong, and competing alongside
Emma McKeon and Cate Campbell is amazing,
but it’s a lot of pressure,” she says. “What’s
powering me is my determination to be the
best version I can be in the pool because I know
I’ve done something I’m really proud of.” CC

Jessica Hull
What drives Australian middle- and long-distance runner
Jessica Hull is deceptively simple: she wants to see how fast she
can go. Simple, but it’s working. Hull holds seven Australian
track and field records, blink-and-you’ll-miss-her times in the
1,500, the mile, 3,000 and 5,000 metres. These days, whenever
the 26-year-old sets foot on a track, you can almost bet she will
break a record, probably her own. “I don’t want to look back in
10 years’ time and wonder ‘what if?’,” she sums up.
Hull started running at Little Athletics when she was eight.
She attended college at the University of Oregon, where she
trained at Nike headquarters in Portland. The most important
lesson from her seven years in the US, where she won seven
National Collegiate Athletics Association medals, was hard
work, quiet confidence and the importance of discipline. Hull
took those lessons first to the Tokyo Olympics held in 2021,
where she posted an Oceania record ahead of the 1,500-metre
final, and then home, returning to Australia to run the domestic
circuit in early 2023. It was in Sydney that Hull broke the
3,000-metre record by shaving five seconds off her own time.
Alongside Linden Hall, Abbey Caldwell and Georgia
Griffith, Hull is part of the strongest group of female middle-
distance runners in memory. “Athletics has given me some of
my best friends,” says Hull. “Being surrounded by like-minded
people makes it feel as though running is so much more than
the times you run and the places you finish.” HRY ■

Vogue July 2023 53

SPORT

A different
ball game
On the eve of one of the greatest
sporting events ever hosted in
Australia, football player Steph
Catley and Optus Sport host
Amy Duggan champion a new
era of visibility for female sport.
By Hanna Marton.

W
hen Steph Catley was six years old, she
tagged along to her brother’s football training
sessions. She’d run along the sidelines and
kick the ball in front of the parents to “show off”.
“They said, ‘Oh, she can play. Why doesn’t she just play
with the boys?’” Catley, 29, recalls. Her mum yielded,
she became the sole girl on her big brother’s football
team, and that’s where she stayed. For years.
Catley didn’t play with other girls until she joined
a representative team at 13 – the “big league” for kids.
“When my dad told me about the representative team,”
she says, “I broke down in tears because I thought the
boys didn’t want me to play anymore!” Growing up in
Melbourne’s south-east suburbs, which she says were
dominated by St Kilda devotees, Catley idolised male
Australian Rules players. “That was sort of the only sport that Catley started training with Melbourne Victory in the
I could access on TV,” she says. Besides watching Bend It Like W-League (now A-League) at 14, which Catley muses would be
Beckham religiously – “I was obsessed with that movie” – she weird today. “If I saw a 14-year-old coming into my team and
never saw female footballers on TV. training with me, I’d be like, ‘Wow, you are way too young.
Twenty years ago, a prevailing myth that viewers didn’t want How is this even a thing?’” Although she was phenomenally
to watch women’s sport stopped it from getting any airtime (or talented and would eventually captain Melbourne Victory,
decent sponsorship). Today, that fallacy has been blown out of the Catley concedes the pool was smaller back then because women
water. In the UK, where football is life, the average time people didn’t have the luxury of focusing on football full-time. They
spent watching women’s sport on TV increased by 131 per cent also had to work. “In the A-League now, women are usually
between 2021 and 2022. Closer to home, a staggering 4.3 million paid at a rate where they might not need that second job and to
people tuned in to watch tennis legend Ash Barty’s triumphant juggle a million things. There are more professional footballers
final match at the Australian Open. More than a billion people honing their craft. Back then, that was not the case. I was
watched the last FIFA Women’s World Cup in 2019. obviously a young player who was just at school.”
This month’s tournament, hosted by Australia and New By the time the adult Catley had kicked off her pro career, the
Zealand, will likely attract even more eyeballs, when all needle had moved. “It was the end of that era,” she says. “As
64 matches are available exclusively on Optus Sport live and a full-time professional footballer, I get paid by my national
on-demand. Defender Catley, also vice captain of the Australian team, I get paid to play at Arsenal. We’re selling out big
Football Team and an Optus ambassador who plays for Arsenal stadiums. We’re catching up to the standards that the men are
in the UK, will reunite with her teammates as they strive to win at, and the pay is slowly coming to a point where it’s much
on home soil. It’s an honour that she couldn’t have envisaged better.” Better, but not the same. And despite clocking as many
as a child in Moorabbin. “I had no idea that there was even hours on the pitch as male pro footballers – including her own
a pathway for me to the national football team,” she says. fiancé, Dean Bouzanis, who plays for Reading – Catley believes

54

women’s teams aren’t afforded the same level of medical support,
which is causing a “bit of an injury crisis”.
“The pressure’s high, there’s attention, there are people
judging us. And I think we’re starting to see a breakdown in
female athletes’ bodies,” says Catley, who recently had a stress
fracture in her foot. “So many top players have hurt their knees,
which can mean almost a year out.” Access to better physio and
recovery services is the next step towards equality, she says and,
“what most women’s footballers would say is their hope for
the future”.
The strides taken already are largely thanks to former players
such as Amy Duggan (nee Taylor). While young Catley was
kicking around with the boys, Duggan was determinedly
chipping her way through football’s glass ceiling to become one
of the first Australian Football Team players to get media
attention. Duggan represented Australia from 1997, at age 17,
to 2005, including being on the Olympic team in 2004.
“Our games weren’t televised. We were super excited if the
score was printed in those tiny little results columns in
the newspaper,” laughs Duggan. Football, she says, “was not
a legitimate or financially achievable career for me”. At her
career peak, Duggan often hit the gym in the morning, worked
ALL PRICES APPROXIMATE DETAILS AT VOGUE.COM.AU/WTB
all day as a civil servant in Canberra, changed out of the car
boot into a kit she “hoped she’d washed the night before”, then
hightailed it to training. “I’d go home, have dinner, wash the
clothes and do it all again the next day.”
Her mission to bolster women’s sport didn’t stop when she
retired in 2005. After moving to Wollongong on the New South
Wales south coast, Duggan helped launch the Illawarra United
Stingrays, a representative football club, and more recently, the
South Coast Flame FC. She pivoted into journalism, sports
reporting and eventually, football commentating. “It was the
next dream for me.” Duggan was on the female-led Optus Sport
GETTY IMAGES
commentating team for the 2019 FIFA Women’s World Cup.
Optus “treated the Women’s World Cup like the Men’s World
Cup for the first time ever,” Duggan shares, “investing in the
Far left: Catley playing for UK’s
Arsenal Women’s team and, top
centre, as a young girl in Melbourne.
Left and above: Amy Duggan
during her eight-year career
as an Australian football player.
game, giving it the respect it deserved.” This in turn leads to
brand awareness, increased sponsorship, better facilities, better
pathway development, and on and on – but it all starts with
platforming women’s sport on television for all to see. Today,
she sits on the Football Australia and Venues New South Wales
boards and somehow finds the time to coach her son’s under-9s
football team. (Duggan has three children with husband, Matt.)
Does Duggan consider herself a role model to younger
athletes? “That’s such a weird question because most young
players coming through now probably don’t even know that
I played football,” she quips. However, as a mentor with the
Minerva Network, which supports women in sport, and through
her work with Optus Sport, with its goal to inspire the next
generation, Duggan thrives on seeing young women succeed.
“If I’m asked, I have some wisdom. It’s always great for someone
to be able to learn from both your success and your failure. Sport
is an education that you can’t pay for.”
Duggan’s 12-year-old daughter plays representative football,
at a similar young age that Duggan first picked up a ball. But
there’s no pressure from Mum. “I just love watching them learn
and make friends. I love knowing that there’s an opportunity for
her to play football as a career, if she wants to.” A career that
comes with more stress now – thanks to big crowds, travel,
social media – than it did 20 years ago. Was football more fun
then? “Gosh, I hope our national players are still having fun out
there! I know they are,” says Duggan. “This is a home World
Cup. That comes with joy and opportunity but also pressure.”
Duggan will be in Sydney on July 20 to host the opening
World Cup match between Australia and Ireland live on
Optus Sport. Catley will be lacing up her boots, preparing to hit
the field. Among the 32 teams competing, dreams will be
realised, hearts will be broken and new stars will be born,
inspiring the next generation of young footballers watching at
home. Because they can.
Optus Sport is the official Australian broadcaster of the FIFA
Women’s World Cup 2023. Find out more at subhub.optus.com.au.
Vogue July 2023 55
ART

Candid camera
Nan Goldin’s seminal photographic work
The Ballad Of Sexual Dependency has found
a permanent home in Australia. Hannah-
Rose Yee charts the artist’s enduring legacy.

Cookie and Vittorio’s wedding, NYC, 1986.

C.Z. and Max on

the beach, Truro,
Massachusetts, 1976.

Vivienne in the green dress, NYC, 1980.

Photographer Nan Goldin in Greer on the

1972. Her work, The Ballad of bed, NYC, 1983.
Sexual Dependency, features
images of close friends, some
pictured on these pages.

56
 Cookie at Tin Pan Alley, NYC, 1983.
I
Bruce on top of French Chris, Fire Island, NY, 1979.
IMAGES COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND NGA
Suzanne in the green bathroom, Pergamon Museum, East Berlin, 1984.
was living in the moment, not documenting for the
future,” Nan Goldin told Vogue in 2015, of her iconic
photographic series The Ballad of Sexual Dependency.
This collection of images, taken in bathrooms, on
beaches, in crowded bars and in beds throughout the
1970s and 80s, documented the lives of Goldin and her
closest friends. Lives both outsized and intimate, wild
and discreet, agonising and ecstatic. The series became,
the photographer has said, the “diary I let people read”.
“I wanted to make a record of my life that nobody
could revise,” Goldin once said, “not a safe, clean
version, but instead, an account of what things really
looked like and felt like and smelled like.”
In 2021, in celebration of the institution’s 40th
anniversary, the National Gallery of Australia (NGA)
acquired the works and will display them for the first
time this month. But Goldin originally captured the
images never actually intending them to be widely
seen. Instead, they were taken for the very community
she was documenting; the earliest “exhibits” of The
Ballad of Sexual Dependency were staged as a slideshow
set to music for her closest friends, many of whom
appeared in the photographs. The series was first
publicly exhibited in 1985. Today, the candid and
casually provocative nature of Goldin’s images are
widely held to be “photography as influential as any in
the last 20 years”, and marked the beginning of the
artist’s long and varied career, which has included
everything from lensing fashion campaigns for Bottega
Veneta to releasing her own photography books.
In recent years, the artist has become a campaigner
against the opioid epidemic, after being an addict herself.
Goldin’s advocacy is detailed in All the Beauty and the
Bloodshed, the Oscar-nominated 2022 documentary
available on DocPlay now. In it, Goldin wages war
against the Sackler family, owners of the pharmaceutical
company that manufactures OxyContin and influential
donors who have pledged millions to major art
institutions including the Louvre and the Tate. “They
have washed their blood money through the halls of
museums and universities around the world,” Goldin
says in the film. Through her advocacy, her legacy is
made eternal, an intertwining of art and activism forever.
Nan Goldin: The Ballad Of Sexual Dependency is on
display at the NGA from July 8.
Vogue July 2023 57
MUSIC

Wet Leg’s Hester Chambers (top) and Rhian Teasdale.

58
Playing by ear
Rhian Teasdale and Hester Chambers always wanted to be
musicians. But it wasn’t until the friends formed their band
Wet Leg that a string of popular singles, two Grammys and
a tour with Harry Styles transpired. By Amy Campbell.
PHOTOGRAPH HOLLIE FERNANDO

I
s your muffin buttered?” sings Wet Leg’s Rhian Teasdale on “Chaise Longue”. “Would you like
us to assign someone to butter your muffin?” Her tone is deadpan and unmistakably English, and
if you didn’t know any different, you might think she was in fact referring to dressing a sweet
pastry. Not so. Here, Teasdale is referencing an iconic scene from the cult 2004 teen comedy
Mean Girls, a film she and Wet Leg’s lead guitarist Hester Chambers re-watched around the
time they wrote the track. Not unlike Mean Girls, “Chaise Longue” is sprinkled with cheeky
double entendres, making its lyrics feel like an inside joke between the band and its fans.
This sense of humour is core to the Wet Leg charm; so is the band’s ability to spin coming-of-
age awkwardness into whimsical verses. “When I think about what you’ve become, I feel sorry for your
mum,” sings Teasdale to an imaginary ex lover on “Ur Mum”, another track off Wet Leg’s debut
self-titled album, which reaches its crescendo when the singer lets out a long, loud and liberated
scream. To see it live is truly exhilarating.
In March, crowds of up to 80,000 Australians got to hear Teasdale scream on stage, when Wet
Leg toured the country with Harry Styles. It wasn’t their first time Down Under – in July 2022
the band headed to Byron Bay to play Splendour in the Grass, only to have their show cancelled
due to flooding of the festival grounds. This time around the sun came out for Wet Leg, which
is rounded out by three of the duo’s best friends: bassist Ellis Durand, drummer Henry Holmes
and keyboardist and guitarist Joshua Omead Mobaraki. If anything, the Sydney humidity on the
day we meet for this interview is a little oppressing. But Chambers and Teasdale don’t seem
bothered. As we sip juices and chat about their show the previous evening, a white ibis wanders
up to our table. “A bin chicken!” squeals Chambers, who has
recently learned what the locals call the feathered dumpster divers.
“It’s so funny, because they look nothing like chickens.”
2023 has been a wild ride for Wet Leg. Before joining Harry
Styles on the Australian leg of his “Love on Tour” show, the band
opened for him in LA. In February, they took home two Grammys
for Best Alternative Music Album and Best Alternative Music
Performance, and at the Brit Awards one week later, they won Best
New Artist and Group of the Year. They played Coachella in April;
the crowd was huge, and they sang along to every single word.
Teasdale and Chambers admit to being a little dazed by the
whirlwind. “From the beginning, the Wet Leg ethos was to just
have a fun summer in the UK playing all these little festivals,” says
Chambers, who speaks with sing-song inflection. “And then we
got way more than we bargained for.”
Wet Leg formed in 2019; their first song was written on
a Ferris wheel at End of the Road festival near Salisbury in
England. They look at each other and crack up at the memory. “It
sounds like, so zany,” laughs Teasdale. “We were looking into the
night sky and suddenly Hester shouts: ‘I want to be abducted by
aliens!’” Giggling, they both break out in chorus. “I want to be
abducted, da na na na na, by a UFO, da na na na na.” “We still
perform it sometimes,” adds Teasdale. “Only really at festivals
where the vibe is a bit more silly.”
Chambers and Teasdale had known each other for years prior.
They both grew up on the Isle of Wight, a tiny island in the
English channel, but didn’t meet properly until after graduating
high school. They enrolled in the same music program at the Isle
Of Wight College, which Chambers recalls was “made up of about
90 per cent guys”. “It made it quite intimidating, like sometimes
you’d feel not worthy,” she says. →

Vogue July 2023 59

MUSIC
After college, the two friends pursued solo projects.
Teasdale was singing at bars while working at a local
cafe, while Chambers performed under the moniker
Hester and Red Squirrel. “The music was terrible,”
recalls Teasdale of her solo gig.
Wet Leg came about when Chambers and Teasdale
realised what they really loved about music was the
ability to play with friends. The pair grew up going to
festivals – their island was home to both Bestival and
the Isle of Wight Festival – and dreamt of spending a
summer driving around England in their van with
their best mates, and playing whatever festival stages
became available.
“The goal was making music with friends,” Chambers
reminisces. “We were like, ‘Okay, we’re gonna do Wet
Leg now. Let’s not give a single fuck about any of the
things that were making us feel not worthy, or we
couldn’t do it.’”
“It was feeling the fear and doing it anyway,” adds
Teasdale. “We would say that 100 times a day.”
Chambers chimes back in, “And I think it worked,
because now we’re still not really giving a fuck.”
As these things go, it was when Teasdale and
Chambers decided to drop their inhibitions, be true to
themselves and have fun that the industry began
to notice. When the topic of authenticity begetting
success comes up, Chambers passes the proverbial mic
to Teasdale, who pauses for a long moment. “This
kind of thing comes up a lot in interviews,” she
says finally. “And usually the resolving thing is: that is
how it happens for a lot of people. When you stop
60
trying, that’s when things start to work out. Because it’s authentic and
you’re being true to yourself.”
“It’s a cliché, but a good one,” Chambers continues. “To be yourself and
enjoy what you’re doing, and try not to worry about what other people
think. No matter what you’re doing, that’s the most important thing.”
Their self-titled album dropped in April 2022. As the popularity of
“Chaise Longue” and their second single “Wet Dream” predicated, it was
a hit. A global tour with bigger venues were announced, and the girls
were given the opportunity to travel with a full band. “We were like, ‘Oh,
why don’t we get our best friends in?,’” says Chambers. Omead Mobaraki,
Chambers’s boyfriend, had already produced Wet Leg’s early work, so he
was an obvious inclusion. They had known Durand, another Isle of
Wight native, for a while and met Holmes in the surf. (Surfing is
a popular winter activity where they’re from.)
“Touring with your best friends is so nice. Because we’re all from the
same place, and we’re doing all these new scary things, but we’re
experiencing them at the same time,” says Teasdale. “We’ve known each
other for like, 10 years. And here we are.”
The girls have finished their juices, so decide to head to a thrift shop
nearby. “It’s our favourite thing to do on tour,” says Chambers. “Every
time we get to a new city, I’m googling ‘best thrifting’, and ‘best vegan
breakfast spots’.” Inside, Chambers is immediately taken by
a white prairie dress with lace trim on the sleeves. Teasdale gravitates
towards a blue-baby tee on the mannequin printed with an image of
Quasimodo from The Hunchback of Notre-Dame. “Am I going to be the
annoying person who asks the lady to take it off the mannequin,” she
wonders aloud. Within minutes, the duo are in the fitting rooms trying
on their finds. They flit between the cubicles, ask for one another’s honest
opinion and leave with a handful of items each. Among Chambers’s haul
is an old souvenir T-shirt from Merimbula, which she’s purchased for her
partner Josh. “He’s going to love it,” she says. Pointing to the name of the
town, she asks: “How do you say this?”
Wet Leg’s personal style is just as fun and endearing as their music.
Prairie dresses are a common denominator, while Chambers wears more
black and Teasdale’s aesthetic tends towards Y2K. At the Grammys, they
were among the best dressed on the red carpet. Both musicians wore
dresses by Acne Studios; Chambers’s was black with a sheer skirt, while
Teasdale’s was an elegant tangle of champagne-coloured knots. Not only
was it backless, but it was also bumless; a big bow sat at the small of her
back and cascaded down to the floor, making sure the singer kept just the
right amount to the crowd’s imagination.
“I was like, ‘Oh, this is so fun, my butt is like fully out. It feels really
nice having my bum out,’” says Teasdale. “I felt really good about myself
and my body, which I’ve struggled with before. But I made the decision
to wear a very non-existent dress, and I felt proud of myself.”
Wet Leg’s sartorial slay extended throughout their Australian tour,
into Coachella – where both girls performed in frayed slip dresses,
Teasdale in red and Chambers in ivory – and now, they are in the midst
of opening for Harry Styles as the pop star makes his way around
Europe. “He’s super-nice,” they say in unison. “Opening for him has
been really nice. For a stadium show to have so many women – his fan
base is very female and very queer, which creates such a nice atmosphere,”
says Teasdale.
When they finish this run of dates in August, they’re looking forward
to taking a little break – maybe even returning to Wet Leg’s original
ethos of having a really fun summer while making music with their
best friends.
“Everything has just been a really funny accident,” says Chambers of
their rapid rise to fame. “Even when we got our record deal, we were like,
‘Haha, this is a joke.’ We thought, obviously we’re going to keep working
our normal jobs, because that’s a very normal thing in this climate – for
people in bands to have day jobs,” adds Teasdale. They exchange glances
and smile. “But it didn’t really work out that way.” ■
HOLLIE FERNANDO

Vogue July 2023 61

CODES

Sky’s
the limit
Vogue Codes celebrates women
breaking ground in the world of
tech. As this year’s campaign kicks
into gear, we check in with two
past participants who have recently
taken their success global.

Grace Brown
In 2021, Grace Brown won Vogue’s first Future
Innovators competition with her humanoid robot,
Abi. Now, she’s the CEO and co-founder of a
robotics and AI startup Andromeda Robotics.

I
did not expect us to win,” Grace Brown admits. The robotics
engineer is disarmingly humble about her success in Vogue’s
2021 Future Innovators competition. “When we got into the
top five, I remember going to my photo shoot thinking, ‘Oh my
god, I wonder if I’m going to get to meet the winner.’”
It was while doing a Bachelor of Mechatronics, Robotics, and
Automation Engineering at the University of Melbourne that
Brown started toying with the idea of creating Abi, a humanoid
robot with the capacity for socialisation, although she could
never have anticipated where that “passion project” would end up.
“I always knew I wanted to be in the robotics space,” Brown
recalls. “I just didn’t have that budget to pursue a robotics
project like Abi.” Having entered Vogue’s first iteration of Future
Innovators – a competition supported by Optus that seeks to
uncover and support tech innovations through a mentorship
program and a $10,000 grant for the winner – the rationale
behind Brown’s entry was simple. “I was desperate for funding.”
A self-confessed Disney fanatic, Brown’s curiosity with the
companion-type robots she saw in Pixar films like Big Hero 6
materialised as Abi – a simulated robot with human-like
tendencies, such as the ability to respond to conversation,
demonstrate empathy and even give hugs. It was a concept that
won competition judges over.
“It was a very credible panel and so for women like that to believe
in me, it made me take what I was doing a lot more seriously,” she
says. Following her victory, Brown’s trajectory took a detour. “We
applied for different accelerators, got introduced to different
investors, incorporated our business and then got funding, and
then everything just sort of grew from there,” she says.
Brown has been on perpetual fast forward since then. “I think
I’ve slept in my own bed for a total of two weeks this year,” she
laughs. Splitting her time between the cities where she and her
engineering team are based – Melbourne and Boston, one of the
top robotics communities in the world, with visits to Sydney,
where her investors are, Brown is proof that success never sleeps.
Her commitment to Abi’s success is far more than just an
unwavering work ethic, though. Brown’s dedication is indicative
of her belief in the potential of humanoids like Abi to redefine
the robotic space. “Previously, [robots] have been used for very
objective purposes. Their utility is very industrial and
mechanical,” Brown says. “Abi, to me, represents a new age
where you’re not just integrating the utility of robotic labour, but
you’re combining that with empathy and personality and
expression, and that’s really new.”
In this new age – of which Brown is at the frontier – robots
like Abi are designed as companions to those in need, finding
homes in aged care centres and hospitals and offering a sense of
connection to individuals experiencing loneliness.
“There’s nothing in the world that’s like that yet,” Brown
muses. It is in this very niche area that Andromeda Robotics –
the robotic and artificial intelligence startup Brown co-founded
and is CEO of – exists.
Abi has grown from simulation to prototype, a development
emblematic of a changing of the guards in the robotic space, yet
one that is truly just the beginning for Brown and her team. With
customers in both the US and Australia, Brown has her sights set
firmly on expansion, seeing Andromeda as a company with the
potential to become a world-class leader in the industry. “I do
see Abi at the forefront of this market so, not to be too cheesy,
but I know nothing’s really going to stop me from getting there.”
This year’s Vogue Codes Future Innovators competition is now open
and closes September 1, 2023. Enter your business idea and you could
win $10,000. For more information, go to vogue.com.au/codes.

62
 Katherine Bennell-Pegg
Since speaking on a panel at Adelaide’s Vogue
Codes In-conversation Breakfast in 2022,
Katherine Bennell-Pegg, a director of Space
Technology at the Australian Space Agency,
will train as an astronaut at the European Space
Agency, the first Australian woman to do so.

C
ontrary to what her profession would have you believe,
Katherine Bennell-Pegg is a very grounded person.
When we speak, she is in the middle of her third week
of a rigorous training regime at the European Space Agency
(ESA), just outside of Cologne, Germany. In 14 months, when
she finishes, she will be the first person to be trained as an
astronaut under the Australian flag.
Astronaut training at the ESA is unsurprisingly taxing. Every
day she undergoes two hours of instructed fitness, and takes
classes on everything from radiation biology to foreign
languages (the International Space Station, the destination for
most space missions, naturally attracts astronauts from around
Katherine Bennell- the world). She will plunge into hostile environments from
Pegg, and below,
at the European oceans to tundras for survival training, and learn the basics of
Astronaut Centre a space mission – from how to manoeuvre a robotic arm, to the
in Cologne on mechanics of extraterrestrial experiments.
her first day of
basic training with Bennell-Pegg’s journey into the program wasn’t
other candidates. straightforward. After making it to the final 25 of more than
22,500 applicants, she was not among the 17 selected in late
2022, because of her limited connection to Europe, but will now
attend as an employee of the Australian Space Agency based on
her impressive results in the selection process.
The program is notoriously difficult to get into, with
the gruelling application process including everything
from extensive medical and fitness testing and memory
and concentration drills to personal essays on strengths and
weaknesses, psychological tests and scores of maths and physics
problems. Compounding the intellectual rigour was the
psychological peril: all of this was taking place in Germany in
mid-2021 during the pandemic. But Bennell-Pegg prevailed,
WORDS: NONI REGINATO, DIVYA VENKATARAMAN (BROWN) STYLING: HARRIET CRAWFORD

and her success is set to be shared with all Australians.

“Now I get to show that there’s so much opportunity for
Australians in STEM and in space, and that they can be part of
PHOTOGRAPHS: JAMIE HEATH HAIR: RORY RICE MAKE-UP: NISHA VAN BERKEL

it, too,” she says.

For Bennell-Pegg, 38, the dream of space has always been tied
firmly to what happens on earth. “When I was young, I was
drawn to space for the adventure of it,” she says. “But it’s so
much more powerful than that. You can help contribute to
human discovery.”
Bennell-Pegg’s mother passed away from breast cancer 11
(BENNELL-PEGG) PHOTOGRAPHS: BRAD GRIFFIN

years ago, and she is interested in the potential for space to give
us answers to medical questions, including how radiation affects
organs. “Your cells behave quite differently in microgravity,
interestingly, than on earth,” she notes. “Even to be a tiny part
of that would mean a lot to me.”
As for her goals, Bennell-Pegg says: “Absolutely, going to
Tickets to the
space … most astronauts hope for the exciting stuff, they hope
Vogue Codes for spacewalks, they hope to operate the robotic arm, they hope
In-conversation to pilot the vehicle. The next big destination for people is the
Breakfast series moon, and everyone wants their boots to be the one [on the
with Audi are
available now at ground]. That would be the best. But the reason why you do that
vogue.com.au/codes. is for the discoveries you help make.”

Vogue July 2023 63

BOOKS

Love Language (Allen & Unwin,

$34.99) by Linda Marigliano.
Presenter and podcaster Linda Marigliano
unpacks the relationships in her life in this
arrestingly open memoir. Scared that she
has spent most of her life as a people
pleaser, Marigliano digs deep into what it
means to love and be loved, and to learn to
love yourself, whether in the context of
a complicated relationship with her mother
or in her long-distance partnership.

On Our Best Behaviour

by Susan Sontag.
For the first time, trailblazing
American critic, activist and
thinker Susan Sontag’s feminist
essays have been collected into a
single, brilliant tome. This must-
read book offers a searing and
insightful vision of womanhood,
digging into topics including
ageing, power and the workforce
with Sontag’s trademark incisive
voice. Though these essays were
mostly written in the 1970s during
the height of second-wave
feminism, they are still strikingly
relevant for the modern reader.
This is a collection to dip in and
out of whenever you are in need of
wisdom or a guiding hand and
a perfect accompaniment to some
of the other non-fiction works in
Sontag’s celebrated canon, from
On Photography to Notes On ‘Camp’.
(Bloomsbury, $34.99)
by Elise Loehnen.
Former Goop chief content officer,
Elise Loehnen, wants to reframe
the way women think about the
seven deadly sins. Sloth? Rest is
actually essential to a well-lived life.
Gluttony? Our desires maketh our
selves. Envy? Rather than shameful,
envy and jealousy can show us our
true ambitions. A deeply considered
and thought-provoking read
Honey, Baby, Mine
(Coronet, $32.99) by
Laura Dern & Diane Ladd.
When actor Diane Ladd was
prescribed long walks for her
health, her daughter and fellow
actor Laura Dern walked with her.
The pair recorded their frank
discussions about life and death,
family and friendship, art and
reality. The result is this moving
book that explores the experience
of being a mother, and a daughter.

True story
WORDS: HANNAH-ROSE YEE

Memoirs, biographies, essays and more.

Here are the best non-fiction reads right now
penned by A-list actors to feminist critics.
64 Vogue July 2023
 “A new era is dawning
for young Australians.
An era where the future
of women in sport is
unfolding with a passion
that sparks inspiration;
where what you see on
the field ignites endless
possibilities. It’s more
than just a movement,
it’s a transformative
wave – it’s the
emergence of a legacy.”
JESSICA MONTAGUE, EXECUTIVE EDITOR, VOGUE AUSTRALIA
&
STEPHANIE FORAN, DIRECTOR OF PRODUCT – OPTUS SPORT TV & CONTENT

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Stand
by
me
Stars align
It was love at first sight for
Lily-Rose Depp and Troye
Sivan when they met on the set
of their headline-grabbing
television series The Idol
almost two years ago. The pair
speak to Hannah-Rose Yee
about friendship, fame and
finding yourself.
Styled by Christine Centenera.
Photographed by Daniel Jackson.
 Opposite page:
LOEWE top, P.O.A.
MOLLY GODDARD
DANIEL JACKSON

dress, worn
underneath, $7,450.
This page: PRADA
suit jacket with
collar, $ 6,500.
 PUPPETS AND
PUPPETS dress,
$2,975. DAVID
KOMA skirt, $5,010.
 T
roye Sivan has a hangover. Nowhere is this in
any respect evident; the 28-year-old singer, actor
and social media star is the picture of fresh-faced
and well-rested coherency, perched inside a hotel suite at the
Cannes Film Festival. “How are ya?” greets Sivan, his Australian
accent lathered on with a spoon. Next to him is Lily-Rose Depp,
his co-star in a quiet, under-the-radar little television
series called The Idol, the latest tale of debauchery from the
team who unleashed Euphoria onto the world. (Depp is all
cheekbones and the picture of elegance in a dream of a Chanel
little black dress. “I’m a lifelong Chanel girl,” the longtime
brand ambassador smiles.) When we speak, The Idol had
premiered only the night before to a barrage of
pearl-clutching headlines, courtesy of its subject matter: a pop
star staging a comeback against a literal backdrop of sex, drugs
and rock’n’roll. Depp plays the singer Jocelyn, Sivan her
creative director Xander and Abel Tesfaye, aka The Weeknd,
also The Idol ’s co-creator, plays Tedros, a nefarious nightclub
impresario whose relationship with Jocelyn rings alarm bells
all over Tinseltown.
After the premiere came the afterparty. Hence the hangovers.
“In the name of The Idol,” deadpans the 24-year-old Depp, in
her velvety California girl drawl. “Also, one more thing,” Sivan
interjects, perking up. “I party, but I work really hard, and
I think I don’t often mix the two, but in honour of this show and
what we created, it only felt right to be pretty hungover this
morning.” Depp laughs, turning to her friend with a glint in her
eye. “I just love the quote: ‘I party, but I work really hard.’”
Though this is the Cannes Film Festival, and The Idol was
created by HBO, the arbiters of televisual cool, the kick-on did
have, Sivan admits, a “corporate Christmas party vibe”. “Where,
like, you don’t wanna be wasted in front of your boss,” Sivan
jokes. “But in this particular case, The Weeknd is my boss.
So, he wanted me to have a good time.”
VOGUE AUSTRALIA: Okay, so, how did you two meet?
TROYE SIVAN: “We’ve been trying to figure out if we’ve
ever been at the same place before we, like, met. And – I don’t
know if I should talk like this here – but Lily is obviously the
most strikingly beautiful person in the world.”
LILY-ROSE DEPP: “Please …”
TS: “I would never, ever go up and say hi to her normally.”
LRD: “It was a rehearsal that ended up not being a rehearsal.
We all talked.”
TS: “Yeah, we all just, like, hung out.”
LRD: “We had a mutual friend, and he told me, ‘Oh you’re
going to work with Troye. He’s amazing.’ I had seen Troye in
Joel Edgerton’s movie [Boy Erased] and I thought he was really,
really good and I was excited to work with him … I was like,
‘This is going to be fun.’”
TS: “That mutual friend, I saw him like, maybe, two weeks
before I met you. And he was like, ‘I have a feeling that you and
Lily are really going to get along.’ I don’t know what this says
about me – narcissist vibes? He actually said, ‘She reminds
me of you.’”
LRD: “But we immediately clicked. I feel like we started really
just diving deep and just, girl talk. We were just gabbing away.
It was love at first sight.”
TS: “You remind me of my friends from Australia.”
80
LRD: “Thanks, that’s so nice! You remind me of all my best
friends … We’re just like each other’s people.”
VA: What do you love about each other?
TS: “I feel like the baseline connection is humour. I remember
thinking, ‘Damn she’s funny.’ And I mean also, not to make it
boring and professional, but this was my first time doing TV.
I haven’t done that much acting. I was definitely out of my depth
and super-intimidated, and I have just never seen anyone work
harder than you, ever. These were long days where Lily is in
practically every shot in the entire show. It’s a tonne of pressure.
Any time I would yawn, I would be like, ‘Troye! Get it together!
Look at her!’ Lily was just effortlessly and graciously super-kind
to everyone, the most unbelievable presence on set.”
LRD: “Honest to god I couldn’t have done this without you.
We see these characters in really vulnerable states and that’s
a place you have to find within yourself, to me at least, for the
performance. I feel like the connection and friendship that we
had was really grounding for me and a really safe space … Also
we shot in Abel’s house, so, like, my dressing room was one of
the bedrooms. Sometimes when I would be shooting and Troye
wouldn’t be shooting until the next scene, he would just chill in
my room and then I would come back in between set-ups and
we would sit in the bed and talk and drink coffee and just have,
like, a sleepover vibe … And again, not to be all professional,
but I am so proud of you and I’m so proud of your performance.
As a friend it was really cool to be like, ‘Damn! My friend is so
awesome and talented.’”
TS: “It feels really un-Australian to be complimented. I just
have to sit and cop it.”
VA: The Idol is about an artist’s push for creative excellence
and the lengths one person would go to to be the best artist
they can be. Is that something either of you have experienced?
TS: “I relate to Jocelyn in moments, but I actually feel like in
general I don’t think I have in me that sort of self-destructive
drive that I see in her …”
LRD: “In Lily.” [laughs]
TS: “No. [laughs] Not in you! I think that’s really admirable,
I just don’t think I have it. Maybe that’s a good thing, maybe
that’s a bad thing. I don’t think I’m the type of guy who wants
to wreck his life for the sake of the art. I have things that I really
care about, my family and my friends, and their health and my
health. I think for me it breaks my heart watching Jocelyn go
through what she goes through. I’ve gotten close before; I think
it actually happened in Sydney. This was years ago, but I was so
horrifically sick on tour. First album and everything was really
new to me. You really don’t want to cancel a show, ever, because
people have potentially flown in and booked hotels, so even if
you can refund them the tickets, that guilt is a huge thing. I just
didn’t want to do it. But I spoke to my dad. He took a look at me
and was like, ‘There’s no way you’re doing this.’ I’m really
grateful I’ve always had those influences in my life. I don’t think
I’m really of that school of thought where you push yourself
until you can’t push yourself anymore.”
LRD: “I agree with that actually. Don’t get me wrong, I love
DANIEL JACKSON
what I do, I’m super-passionate about my work, but I feel like
I’ve just been taught to value life over work. To be an artist, to
make art, is to represent life, and so I have always felt that if
you’re not allowing yourself to have a life and live one, how →
 can you be inspired by it? Driving yourself until you’re about to
burn out – I can be like that in periods of time but not all the
time. I can be like that on set. I’m down to push myself to my
very limits emotionally, to make the kind of art that I’m striving
for, but I also have been really protective of my life.”
TS: “Not to quote the show, but Tedros says, ‘You have the best
job in the world, you should be having way more fun.’”
LRD: “Period.”
VA: The Idol is also about how lonely and isolating fame can be.
You’ve both experienced fame from a really young age in
different ways, through your parents, Lily-Rose, or starting
a YouTube channel at the age of 12, Troye. What has fame
been like for you both?
LRD: “I have a different perspective on it growing up with it.
I always, from when I was a kid, I remember going to school and
definitely already having a sense of people asking me funny
questions and having preconceived notions about me and
thinking things about me and my family before they even got to
know me. That is something I’ve had experience with forever …
Fame has never been something that I have been interested in
and I can’t really understand people who are interested in that,
you know? I feel like the luckiest person in the world because
I get to do for a living the thing I love the most, the thing that
makes me feel the most fulfilled and the most inspired and I get
to put all of my emotions into something beautiful, into
something creative, something purposeful. I feel really lucky to
get to do that, whatever comes from that, even if it’s negative
sometimes, to me is a small price to pay to get to do what I do …”
TS: “I get quite strong-headed about like, you know what,
I deserve to be able to go on Hinge, and I will go on Hinge. That’s
almost a boundary of mine. I’m not going to let this stop me from
living. If I want to go make out with someone on a dance floor that
I just met, I’m gonna do it. That’s my way of dealing with it so far.”
LRD: “I also feel that. That’s something my mom always told
me: value your privacy and keep things for yourself and all of that
is really important, but don’t let it stop you from living your life.”
VA: There has been controversy around The Idol, with
a report in Rolling Stone about a reportedly “off the rails”
production. What was your experience on set of working with
director Sam Levinson?
LRD: “I had the best time ever working with Sam and I’ve said
this before, he’s my favourite director that I’ve ever worked
with. I’ve never felt so creatively inspired and fulfilled and like
I learned more, also, I feel like I learned more on this set
than I have ever. The creative environment that Sam creates on
set, to me, is conducive to the best work I feel like I have done
and it brought the best out of everyone. We did a lot of improv
which was really fun, which was really new for me. It taught me
so much and I feel like it just made me a better actress. And
I just couldn’t have felt more supported by Sam. It felt like a big
creative playground where we were free to try things and have it
work or not work. It felt like a really safe creative space.”
VA: Does that extend all the way to sex scenes, too?
LRD: “Oh yeah. For me, the whole character and the show and
her arc was really a collaboration through and through. We
know that we’re making something provocative and we are not
shying away from that. That’s something I knew I was setting
86
out to do from the beginning. I was never interested in making
something puritanical. It’s okay if this show isn’t for everyone
and that’s fine – I think all the best art is [polarising]. I’ve never
felt more respected and more safe on a set, honestly. And I think
the trust that we all built with each other, you and I, and
Sam and I, and Abel and I, that can only make for a really
safe-feeling set. So when it comes to the nudity and the risqué
nature of the role, that to me was really intentional. That was
really important to me and something that I was excited about
doing. I’m not scared of it. I think we live in a highly sexualised
world. I think that’s an interesting thing to explore.”
VA: Troye, any thoughts?
TS: “I show my bum in the show!”
VA: Not in the episodes that I’ve seen.
TS: [To Depp] “Does it make it into the show?”
LRD: [Sheepishly] “Um, honestly, I don’t know. I was just
focusing on your voice! But I feel like I would’ve noticed.”
TS: “So, I just finished making my album and I just spent
a couple of weeks hanging out with another musician and their
camp while they’re in the middle of making their album, and
the two processes couldn’t be more different. Mine is pretty
vanilla, it’s me and my best friend and we stay in these really
nice hotels and it’s this really clean process. And then I was in
the depths of this album-making process with someone else,
and it’s 10 people, they’re sleeping on the floor, spending 24/7
together. Sure, you could call one of those processes from the
outside, this is chaos, this is crazy, but at the end of the day,
however, you want to creatively work, that’s your prerogative as
the director, or producer. The word chaos has this negative
connotation to it, but there was this electricity on set.”
LRD: “Totally.”
TS: “For me, as someone who has never worked in TV before,
this was an experience of a lifetime. And yeah, sometimes I was
intimidated or petrified or whatever, but I was really happy to be
creatively pushed in that way, even if it did get tough.”
LRD: “It happens to be my favourite way to work. I’ve done
other things, but this was not only the most fun but also the
most – I felt like it allowed me to tap into something in myself
that I hadn’t before. My favourite thing ever was going on set
and being like, ‘I’m not actually sure what this scene’s about, I’m
not sure what this scene’s going to be. We might just improvise
the whole thing, or not.’ I really like that spontaneity and that was
something I learned about myself shooting, that’s something that
really works for me. I like being kept on my toes, creatively,
that way. It allowed all of us to be super-loose and super
-connected with each other. You have to be kind of locked in
with each other so you can flow creatively in that way.”
VA: As The Idol airs its final episode this month, how did it feel
to say goodbye?
LRD: “I’ll never say goodbye to Jocelyn. It was such a beautiful
time in my life, honestly, shooting this, with you, with all of us
and everything. I’ll never forget it and it will live in my heart
forever. I love this character so much, I feel like she has really
DANIEL JACKSON
changed me and also taught me so, so, so much.”
TS: “It doesn’t feel like we’ve said goodbye at all. It feels like
we’re just getting started.”
The Idol is streaming now on Binge.
PUPPETS AND
PUPPETS dress, $2,975.
Hair: Sam McKnight
(Lily-Rose), Sophie
Roberts (Troye Sivan)
Make-up: Isamaya Ffrench
Manicure: Adam Slee
Set design: Tilly Power
Production: Honor Hellon
Production
 Rich mix
Off the back of its Métiers
d’art collection in Dakar,
Chanel invites fashion to
lose itself in the colour
and layered influences
of the vibrant city.
Styled by Julia Sarr-Jamois.
Photographed by Nadine Ijewere.

From left: Mame wears a THEBE MAGUGU

jacket, $950, and shirt dress, P.O.A. ACADEMY
COSTUMES vintage earrings, P.O.A. CHANEL
bracelets, on right hand, $2,840, and $1,530 each,
and on left hand, $2,840, and $1,530 each; Anok
wears a PROENZA SCHOULER top, $7,760, and
skirt, $9,990. CHANEL earrings, $2,240, and
necklaces, $1,720, and $2,000, from the Chanel
boutiques. GILLIAN HORSUP vintage belt,
P.O.A.; Sophia wears an AHLUWALIA jacket,
$1,650, and shirt, $605. JENNIFER GIBSON
JEWELLERY vintage earrings, P.O.A. All prices
approximate; details at Vogue.com.au/WTB.

88
 From left: Mona
wears a CHANEL
vest, $1,010, top, worn
underneath, $23,220,
pants, $8,330, and
necklaces, $5,540,
$1,430, $1,650, and
$3,110; Anok wears a
CHANEL jumpsuit,
$12,790, skirt, $23,220,
necklaces, $3,620, and
$1,430, and belt,
$4,950, from the
Chanel boutiques.
 LUKHANYO
MDINGI blazer,
P.O.A. CHARVET
shirt, P.O.A.
PHILOSOPHY
pants, $805.
ACADEMY
COSTUMES
vintage earrings,
P.O.A. CHANEL
necklace, $4,950,
and belt, $9,840. SI
ROSSI shoes, $679.
NADINE IJEWERE
PUCCI jacket, $3,230, and shirt, $1,420. SINDISO KHUMALO pants, P.O.A. VERSACE earrings and belt, both P.O.A.
 From left: Mona
wears a MOSCHINO
suit and shirt, both
P.O.A. BELTBE belt,
$40. CHANEL necklace,
$6,800, from the Chanel
boutiques. GILLIAN
HORSUP vintage
NADINE IJEWERE

necklace, P.O.A.;
Anok wears a TOLU
COKER jumpsuit,
P.O.A. 4ELEMENT
vintage earrings, P.O.A.
 ANDREAS
KRONTHALER
FOR VIVIENNE
WESTWOOD sleeveless
cardigan, tunic and skirt,
all P.O.A. JENNIFER
GIBSON JEWELLERY
vintage necklace, P.O.A.
GILLIAN HORSUP
vintage belt, P.O.A.
FALKE socks, $50.
NOMASEI shoes, $590.
CHANEL coat, $12,280,
vest, $13,120, sweater,
$5,050, pants, $4,880,
necklaces, $6,800, and
$2,960, belt, $4,950,
bag, $7,690, and shoes,
$2,270, from the
Chanel boutiques.
 From left: Mona wears
a RICH MNISI jacket
and pants, both P.O.A.
JENNIFER GIBSON
JEWELLERY vintage
earrings, P.O.A.; Anok
wears an ORANGE
CULTURE dress, $1,040.
4ELEMENT vintage
earrings, P.O.A.
Hair: Yann Turchi
Make-up: Hiromi Ueda
NADINE IJEWERE

Manicure: Melinda Santo

Models: Ibrahim Kane,
Sophia Makibdji, Kathia
Ndong, Mame Sane,
Mona Tougaard, Anok Yai
 Fever pitch
As the Matildas get set for the tournament of their lifetime, four
of the top players speak of their unbreakable bond and desire to
turn the moment into greater momentum for women in sport,
with the proud support of Nike. By Jessica Montague.
Styled by Harriet Crawford. Photographed by James Robjant.
Opposite page: Steph Catley (left) wears a NIKE puffer jacket, $220, and shoes, $350. VICTORIA BECKHAM
dress, $2,525. Kyah Simon wears a NIKE puffer jacket, $235, and socks, $20. CHRISTOPHER KANE top and skirt,
both P.O.A. NIKE X JACQUEMUS shoes, $150. This page: Sam Kerr wears an NIKE X AMBUSH jacket, P.O.A.,
and T-shirt, $90. MOLLY GODDARD pants, $1,195. All prices approximate; details at Vogue.com.au/WTB.

Vogue July 2023 101

 I
t’s been called the biggest sporting event to hit our shores
since the Sydney 2000 Olympics. The world game, played
by 32 of the top women’s football teams, all vying for glory.
It’s the first time a football world championships, male or
female, has been held across Australia and New Zealand and
leading the charge on July 20 will be the Matildas, proudly
donning the green and gold against Ireland.
Front and centre in that opening match will be Sam Kerr,
captain of the Matildas and its star striker, fresh from
a phenomenal UK season at Chelsea where she shot her team
to a fourth consecutive Women’s Super League title and third
successive FA Cup victory. The 29-year-old is our greatest female
sporting star on the world stage and on the verge of leading the
Matildas to have, what commentators are calling, their Cathy
Freeman moment: achieving what’s never been done before on
our home soil and capturing the heart of our nation in the process.
Ever the calm, confident performer under pressure, Kerr
knows her time – both as a preternaturally skilled player and
natural-born leader – has come. “It’s nice to finally be able to
turn my focus to the World Cup and the tournament coming
up. For so long it’s been all focused on Chelsea, but now it’s
focused on the Matildas and on how I can perform for my
national team. This is probably going to be the biggest moment
of all our careers, so it’s exciting,” she says. “I think it’s hard to
grasp how big it will be, but physically I’m ready.”
And so are we. That tournament opener against Ireland had
to be moved from the Sydney Football Stadium to Homebush to
allow for extra capacity. Latest figures show sales are close to the
83,500 capacity. Organisers are confident that more than 1.5
102
million seats in nine cities across Australia and New Zealand
will be filled, in what is anticipated to be the most attended
women’s football event of all time.
Kerr is experienced in creating big moments, in big games, in
front of big crowds. “I always believe in myself, that’s part of
what keeps me in games. I’ve always got this massive belief
whether I’m having a good game or a bad game, I always believe
that I will score and that I will come up with that moment,” she
says, of navigating the pressure.
Playing in the most popular overseas competition has also
given her the best preparation for being a Matilda. “We played
at Wembley recently in front of 77,000 and the same as that in
Barcelona. It’s as close as you can get to replicating a home
world cup. There are massive pressures against the best players
in the world and testing yourself, week in, week out, is the best
practice for those big games, those big moments.”
But before all that, there’s a photo shoot to be done. On a grey
London Friday morning in May, Kerr, along with three of her
teammates, vice-captain Steph Catley, Kyah Simon and Hayley
Raso, unite to shoot for Vogue, in partnership with Nike, an
official partner of the Matildas.
The mood is as jovial as the pops of primary colours hanging
on clothing racks; it’s a bit like playing dress-ups as the athletes
lean in to their off-field personalities to model the sporting
giant’s latest collections, as well as their official team jersey.
JAMES ROBJANT
For the most senior member of the team, 32-year-old Kyah
Simon, who has notched up 100 caps and is the only Indigenous
player to achieve such a milestone, it was the ultimate mood
enhancer. She’s racing against the clock to be ready this →
 HAYLEY RASO
“I like to look girly, I
like to put on make-up.
I definitely like fashion
and being able to mix
and match certain
things to see what
looks good.”

Opposite page, from left: Kyah wears a CHRISTIAN DIOR dress, $52,000. NIKE skivvy, $70, socks, $20, and shoes, $350. BULGARI
earrings, $75,800; Sam wears a MOLLY GODDARD blazer, $1,650, and pants, $1,195. NIKE X AMBUSH T-shirt, $90, and shoes, $270;
Steph wears a MARNI coat, $3,530, and top, $1,230. NIKE sports bra, $60, socks, $20, and shoes, $350. This page: Hayley Rasa wears
a DOLCE & GABBANA bodysuit, P.O.A. NIKE tracksuit pants, $130, and cap, $35. BULGARI ring, $82,700.

Vogue July 2023 103

 KYAH SIMON

This page: Steph (left)

wears a NIKE jersey, $115,
socks, $20, and shoes, $299.
N°21 skirt, P.O.A. Kyah
wears a NIKE jersey, $115,
and shoes, $140. R13 jeans,
$950. OUR LEGACY belt,
$250. CARTIER watch,
$31,300. Opposite page:
Hayley wears an EMPORIO
ARMANI top, P.O.A. NIKE
pants, $120, and shoes
(on wall), $350. OUR
LEGACY belt, $250.
 month after tearing her anterior cruciate ligament playing for Olympics, they finished fourth; last November they beat world
Tottenham Hotspurs last October; heartbreakingly, she also number three Sweden 4-0; and in April the Matildas ended the
missed the tournament four years ago due to injury. At previous 30-game winning streak of the English Lionesses by winning
championships, she has been one of the Matildas’ top scorers. 2-0, just 100 days out from competition.
“Rehab is a very isolated process. Obviously when you’re in “We’re so confident in our ability,” confirms Kerr. “I think
a team sport, you’re used to being around the girls and being when we play our best, we’ve beaten some of the top teams in the
in team training, in team gym, everything, [but] it’s been myself world. But for us, in this tournament, it’s one game at a time and
and my physio,” she shares. “Although we all live in the same city I know that sounds so clichéd, but it is so hard to win anything
in London, I feel like we don’t really cross paths as often as you’d at an international level. So if we get too far ahead of ourselves,
think. So to see the girls – we’ve all known each other for years we’ll fall short,” she concludes. “One game at a time with this
– to be together, building hype for the world cup and doing team. I mean, with the mentality we have and togetherness we
a cool Vogue shoot together was definitely a nice place to be.” have, we can do those things.”
“It’s only on the odd occasion we do an appearance or we Supporting them steadfastly, both on and off the pitch, is Nike
finally get a chance to organise a dinner that we get to hang out,” which has unveiled its most innovative and meaningful
echoes Steph Catley, 29, who is a defender for Arsenal. “To be Australian Women’s National Football Team Kit to date. Look
able to see each other, wear cool clothes, be in this kind of closely at the Home green-and-gold jersey and you’ll spot the
environment in front of the camera and have a laugh with your handcrafted acrylic pour and marbling pattern – “It represents
teammates … you know, the girls are some of my best friends, the team because everyone’s different and unique and had their
we’ve known each other for so long.” own journey to get to where they are to wear their jersey,” says
It’s this camaraderie that dials up the Matildas’ chemistry on the Raso – while inside, a For All pride mark promotes inclusivity,
pitch (all four were teenagers when they made their international a message the Matildas are proud to quite literally wear on
debuts, with Kerr the youngest of the four, aged just 15). “We’re their sleeve. The turquoise Away kit is more dynamic and →
a team that’s so deeply connected,” confirms
28-year-old wing Hayley Raso, who recently
wrapped up her contract at Manchester City. “We
obviously play at our own clubs and spend most of
the year apart, but once we come together, there’s
such a family feel, we’re such a united group.”
“I’ve grown up alongside these girls since
I was like 13 or 14,” continues Catley. “We’ve all
been together from that age, spent weeks and
weeks together in camps and we’re still doing
the exact same thing but at the highest level
now. Spending that amount of time with people
who share a common goal, a common love and
a passion for the same thing and being a Matilda
– it’s really powerful. On the field, this is why
we have gotten now, as a team, to the better
ranks in the world, because of the connection,
because of our friendships and wanting to fight
for each other.”
“I think it helps on the pitch because when the
going gets tough, we’ve all had to lean on each
other,” agrees Kerr. “I think it’s kind of like the
Aussie spirit. When you play for your club,
you’re all different nationalities, but when you
play for your country, everyone is so proud about
being Australian.
“Everyone has that never-say-die attitude that
all Aussies do,” the captain concludes. “And all
Aussies love an underdog and we kind of play on
that. We love that we’re the underdog mostly
and I think that’s what brings us together and
allows us to achieve more than we should.
Australia, as a non-dominant football country,
we’ve achieved so much.”
Let’s take stock of those achievements.
Heading in to the month-long championship,
culminating in the grand final on August 20,
Australia is ranked 10th in the world, behind
JAMES ROBJANT

favourites, including the reigning title holders

USA, England and Spain. Even so, there are
high hopes for the team to exceed their previous
best of making the quarter finals. At the Tokyo

Vogue July 2023 105


youthful; representing a nation that is vibrant, energetic and
looking boldly to the future.
Each player raves that the jerseys instil confidence. “When you
feel good, you perform to the best of your ability and our new kit
is absolutely incredible,” shares Kerr. That’s no coincidence. As
Jordie Katcher, VP of Women’s Global Sports Apparel at Nike,
explains, the highest level of tech is woven throughout the gear.
“Innovation is our competitive advantage at Nike, it is in our
DNA,” she says. “Our investment in women is like it never has
been before; we’ve doubled our overall investment in research and
development to be able to serve women and the world cup.” The
new DRI-FIT ADV technology gives elite bodies mobility and
breathability, while the Pro Short comes integrated with Nike
Leak Protection period innovation. “It is so critical we continue
to show young girls and women that sport is a place for them,”
urges Katcher. “We know young women are dropping out of sport
at twice the rate of boys, so we are looking to make sure we’re
providing everyone the opportunity to see that sport is for them.”
Katcher is equally as positive about the long-lasting effects of
these championships, especially since the previous competition
reached 1.12 billion viewers globally. This underpins their wider
campaign Nike Decade of Her, which showcases the brand’s
commitment to be ‘her’ greatest supporters, on and off the field.
106
This page, left: Kyah wears an
ANN DEMEULEMEESTER
jacket, $3,090, and skirt, $1,535.
NIKE jumper, $110. Below:
Steph wears a NIKE jacket,
$220. DION LEE dress, $890.
Opposite page: Sam wears
a NICHOLAS DALEY jacket,
$1,055, and pants, $870. NIKE
shirt, $90, and shoes, $170.
Hair: Kanae Kikuchi
Make-up: Michelle Dacillo
Manicure: Jada-Elize Lorentz
Props stylist: Sophie King
Production: Shiny Projects
“We feel like this moment, when we look back on it in 10 years,
we will say that was the moment women’s sport changed.”
This impact is not lost on Kerr and co either. Simon says she
has already noticed a shift. “This kind of movement in terms of
women’s sport in Australia has been progressing massively in
the past three to five years. And it’s definitely something we feel
as players. We’ve got one of the highest participation rates at
a grassroots level for any sport for females, which is amazing,
and that’s [before] a home world cup.”
“I think it’s just going to skyrocket and become the future,”
agrees Raso. “There’s a moment [here] for us to create that legacy
and for us to create history, and for us to do something really
special in Australia. I always want to inspire the next generation.
I think we’re the right team to do that.”
The last word is best left to Kerr, who is also our top goalscorer
of all time. “Anytime I talk about it, I get excited.” Especially,
she says, at the idea of singing the national anthem in front of
packed stadiums and seeing friends and family in the crowd. “I
think that will be the whole moment where everything comes
JAMES ROBJANT
together,” she reflects. “We’ll probably all be holding back tears
because it’s so much bigger than 90 minutes of football or two
minutes of national anthems. It’s going to be full circle. Hopefully
the stadium’s full and it’s a moment we remember for history.” ■
Vogue July 2023 107
JOSH CROLL, RONAN PARK
COURTESY ROBERT WUN
The
Wun
and
only
Robert Wun is on a roll.
After nearly 10 years
establishing his own
label, his designs have
become the go-to for
razor-sharp originality.
By Alison Veness.

R
obert Wun is reflecting on where he is in his career
right now. “I suppose it feels great,” says the 32-year-
old. “A lot of people work very hard to be at this spot,
so I am very grateful. It’s incredible to work with so many
people I look up to, watching them walk the carpet or do a
concert. To work with them is incredible.”
Among those Wun has dressed are artists Cardi B, Doja Cat,
Lady Gaga, Burna Boy and Erykah Badu, an impressive list that
just keeps snowballing. For his Karl Lagerfeld-inspired cockerel-
feathered gown at this year’s Met Gala, the designer worked with
singer-songwriter Tems and her team including stylist Dunsin
Wright, with the custom design researched by Australian Kim
Russell, known on social media as The Kimbino.
Soon after, in late May, Wun dressed Rawdah Mohamed for
the Cannes Film Festival, the dramatic look gaining global
attention. “When we got that request, I knew Rawdah definitely
wanted ‘the Scorched Bride’ dress. She envisioned it and knew
it was going to cause a scene. I feel like it made so much sense
because the Cannes red carpet, which is full of beautiful stone
embroidery, jewel-covered gowns, looks like the haute couture
calendar,” he says of the singed-hem gown from his spring/
summer ’23 couture collection.
The Cannes reveal was poignant for Wun. “It doesn’t look like
it belongs to a red carpet, but somehow it’s there and I feel there’s
nothing more exciting to be able to create something like that
for an event like that – embodied by someone like herself who
can carry it so well. It was a powerful moment, I felt powerful.”
The lead-up to that triumph began in January this year when
Wun was invited by the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture
in Paris to show on the prestigious couture schedule – a first for a
designer born and raised in Hong Kong and an achievement he
hopes made his family proud. “I’ve got an older sister, Mum →

Vogue July 2023 109

 This page and centre: backstage at
Robert Wun haute couture spring/summer ’23.
“I do see myself as capable of running the Robert Wun brand – the couture
and Dad. All of them are in Hong Kong, they all live together,”
he says. Wun himself is based in London. Having studied at the
London College of Fashion, graduating in 2012, he has lived and
worked in Dalston, East London for the past decade.
His spring/summer ’23 couture collection was extraordinary,
inspired by the designer’s own sense of dealing with fear in an
abstract way and rendering it utterly beautiful. Horror films also
provided inspiration, ‘the Scorched Bride’, and ‘the Bleeding
Coat’ key examples.
It was a team of just nine people who brought the vision to life.
“We have that ability to do grand things with such a small
team,” he says. “We are more inexperienced compared to other
couture brands, with a lot less funding as well, but I felt it’s
exactly because of the many years past that I knew how to make
things happen even when you don’t have all the resources or
support in the industry.”
Wun thrives on pure passion driven by a desire to make
memorable clothes. Hence ‘the Rain’, a coat that took more than
600 hours to complete featuring 30,000 Swarovski clear crystals
as rainfalls and droplets; and the handpainted and dyed ‘Wine
Stain Gown’, which could equally appear blood-splattered.
“I see my work as very sculptured, but I definitely think
it’s very clean-cut. I love things that can build a strong shape,
but it’s not about the shape, it’s about the atmosphere,” says
Wun. “I love using silhouettes to tell the story, so I would say
a strong shape is definitely part of the DNA. I love how that can
transform people. At the end of the day, even a simple silk
chiffon dress drapes in different ways that can transform the
body but still looks soft and floaty.”
110
The invitation to show on the couture schedule was a natural
next step, having impressed the jury of the ANDAM Fashion
Award in Paris in 2022 where Wun scooped the Special Prize.
Many of those jurors were also on the executive committee
of the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture, among them,
the highly respected Bruno Pavlovsky, president of both the
organisation and Chanel.
“Going over for ANDAM, I remember the moment we got to
Paris on the Eurostar. My aim was to not embarrass myself in
front of the board members and CEOs. I was not expecting to
win,” Wun says. “To be able to win and to be able to hear a lot
of very optimistic feedback after receiving the award and to be
able to meet some of the jury, I feel like a lot of doors opened for
us in Paris specifically.” Wun was unanimously voted onto the
couture schedule. He received the career-changing phone call at
9am, which he recalls vividly. “It was very emotional for me.”
At first, he felt it might be an impossible undertaking, since he
had never considered haute couture a platform to explore
something new, given how steeped in history it is. Instead, he
did what he does best: leaned in to a fresh perspective “to explore
further to bring more concepts”. Those concepts have seen
orders placed until December. “I’m very glad, because I know
our own collection is more towards the conceptual couture side,
which is not necessarily appealing to the traditional couture
client. But they are able to see that and to work on a custom
design or look at some of our archival work.”
The collection was made in the London atelier that includes
a close team that’s been with him from the beginning. His
machinist focuses on couture orders for clients and VIP
 Rawdah
Mohamed in
Beyoncé on the ‘Scorched
stage in London Bride’ dress
wearing custom in Cannes.
Robert Wun in
June for her
world tour.

Cardi B in Robert
Wun at Vanity Fair’s
2023 Oscars party.
Right: Tems in
Robert Wun at the
Met Gala in May.

label we have right now – and being a creative director of a house”

dressing, and has been with Wun since he graduated, while his
head of design started as an intern.
Wun launched his namesake label in 2014. In the fashionverse,
there’s an instant “will they or won’t they capture the zeitgeist
and nail a handbag?” judgemental pressure. But that expectation
has been neatly kicked to the curb by Wun, with the designer
proving his longevity, humility and ingenuity.
“I suppose nowadays it’s quite rare to see designers who are
starting to get noticed after 10 years of build-up. I think we’re
getting used to a sort of rhythm that you either have to make it
in the first three years or four years, or you just give up. Perhaps
there are other ways for designers to shine through their work,”
he muses. “Now, looking at all the years, they helped me make
my foundation a lot stronger.” His advice to younger designers is
to take their time.
As his business and success has gained momentum, the offers
and projects have gathered around him. But he cautions to stay
committed to the core brand. “No matter what,” he says, adding
that even if job offers arise for design positions elsewhere,
JOSH CROLL, GETTY IMAGES, RONAN PARK
Wun has huge admiration for designers who have succeeded
in juggling both. He cites Jonathan Anderson and Raf Simons,
the latter who helmed Dior and Jil Sander, creating timeless and
elegant womenswear and even couture while maintaining his
DNA and modern contemporary vision. “I think that’s how you
can prove to be an actual designer, you’re versatile and you can
adapt. Your vision still shines through everywhere. I would love
to take on that challenge.”
Tantalisingly, he says he has signed numerous NDAs, but can
reveal how his next year is mapped out. Right now, he’s working
on tour looks for Beyoncé, someone he looked up to since his
days as a fashion student. “I would just loop her live concert
when I was sitting in my bedroom back in Brixton. I would be
playing her album nonstop. I used her music working through
my whole graduate collection. So, to be able to do something
for her felt very emotional. That’s one of the things I’m most
excited about now.”
Wun is on track for couture again next January. Bruno
Pavlovsky has introduced him to Chanel’s le19M, the haute

a platform of your own preserves “your passion in the industry
because it’s your own platform”.
He is, however, honest about his ambitions. “I would love
to get a job as well,” he says. “I do see myself as capable of
COURTESY ROBERT WUN
couture “factory” where more than 11 métiers numbering about
600 artisans work together. “It’s coming together beautifully;
it’s almost like a chapter two from our last show. It’s not
going to be the same theme, but it’s almost like me getting

doing both: running the Robert Wun brand – the couture
label we have right now where we can focus on developing this
collection which can be timeless and conceptual – and being
a creative director of a house, which would be very
interesting … to see if I could translate my designs into
other perspectives.”
very comfortable in the sense of why I design and how I can
carry on. I am still using my emotion as the inspiration.”
This, he says, will be about his passion “to carry on, because
it’s so draining, this industry. To be able to stay in it is so
difficult. That is a beautiful thing in itself, so love and passion
– that will be the inspiration.” ■

Vogue July 2023 111

 Lost and found
For her latest starring role, the adaptation of
a bestselling Australian novel into a wrenching
miniseries, actor Alycia Debnam-Carey finds
her way back home. By Hannah-Rose Yee.

Styled by Kaila Matthews. Photographed by Charles Dennington.

A
lycia Debnam-Carey has an idea. We’ll go for a walk, she says, her Sydney
“best kept secret”: the winding path from Bradleys Head to Chowder Bay,
visions of the Harbour Bridge hovering around every corner. When we meet
for this interview, the actor will have just landed in her hometown after the 14-hour
flight from Los Angeles, her other hometown for the past decade. She’ll be jet-lagged!
She will want to walk! Except then she looks up the forecast. Bitterly cold rain, and
a lot of it. This will not do. It is a long walk, maybe too long, actually, for an interview.
(Even though, as I discover, Debnam-Carey has a lot of things to say.) “We would just
be walking. For hours,” she laughs. We are not on the walk. Instead, we are at the Art
Gallery of New South Wales, because this was Debnam-Carey’s other brilliant idea:
the Archibald Prize is on. Wouldn’t that be nice on a rainy Thursday morning?
As it turns out, lots of other people have had the exact same idea as Debnam-Carey.
The Archibald Prize is packed. Though nobody seems to have clocked that the star
of Fear the Walking Dead or next month’s The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, with three
million Instagram followers hanging off her every post, is perusing the paintings
among them.
Debnam-Carey says she doesn’t know much about the technicalities of art, but the
fact is that she knows the only thing there is to know, which is that good art – the best
art – is something that moves you. She looks for a long time at a portrait of the artist
Atong Atem by Shevaun Wright and Sophia Hewson, who captured the painter,
hauntingly still, in a landscape of her memories. She loves Kaylene Whiskey’s
self-portrait, a riot of colour (and Dolly Parton). In the next room, we spot Laura
Jones’s rendering of Claudia Karvan backstage at the Sydney Theatre Company. “How
great is that green light?” Debnam-Carey enthuses, pointing out the shadow of neon
falling across Karvan’s face. “Now I’m like, ‘Oh, it’s backstage: it’s the spotlight.’” Alycia Debnam-
Carey wears a
We reach the end of the exhibition and Debnam-Carey realises that we, the people, CHRISTIAN DIOR
are the arbiters of the People’s Choice Award. She takes this task very seriously. “I feel dress, $15,000.
like I need to do another whip around,” she notes gravely. Eventually, she settles on All prices
approximate;
Whiskey’s painting and dutifully casts her vote. Debnam-Carey turns to me with details at Vogue.
a smile. “Well, wasn’t that a delight!” → com.au/WTB.

112
 “Flower fields and
the Australian
bush, and the
earth, and this
sun-kissed farm
girl coming-of-age
in this challenging
drama … It was
just like: I need
it. I want it.
And it’s mine”
Debnam-Carey was home in Sydney’s inner west in early 2021
when she first heard about Prime Video’s adaptation of Holly
Ringland’s bestselling novel The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart, about
the legacy of intergenerational trauma. For the entirety of her
20s, Debnam-Carey has lived in LA, while starring in two
beloved cult shows, both post-apocalyptic and harrowing: The
100, about survivors of a nuclear apocalypse, and Fear the Walking
Dead, a spin-off of the phenomenally popular zombie franchise
The Walking Dead, which remains one of the most watched
television shows of the decade. At the end of the seventh season
of Fear, Debnam-Carey’s character met her end. For 10 years, she
says, Fear had been her whole identity; she celebrated every
birthday of her 20s at Comic-Con promoting the show. “I was
like, I need to branch out. I need to reinvent, and feel fresh, and
grow and challenge myself.” She was also, she admits, “desperate
to come home”. Lost Flowers appeared before her like a miracle.
CHARLES DENNINGTON
“Flower fields and the Australian bush, and the earth, and this
sun-kissed farm girl coming-of-age in this challenging drama,”
Debnam-Carey reels off. “It was just like: I need it. I want it.
And it’s mine. And I’ve never had any feeling like this before.”
We’re sitting inside Sydney Modern’s restaurant, waiting for
lunch to arrive. Debnam-Carey is an excellent date: bubbly,
earnest, a bundle of bright, effervescent energy, clad comfortably
in an oversized black suit from The Frankie Shop, hands jammed
with golden rings. As a child, she says she was strong-willed.
“I knew what I liked. I knew what I didn’t like,” she smiles
mischievously. “Focused. Perfectionist. Very determined.” These
are all characteristics she still has today; the traits that drove her
to excel in her studies at Newtown Performing Arts and led
her to acting. She channelled that same determination into
auditioning for the role of Alice in Lost Flowers, whose journey of
self-discovery, set against the Australian outback and a history
of family violence, is the backbone of the series. She was filming
the final season of Fear “in a field in Texas” when she found out
that she had won the role. “It felt like winning the lottery.”
“We underwent a massive search to find an actress who could
embody this extraordinarily complex character of Alice,” shares
producer Jodi Matterson, who alongside Bruna Papandrea is
behind Lost Flowers. “When I saw [Alycia’s] first audition, she
was a revelation. She effortlessly brought strength, vulnerability
and truth to the character.” Director Glendyn Ivin says that he
“could tell she was ready for something different” after Fear.
“We tested some pretty intense scenes, a lot of crying, and
Alycia wasn’t afraid to commit. She moved me to tears. →
Vogue July 2023 115
 CHRISTIAN DIOR top, $1,400, and skirt, $5,700. CARTIER earrings, $16,800, necklaces, $14,300, and $13,400, bracelets,
$6,000, and $5,600, and rings, on right hand, $27,600, and $11,300, and on left hand, $7,400, $6,950, and $14,700.

116
I loved that about her.” Ringland’s original novel is beloved; both
Matterson and Debnam-Carey are fans. There were “vivid scenes”
the actor had held in her head since first reading the book. “[Alice]
eating the peaches from the tin in the dusty dirt in the sundress with
yellow printed flowers all over it,” she recounts. “When we shot that,
it was really powerful for me.”
Ringland says she was floored by Debnam-Carey’s performance.
“She left me speechless,” the author admits to Vogue Australia.
“There she was, Alice Hart, right in front of my eyes exactly as I’d
imagined and created her. Earthy, grounded, hopeful, strong,
vulnerable, angry and deeply traumatised, but still so full of
inextinguishable light and an undimmed sense of wonder.”
For Debnam-Carey, Lost Flowers is full of serendipity. There’s the
fact that her first ever role when she was just eight – Rachel Ward’s
short film Martha’s New Coat – was shot in the same town that
served as the location for Thornfield, the flower farm belonging to
Alice’s grandmother, played in the series by the legendary Sigourney
Weaver. Or that she’s a “real flower nerd”. (An hour into our gallery
excursion she reveals that she draws them as a mindfulness
technique. “So on brand,” she says, rolling her eyes a little.) Or that
as a teenager she was cast by Baz Luhrmann to appear in an
“extraordinary tableau” he was staging of the Virgin Mary dragging
Jesus Christ from the cross that would serve as an inspiration for
a painting that would – bear with us – eventually hang inside the
Mandarin Oriental in Hong Kong. (This, like most Baz Luhrmann
stories, is so wild it can only be true.) The painter? Vincent Fantauzzo,
none other than the multiple Archibald Prize-winning artist
husband of Asher Keddie, Debnam-Carey’s co-star in Lost Flowers.
“I told Asher … you’re going to think I’m insane,” Debnam-Carey
laughs, her face alive with the story. “And she was like, ‘We have the
print in our house! And I didn’t realise it was you!’”
Debnam-Carey’s passion for the series radiates off her. She talks
animatedly about filming in Alice Springs in the ancient gorges
where her character eventually finds refuge. “The sunsets there are
just unreal! You’re seeing these pink and purple streaks across the
sky, and they’re mirrored in the watering hole,” she reminisces.
“It was just magical.” Working with the tight-knit team in the
Northern Territory was “wholesome”; cast and crew swimming
together at lunch and firing up the barbecue. “It brought me back to
when I was eight, filming Martha’s New Coat. It felt like the circus
had come to town, and we’re all making a play together and we get
to dress up and laugh and share ideas.”
To handle Lost Flowers’ sensitive subject matter, Debnam-Carey
spoke often with director Ivin about avoiding “trauma porn” and
creating a safe environment for all on set. The actor swears by
a routine of “taking a shower, trying to leave it there” to switch off
after difficult scenes. (“There were days where Alycia would have to
‘cry’ all day on set and she would leave set totally drained but
smiling,” Ivin marvels.) But she was also supported by her co-stars,
led by Weaver as June, Alice’s forthright grandmother, Leah Purcell
as June’s steadfast partner Twig, Tilda Cobham-Hervey as Alice’s
mother Agnes, and Keddie as Agnes’s confidante Sally. “They’re all
such powerhouses,” Debnam-Carey enthuses.
The experience of making Lost Flowers in Australia continues to
inspire Debnam-Carey; “I wanna work on a film back here,” she
exclaims, declaring Sydney is her “soul home”. It’s a city full of
family and friends, “really good food” and swimming in the ocean.
Whenever she comes home, she stays at her parents’ place in the →

Vogue July 2023 117

 “I used to feel
so inadequate in
rooms, like, ‘Oh,
they’re not gonna
think I’m good
enough.’ I finally
feel like I can
check myself …
You do have the
experience to back
yourself up. You
can trust your
instincts. You
do know what
you’re doing”
inner west and sleeps in her childhood bedroom. It’s a humbling experience.
(“Back again,” she laughs. “Still single.”)
Her goals for the future are clear: a period drama or “something a little bit more light
and comedic, maybe”. But before all that, she grins, “I’m going to Italy.’’ She hasn’t had
a proper holiday in 10 years; this month she is off to Puglia with a bunch of her
girlfriends – her oldest mates from Sydney as well as newer ones from Hollywood – to
celebrate her 30th birthday. “I’m buying a ridiculous wardrobe for it,” she says. “I’m on
The Real Real all the time like, ‘Mmhmm, I do need that Tom Ford for Gucci dress!”
Debnam-Carey loves fashion. She is a friend of Dior and Cartier; at her Vogue photo
shoot, in between contorting her body in an ivory Dior shift dress – “this entire day has
been a pilates class for me” – she namechecks 90s Kate Moss and Carrie Bradshaw as
her style icons. “I just want to eat pasta and drink wine and wear cute outfits,” she sums
This page: CHRISTIAN
up, of her Italian birthday plans. “Is that too much to ask?” DIOR vest, $3,300,
But how is she feeling about turning 30? “I’m actually really excited,” she says. “I think and jeans, $2,450.
my 20s were frantic … fuelled with so much of my own pressure and expectation of what CARTIER earrings,
$16,800, and bracelets,
I needed to achieve.” She’s learned to embrace “pockets of peace” and to trust in herself, $6,000, and $5,600.
CHARLES DENNINGTON

especially after putting her hand up to direct an episode of Fear in her final season. “I used Opposite page: LOEWE
to feel so inadequate in rooms, like, ‘Oh, they’re not gonna think I’m good enough,’” dress, $1,700. CARTIER
Debnam-Carey muses. “I finally feel like I can check myself … You do have the experience bracelets, $6,000,
and $5,600.
to back yourself up. You can trust your instincts. You do know what you’re doing.”
Hair: Lok Lau
The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart is on Prime Video from August 4. A new edition of Holly Make-up: Isabella Schimid
Ringland’s book, The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart (4th Estate AU, $22.99), is on sale now. Set design: Roze Hooij

118
120
Opposite page: ALAÏA dress, bracelets, tights and shoes, all P.O.A. This page: VIKTOR & ROLF coat, P.O.A. SAINT LAURENT earrings, $1,730.
MONIES necklace, P.O.A. CALZEDONIA tights, $20. SCHIAPARELLI shoes, P.O.A. All prices approximate; details at Vogue.com.au/WTB.

Light and heat

In the lingering Spanish sun, Australian model Aylah Peterson
tries on the season’s standout eveningwear – in all its gestural, spangled
glory – to carry pulse-raising temperature into the night.
Styled by Javier De Pardo. Photographed by David Gomez-Maestre.
Vogue July 2023 121
 This page: ZIMMERMANN dress, $3,500. INTIMISSIMI culottes, P.O.A. LOEWE earrings, P.O.A. GREEN COAST
bracelets, $20 each. GIVENCHY bracelets, P.O.A. MONIES bracelets, P.O.A. CALZEDONIA tights, $15. BLUMARINE shoes, $1,300.
Opposite page: VERSACE dress, $4,180. CHANEL hair bow, $1,105, and shoes, $2,590, from the Chanel boutiques.
DAVID GOMEZ-MAESTRE
DAVID GOMEZ-MAESTRE
Opposite page: PACO RABANNE dress and T-shirt, both P.O.A. BLAUER top, $95. SAINT LAURENT earrings, $1,730.
GIVENCHY necklace, P.O.A. This page: CHRISTIAN DIOR dress, $6,900, and ring, $1,650. JACQUEMUS gloves, P.O.A.
This page: LARHHA dress, P.O.A. SAINT LAURENT cuff, $2,360. CAZLEDONIA tights, $15.
GUESS shoes, $170. Opposite page: FERRAGAMO dress, P.O.A. ONRUSH pants, P.O.A.
MISCREANTS boa, P.O.A. LATOUCHE shoes, $175.
DAVID GOMEZ-MAESTRE
 This page: VALENTINO coat, P.O.A. STELLA MCCARTNEY jumpsuit, P.O.A. MONIES earrings, $360.
DOLCE & GABBANA gloves, $625. FERRAGAMO shoes, $1,750. Opposite page: BOTTEGA VENETA dress, $14,730.
DAVID GOMEZ-MAESTRE

SAINT LAURENT sunglasses, $985. SWAROVSKI earrings, $500. ALEXANDRE VAUTHIER boots, $3,600.
Hair & make-up: Gloria Rico. Model: Aylah Peterson.
IN COLLABORATION

French impressions
Languor and rigour collide in the unmistakable house codes of Saint Laurent
which smoulder with the original subversive allure of its namesake founder,
filtered for now through Anthony Vaccarello’s modern prism of liberated women.
Styled by Kaila Matthews. Photographed by Lilli Waters.
This page: SAINT LAURENT top, $2,890, and skirt, $8,410. Opposite page: SAINT LAURENT dress,
$4,900, cuffs, on right wrist, $1,735, and on left wrist, $1,900, and $1,735, and tights, $1,060.

130
LILLI WATERS
 Opposite page: SAINT LAURENT dress, $4,900, earrings, $1,735, bag, $7,600, and cuffs, $1,735 each.
This page: SAINT LAURENT dress, $4,290, earrings, $1,735, cuffs, $1,735 each, and boots, $4,385.
Hair: Chrissy Zemura. Make-up: Yasmin Goonweyn. Set design: Henry King. Model: Ambar Cristal.
LILLI WATERS

Vogue July 2023 135

BEAUTY

The eyes have it

Update that smudged black pencil look with a precision liner that will keep
you on the straight and narrow when adopting the boldest eye trends.
MAKE-UP ENY WHITEHEAD PHOTOGRAPHS JULIA CHAMPEAU

WORDS: KATRINA ISRAEL HAIR: MICHAL BIELECKI MODELS: YANA VAN GINNEKEN,
XINYE WANG ALL PRICES APPROXIMATE DETAILS AT VOGUE.COM.AU/WTB

Light touch
Opt for a waterproof felt-tipped liquid liner to draw meticulous strokes along the lashes when creating
a winged flick. “Use the tip of the pen for a fine line then angle it to give a thicker line,” explains
make-up artist Isabella Schimid. “This prevents having to go over and over the line to make it heavier.”
This page: TOM FORD Emotionproof Eyeliner in Dominateur, $73. BOBBI BROWN Smokey Eye Mascara, $60.
Opposite page: DIOR Diorshow On Stage Liner in 096 Satin Black, $61, and 24h Buildable Volume Mascara in 090 Black, $62.

136
Vogue July 2023 137
BEAUTY

All a flutter
Emphasise the lash line with a double sweep of
decadent liner, and highlight the cheekbones.

ALL PRICES APPROXIMATE DETAILS AT VOGUE.COM.AU/WTB

CHARLOTTE TILBURY The Feline Flick in Black Panther, $44. MECCA MAX Fluttering
Falsies On The DL, $12. TRINNY LONDON The Right Light Highlighter in Starlight, $46.
JULIA CHAMPEAU

138
 Abstract art
Experiment with swatches of pigment including opaque white to create a pattern effect
on eyelids with a swinging 60s feel. Finish with lashings of volumising mascara.
M.A.C LiquidLast 24-Hour Waterproof Liner in Wakanda Forever, $50. ARMANI BEAUTY Eyes To Kill Designer Eyeliner in Matte Onyx, $48.

Vogue July 2023 139

 Parallel definition
Try unexpected and playful linear strokes. The trick to make them match? “The best way to
embrace creative eyeliner detail around the eye is to draw the outline in a white or nude pencil first.
That way you can get an even balance on both sides and clean up any mistakes,” says Schimid.
BYREDO Eyeliner in Technical Black, $69. MORPHE M2 Always Online Gel Liner & Sharpener in Bare It, $10.

140
 BEAUTY

Felt feat
Create serious drama with velveteen lashes and add daring
flicks of noir. “Opt for liquid eyeliner pens which are easier to
use and don’t dry out as quickly when applying,” says Schimid.
ALL PRICES APPROXIMATE DETAILS AT VOGUE.COM.AU/WTB

CHANEL Le Liner de Chanel in 512 Noir Profond, $60.

JULIA CHAMPEAU

Vogue July 2023 141

 UP CLOSE

Show your colours

In sunset hues and luscious candy colours that mesmerisingly flow
together, it’s the bottles that do the talking for this season’s scents.
ART DIRECTION ARQUETTE COOKE PHOTOGRAPH LAUREN BAMFORD
ALL PRICES APPROXIMATE DETAILS AT VOGUE.COM.AU/WTB
WORDS: MAHALIA CHANG

Clockwise from top left: CLARINS Eau Extraordinaire Treatment Fragrance, 100ml for $80; MAISON FRANCIS KURKDJIAN
Aqua Media Cologne Forte EDP, 70ml for $300; NARCISO RODRIGUEZ For Her Forever EDP, 100ml for $220; LOEWE Paula’s
Ibiza Eclectic EDT, 50ml for $126; JULIETTE HAS A GUN Lust For Sun EDP, 100ml for $209; VYRAO Witchy Woo EDP, 50ml
for $263, from Mecca; LOUIS VUITTON Pacific Chill, 100ml for $470; HERMÈS Un Jardin à Cythère EDT, 100ml for $215.

Vogue July 2023 143

BEAUTY

The scent of a memory

The alchemy of perfume has long been linked to memory, in all its
peculiarities. But why do certain smells recall such specific memories
and what makes their pull so potent? Mahalia Chang investigates.

I
n the back of my vanity lives a perfume I’ll never wear.
Which is a strange predicament for someone who lives
within the world of beauty, who writes about products and
brands, and whose perfume collection is wide and (mostly)
functional. I have sweet floral scents for spring days; deeper,
muskier ones I gravitate to for everyday; local perfumes made by
Australian creatives; scents intended for special occasions.
Then, tucked behind the Tom Fords and Guccis, is a simple
glass bottle of Clinique’s Aromatics Elixir.
It was my mother’s perfume. Growing up, my siblings and
I called it her “airport perfume”. In the tiny, dusty town of
Broome where we lived, perfume wasn’t an everyday necessity
enough, a hug on departure would always be accompanied by
the scent of Aromatics Elixir, as if the very idea of travelling
away from our tiny town was worth the spritz.
Even now, almost seven years after her passing and more than
a decade since I last set foot in any of Broome’s airport terminals,
the smell of it takes me back. The lattice wood panelling, the
blueish green paint, the heat rising in waves off the bitumen,
the sensation of my head resting against one of my mother’s silk
scarves in one last squeezing hug.
It’s an intoxicating one-two punch, the scent that holds
a memory. The inability to have one without the other. It’s not
always a pleasant experience, either. I love talking and thinking
IRVING PENN

for a busy mother of four, so it was only worn on special about my mother, but somehow the smell of her most special
occasions. Dinner out, parties, weddings and trips to the perfume, a tangible piece of her I still hold, is something
airport. Even when she wasn’t travelling anywhere herself, sure I avoid. The feeling is visceral, physical, in nature. Almost like

144
a reflex, your body instantly inhabits grief, like putting on an old
sweater. Your stomach becomes heavy, your breath tightens,
your head gets light, it’s fight-or-flight on high. One lonely
Christmas, living on my own away from my family, my sister
gifted me a coat she had spritzed with Mum’s airport perfume as
a way to stop me from feeling homesick. After a week of it wafting
through my wardrobe, my heart tight,
stomach roiling, I shoved it into a plastic bag
and hefted it into a cupboard, out of reach. “When the scent
Smell is funny like that. Some reactions
are biological, embedded into the brain – information and
the way your mouth waters when you smell
something delicious, or how you recoil
the emotional
when something is unpleasant. But when we context are active
pair smells with memories, it’s not so
straightforward. In the way Aromatics at the same time,
Elixir – a beautiful scent of vetiver and
oakmoss, patchouli and ylang ylang, intense
those cells are firing
and earthy, could make me heavy-hearted together, which
– memories can live within smells, just like
they can live within our minds.
increases their
This, according to Dr Megan Papesh, connection”
associate professor of psychology at New
Mexico State University, is due to the way
our brain registers smell in the first place.
“Olfactory receptor cells embedded in the
top of the nasal cavity are the first to
register smell information. After they
register these sensations, the cells send
messages to the brain via the olfactory
bulb. The olfactory bulb then transmits
information to the cortex along multiple
pathways. One of those pathways goes to
the amygdala, which is often thought of as
the hub for emotional processing and
integration. The amygdala is also closely
connected to the hippocampus, which is
involved in associative learning (learning to
link two or more things, like a scent with a
particular face and emotion),” says Papesh.
“Essentially, when the scent information
and the emotional context are active at the
same time, those cells are firing together,
which increases their connection strength.
If one of those collections of cells fires (like
when we smell something), they have an increased chance of
activating the cells that they are connected to (the emotional
memory).” Using this process, we create what are called “odour-
linked memories” – memories intertwined with particular and
distinctive scents, locked together by the winding pathways
of our brain. And given the complexity and individuality of
perfumes, their layers and unusual notes, it’s no wonder that they
lend themselves so intoxicatingly to odour-linked memories.
“When exposed to a smell that brings about a memory, we
are most often talking about episodic memories,” says Papesh,
adding that psychologist and cognitive neuroscientist Endel
Tulving described episodic memory as the only known ability to
time travel. “And this is essentially what happens when we have
an odour-evoked memory: we feel like we are reliving the event,
including some of the physiological states associated with that
event, like anger or affection.” These episodic memories aren’t
only linked to people and places, but can also pinpoint times in
our lives, harkening back to the people we used to be, however
broad and nebulous those recollections are.
“The first perfume I ever owned was Stella by Stella
McCartney, and if I get just a hint of it, even if I’m only walking
past the fragrance counter at a department
store, I am instantly transported back to
that 14-year-old girl who so desperately
wanted to be a grown up,” says Hannah-
Rose Yee, Vogue’s features editor.
“It was rose all the way down: softly floral
without being sweet, and with a deep,
musky warmth that seemed to me to be the
height of elegance. I was so young! And
I was so excited to own that bottle and have
a scent all of my own. It made me feel like
all my dreams were in reach, and it makes
me so nostalgic to smell it even now, years
later, long after I moved on to a new scent,
and new dreams.”
Science has yet to answer all our
questions. Why do our brains choose to
link some smells to memories but not
others? Do these recollections help us, or
hurt us? Can you consciously create them?
Why is the creation of them so cruelly
random, beyond our will?
It seems unfair that while some memories
are so sweet, and so nostalgic, others inflict
such pain. The smell of one perfume might
be relieving, a call to a much-loved memory,
and another a heartache. Why, I ask myself,
can’t the smell of my mother’s perfume
bring happy associations? Why can it not
conjure up a reverie of joy, her smiling
green eyes, the call of her voice?
But then, maybe, one day it can.
“I don’t see any reason that we cannot
consciously write or rewrite memories,”
Mahalia
Chang aged says Papesh, when I ask her about it.
eight, with “Memory is remarkably flexible, and every
her mother. time we remember, we open that memory
trace up to interference and change. The act
of remembering can change the original
memory. For this reason, it would make sense that activating a
memory and then building in a new element, like activating
a sad memory and shortly thereafter experiencing a happy event,
could serve to change that original sad memory.”
Maybe I’ve been taking the wrong approach the entire time.
Maybe, instead of hiding Aromatics Elixir in the back of my
cupboard, I should wrap myself in it, in my sister’s coat, and
think of happier times. Maybe I could think of touching down
at the airport and folding myself into one of those tight hugs,
a feeling of homecoming and comfort, not loss. Perhaps I could
imagine a memory when I had more time with her than I ever
knew, her embrace infinite and without end, a love without fear
or grief, trapped within a glass bottle. If science says I could,
maybe I could rewrite my memory’s pathways, and wind them
back into happiness.
Vogue July 2023 145
 BEAUTY

Ffrench press
Make-up renegade and industry
disruptor, Isamaya Ffrench plays
by her own rules in the world
of beauty. Fresh from her work
on the July cover, Mahalia
Chang asks her what’s next.

T
o read off the list of Isamaya Ffrench’s
previous occupations, you might mistake it
for a LinkedIn roll call. Prior to her current
position – beauty industry ingenue and founder of
the fantastical Isamaya label – Ffrench dabbled in
it all. Springboard diving, face-painting, ballet,
theatre, product design, 3D art, clay sculpture,
even a stint as a chef. Winding roads led her
faithfully into the beauty industry, where she was
installed as beauty editor of i-D and Dazed, all the
while creating make-up products for Tom Ford,
Burberry and Christian Louboutin. Next came
Byredo, Ben Gorham’s cultish beauty brand. Under
Ffrench’s direction sprung a creative cacophony –
gleaming curved lipsticks, alienesque mascaras in
vivid red and green bending this way and that, and
rippling gold palettes.
From there, it was a “natural next step” for the
British make-up artist to create something for her
own: the eponymous Isamaya. “For me, the most homage to the aforementioned BDSM scene –
important thing was to make something that felt lipsticks and mascaras came pierced with stainless
true to who I am and my spirit,” said Ffrench of steel barbells, while the palette suggested a latex-
incepting Isamaya. “And the way I approached it … covered female form. Next came Wild Star, golden
I suppose it was unconventional. I didn’t want to lip and eye products adorned with bucking broncos
create just a big collection that will look the same and covered in rhinestones. And then Lips, perhaps
and be on the shelf for 10 years looking the same. her most famous and provocative collection.
I really wanted to explore the potential of interesting Lipsticks came packaged within gleaming metallic
product design and materials.” penises, the campaign imagery for which was
In conceiving a new brand, Ffrench also saw the delectably cheeky – Ffrench herself draped over
possibility of creating a make-up label that acted a supersized replica, other shots saw the product
like a fashion house; producing collections tucked into knickers and kissed by fawning models.
seasonally and participating in the cultural Unsurprisingly, it was a hit. “I feel really fortunate
zeitgeist she knew so well from her work as an that people have been so receptive to it because,
ALL PRICES APPROXIMATE DETAILS AT VOGUE.COM.AU/WTB

editorial make-up artist. “It wasn’t surprising that
when I did the BDSM collection, Balenciaga were
also doing leather, and Kanye [West] had that
moment of doing BDSM [for Yeezy]. And then
when we did the rhinestone [Wild Star] collection,
Charlotte Knowles and Poster Girl and all of
these young designers we’re all having this kind
of Western Texan moment. It’s nice because I really
feel like I’m on a train with a lot of the same people
and influences around me. It feels nice to be part
of that, that culture.”
JOSH WILKS
ultimately, people like to be entertained, and they
have a sense of humour. I appreciate that a number
of my friends’ grandmothers have actually bought
the lipsticks! So it just goes to show people of all
ages appreciate a penis. You know what I mean?”
But resting on (perhaps phallus-shaped) laurels
isn’t in the plan for Ffrench. On top of doing the
beauty for Lily-Rose Depp and Troye Sivan this
issue, Ffrench has a new collection for Isamaya – From top: ISAMAYA
Industrial 2.0 with new face Julia Fox (“I think it’s Industrial Colour
maybe my favourite thing yet!”) – a collection with Pigments Eyeshadow

Naturally, you wouldn’t mistake any of the Off-White, and after that? “I’m actually going to Palette, $177; Liplacq
Maximizing lip
Isamaya products for their traditional beauty Mongolia in July. I’m going horseriding in the serums in Rust, and
obverse. The first collection, Industrial, paid desert. I won’t have a phone, so that’ll be nice.” Metal, $60 each.

Vogue July 2023 147

BEAUTY LAUNCHES
Making magic
For Byredo’s creative image and make-up partner, Lucia Pica, inspiration
comes in many forms. As the brand launches its latest product, she charts
her enduring passion for beauty. By Mahalia Chang.
VOGUE AUSTRALIA: Tell us about falling in love
with beauty.
LUCIA PICA: “My first memories are playing with make-up.
There was a neighbour I used to visit often and she had a drawer
in a bathroom full of make-up. I used to lock myself in the
bathroom and put on all that make-up. Then I would spend a bit
of time looking at myself in the mirror, then washing my face
off, and then go out and think that no one would’ve noticed.”
VA: Did you have an idea of what you wanted to create
with Byredo?
LP: “I thought for the make-up of
Byredo, I would like to maybe bring it
closer to the philosophy of the perfume
and try to transform this invisible
medium, which is the perfume and the
philosophy around it, into make-up.
How I can bring colours into this? How
I can express this philosophy and the
brand with colours and images?
148
It’s about the internal world and our personal experiences and
human experiences.”
VA: Tell us about your working relationship with Byredo
founder Ben Gorham.
LP: “It’s very organic … something he does very well is give
people freedom. I see it also in his collaborations with others.
He gives [people] freedom so that he eventually gets the best
out of them. Because when you do that, you really make
a person feel comfortable, at ease and in a place of creating. That
person feels like they wanna give it all.
And it’s not for ego, it’s for the project.”
VA: Each Byredo collection has its
own story. How do those come to you?
LP: “The storytelling is always
something very, very important to me
because I’m quite a dreamer, I’m quite
romantic, I get quite lost in concepts. In
the case of [make-up collection] First
Emotions, for instance, I was putting
together some images that would make
me think of the brand and I was like,
these are my first feelings, my first
emotions of what I’m feeling right now
about this brand, and then I imagine that
it could be also about the emotions of
falling in love and that first period of
having those contrasting feelings about
someone. So how can I put those things
together? How can I show them in
colour? And it’s a little bit like language
in a way, you know, you put words
together, one after the other, and then
they make the sentence. Some things
represent feelings and emotion in colour.”
VA: How did the story for the
Remembrance palette come to you?
LP: “I was thinking about this idea of
memory and how when we remember
beautiful memories … looking at a light,
feeling an afternoon that is so warm and
balmy that it’s sort of tangible, the way
the light reflects on the sea and that
brings silver and gold. The way memories
are blurry. I wanted to transform that
into the palette. All the colours blend
into one another. They belong to one
another and they go into one another.”
VA: What is your favourite product
from the Byredo range?
LP: “I really like the Kajal [eye pencil].
I use that a lot.”
VA: What three make-up products do
you think every woman should own?
LP: “A good mascara, a good lipstick
and a good concealer.”
 Add to cart: peptides

Soft touch
Dior Beauty’s latest
release, Le Baume, is
formulated for the most
exposed areas of our
bodies: the lips, hands
and body. Delivering
intense hydration with
its innovative bandage-
like technology, it
protects, soothes and
repairs in equal measure.
Smoother, softer, silkier
skin, everywhere.
CHRISTIAN DIOR Le Baume
Revitalizing Balm, $92.
CHANEL PRE-FALL ’23

DAVID KOMA PRE-FALL ’23

LOUIS VUITTON PRE-FALL ’23

Pin drop
Tranquillity and airports
are not two words that
often go together. But
La Prairie’s new Art of
Beauty Lounge at Sydney
International Airport
LAUREN BAMFORD, QUENTIN DE BRIEY, ZOË GHERTNER, GO RUNWAY.COM

proves otherwise. An
oasis for rejuvenation and
ALL PRICES APPROXIMATE DETAILS AT VOGUE.COM.AU/WTB

unwinding before a long-

Backstage insider haul flight, the space
THE LOOK: Dark Romance offers a bevy of
THE LOWDOWN: Sauntering down the runways of the
pre-fall collections were beauty looks harnessing darkness
treatments to hydrate,
and depth. Models sported moody lip shades and smoky firm and plump the
eyes, with colour lifted all the way to the brow bone and
smudged under the lash line. For the perfect vampy
skin before boarding.
Above: MECCA MAX
Single eye shadow in maquillage, buff the shade of your choice in small circular Treatments are 45 mins
Shady, $10, from Mecca. motions across the lid and up towards the eyebrow (as far as
Right: JANE IREDALE
you dare). Use a pencil blush to blend the same colour under
(from $270). Pre-book via
Crease Brush, $22, from
Harvey Norman. the lash line, and finish with lashings of dark mascara. the La Prairie website.
Vogue July 2023 149
HEALTH

Calmer
waters
As new research reveals,
our long overlooked and
misunderstood lymphatic
system does way more
than we ever suspected.
Jody Scott explores how
we can help it, help us.

F
or more than a decade, This is Water, by the late
David Foster Wallace, has been a little book
with a cult following because it reminds us to
pay attention to the simple yet essential things that
are all around us, all the time, but hidden in plain
sight. “We have to keep reminding ourselves over
and over: ‘This is water,’” he wrote.
Our long overlooked and misunderstood lymphatic
system is essential for good health yet far from
simple. It’s part of the immune system and is made
up of a network of vessels, nodes and organs that
work to keep body fluid levels in balance, defend
against infections and remove cellular waste.
But lately it’s been enjoying more attention in
beauty, wellness and seriously scientific circles.
Some even claim that lymph, the pale fluid that
bathes the tissues and is made up of 96 per cent
water, is as important as blood.
Our current and acute case of “lymphomania”
possibly began in 2019 when supermodel Elle
Macpherson, then 55, Instagrammed the flat-bellied
results of her lymphatic drainage massage at the
hands of US celebrity body sculptor Sheila Perez.
Around the same time, Victoria’s Secret Angels
began seeking abdominal massage from London
physiotherapist Flavio Morellato. Now, Hailey
Bieber, Jennifer Aniston and Kendall Jenner are fans
of LA-based, Brazilian lymphatic masseuse Rebecca
Faria, who is reported to have a 2,000-plus waitlist.
Patient zero may never be known. The “French
Beauty Massage” – a palpating rolling technique
that seeks to stimulate lymph flow – has been around
since the 1930s, while the deep, gentle abdominal
massage known as Chi Nei Tsang in Chinese
medicine, is centuries old. In Ayurvedic medicine,
the lymphatic system is known as rasa dhatu, or
“river of life”. Treatments have ebbed and flowed
since Ancient Greeks first observed lymph (named
after Lympha, the ancient Roman deity of fresh
water) in around 300BC.
Fast forward 2,000 years and there is a renewed
interest in manually remodelling puffy faces, bloated

150
 bellies and fluid-filled thighs. We’re also embracing
DIY with dry body brushes, massage devices, rollers,
suction cups and gua sha tools, along with infrared
saunas, cryotherapy and rebounders for their
aesthetic and preventative health benefits.
The methods of shifting intercellular fluid on offer
vary from the gentle, feather-light strokes of the Dr
Vodder technique to more painful palpitations, strokes
and compressions, sometimes using tools. Although
purists argue deep massage targets muscle and misses
the lymphatic system that lies just beneath our skin.
But it’s the momentum in lymphatic research that
is most exciting, as scientists discover our mysterious
river of nodes, vessels and almost invisible fluid does
more than we ever realised.
Professor Natasha Harvey, head of Lymphatic
Development Laboratory and director of the Centre
for Cancer Biology at the University of South
Australia and SA Pathology, says it’s a golden age to
be in a rapidly moving field of research, one that in
recent decades is experiencing a resurgence. “New
tools and technologies that have been developed in
the past 20 years or so have greatly aided our ability
to study the lymphatic system and recognise that
lymphatic vessel dysfunction contributes to human
disease,” she says.
Until recently, the role of the lymphatics were
poorly understood and barely acknowledged by
Western medicine. The lymphatic system was
known as the body’s drain or garbage
disposal system that helped clear toxins,
bacteria, viruses, waste products and
excess fluid from our tissues, absorbed
There is
digestive fats and transported immune a renewed
cells wherever they were needed.
Cancer cells were also known to travel interest
via the lymph. And for a long time that
was all we knew about it.
in manually
However, recent studies have remodelling
discovered the lymphatic system is an
active player in the development of
puffy faces,
chronic conditions including bloated
cardiovascular disease, hypertension,
inflammation, cancer, autoimmune bellies and
diseases, neurological disorders,
glaucoma, inflammatory bowel diseases
fluid-filled
and obesity. Advanced imaging has also thighs
revealed lymph vessels in bone that
promote healing and regrowth.
Harvey says in the future, therapies that repair
lymphatic vessel dysfunction may be used to treat
conditions such as obesity, lymphedema or
Alzheimer’s disease.
Like all ecosystems, humans are healthiest when
our rivers run clean, clear and uninterrupted.
Sluggish or congested lymphatic flow can lead to
ALEXANDER KRIVITSKIY
stagnation, inflammation and illness.
“I like to think of the lymphatic system as
a highway responsible for directing immune cell
traffic throughout our bodies, monitoring the health
of our tissues, maintaining tissue fluid balance and
absorbing lipids and lipid soluble nutrients from the
digestive tract,” Harvey says. “Interruptions to that
highway can have far-reaching consequences for
many aspects of our health.”
Unlike the blood, which is pumped by our heart,
our lymphatic system does not have a central pump
to keep it moving. We are also unable to accurately
measure its flow or function without medical
imaging. But fluid accumulation, recognised as
tissue swelling or heaviness, can be a sign things
aren’t functioning well.
Traditional Chinese medicine practitioner Dr
Marina Christov says other signs of sluggish
lymphatics can include enlarged lymph nodes, breast
swelling and tenderness, bloating, skin problems,
brain fog, fatigue, food sensitivities and excess
weight or cellulite.
“In my practice, cases of challenging chronic pain
cannot be resolved without mobilising stagnation in
the lymphatic system,” Christov says. “We achieve
this through movement, dancing, bouncing, deep
breathing, massage, tapping, gua sha, dry brushing,
acupuncture, herbs and meditative practices. It is
also essential that patients increase pure water
intake and eliminate substances that add to the toxic
load and burden the body.”
Daily movement is key to help keep our lymph
fluid moving. That means embracing deep
diaphragmatic breathing, daily exercise, hot baths,
cold-water swimming, saunas, self-massage,
hydration, proper sleep and avoiding
inflammatory, processed foods. When
sitting for long periods on flights, try
compression stockings, deep breathing
and leg paddling.
And it’s good to avoid tight-fitting
bras, underwear and clothing that
constricts lymph flow around the groin
and armpits where there are a highly
concentrated number of lymph nodes.
Christov says taking care of our
emotional health is also important.
“I often notice lymphatic congestion
in patients who cannot let go off toxic
emotional states or relationships that
are blocking them in life,” she says.
“Holding on to long-standing grief,
can also cause stagnation. Being
run-down and overwhelmed for long
periods of time can diminish the joy
one feels for their life and this, too, can negatively
impact this system. Having poor emotional
boundaries is another example. Everything is
interconnected. You can skip and dry brush all
you want, but if you do not address the deeper
emotional blockages within the psyche, you will
remain stuck.”
She says the concept of flow is central to holistic
medicine. “For total health and wellbeing, we need
to spend equal time unblocking as well as building.
Hence, movement is of the essence. Emotional as
well as physical.”
In other words, go with the flow.
Vogue July 2023 151
 PILLARS LOVE TO CAUSE A STIR.
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QT HOTELS AND FOU

D GOLD. MEET, GILDED CHAOS GIN.

QT Hotels. qthotels.com
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OUR WORLDS HAVE COLLIDED IN THE FORM OF BOT T L

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Available exclusively acr
 HIDEAWAY

Artistic inspiration: “You

can’t travel to Zanzibar and not
feel inspired by the marine life.
The vibrant shades of blue are
like nothing I have ever seen.”

Richard Jarman and

his wife, Commas
communications
director Emma Jarman.

Young men jump off

the pier at sunset.

A look from the Commas

pre-fall ’23 campaign,
shot on the island.

Tropical fruit
at the markets.

Zanzibar
Designer and Commas founder Richard Jarman shares the spots he and his
wife, Emma, visited on these east African isles, known for their serenity.
Shopping: “The markets near Nungwi Beach provide the Place to meet new people: “We managed to get super
largest shopping offering, filled with local artwork and knick- lucky meeting some fascinating people on a Dhow cruise. Make
knacks. We loved picking up beaded accessories in playful colours.” sure you’re on a boat stocked up with drinks before you set sail.”
Must-have brunch: “Follow the local fishermen – they’re People-watching: “Forodhani Gardens night market in
your culinary compass. They catch massive tuna close to shore Stone Town. Right in front of the market, you’ll witness
PHOTOGRAPH: (COMMAS) DUDI HASSON

and rush it straight to the kitchens of nearby restaurants.” incredible sunset pier jumpers. The local boys take their pier-
Cocktail hour: “For a change of scene, we went to the rooftop jumping seriously, and some of the acrobatic skills are
INTERVIEW: JONAH WATERHOUSE

tea house at Emerson on Hurumzi in the heart of Stone Town
[the oldest part of Zanzibar City]. Relaxed live music and
panoramic 360-degree views.”
Way to spend an evening: “Dinner on the beach. There
are so many places that offer amazing beach barbecues.”
Dinner: “Sexy Fish near Nungwi Beach. [Though] a somewhat
popular tourist spot, the energy is electrifying, with locals
showcasing their gymnastic skills right on the beach in front.”
mind-blowing. Some of them dress up in funky costumes and
blast music from boom boxes. It’s a real vibe.”
Fashion inspiration: “When we were there, a music festival
was in full swing, and some of the Swahili musicians really
came out in style.”
Place to stay: “Mnemba Island was the perfect retreat. It’s
a tiny island but provides an escape where time slows down,
allowing you to truly rejuvenate and take it all in.”

Vogue July 2023 153

SOIRÉE

Jamie Reilly and

Belinda Sloane.

The winery, once an old

dairy, was created by the
Nugent family 25 years ago.

Inside the dining room with

the artworks Inma Kutjara- Vogue’s Jonah Waterhouse.
Inma Kutju – 2 songs/1 Song
by Zaachariaha Fielding.
From left: Brooke
Bickmore, Bel Gray
and Karolina Carr.

Chris Kontos and Lalla Nugent.

Sally Scales.

Lauren Dilena (left) and Rebecca Morse.

Guests dine on
an entrée of lobster
crumpet with shell
PHOTOGRAPHS: MEAGHAN COLES, ROB TENNENT

butter bisque.
WORDS: JONAH WATERHOUSE

Janitha Perera.

Nick Phillips and Heather Croall on the terrace before dinner.

154
 Left and below:
Montana Cox.

Electric Fields on stage with Zaachariaha Fielding
wearing a Paolo Sebastian cape.
Taking flight
A quarter century in business is the kind of anniversary that can
sneak up, but Andrew Nugent, of Adelaide’s Bird in Hand
winery, wasn’t going to let it pass without an occasion.
“I feel a sense of celebration of history, as well as embracing
the new,” Nugent shares on the night he and his wife,
co-founder Susie, host an intimate soirée for a small group of
guests at his family’s vineyard to commemorate 25 years of one
of South Australia’s most successful winemaking businesses.
On a clear night in May, guests came from around Australia
to the Nugent family’s picturesque Adelaide Hills estate, where
they enjoyed sparkling wine at the scenic overlook before
decamping inside a barn that formerly housed a run-down dairy.
It was there, over a four-course meal from chef Kane Pollard
and white and red varietals from Bird In Hand, that 21-year-old
Nugent family scion Lalla, the eldest of the three Nugent
children, spoke about carrying on her parents’ legacy, as well as
custodianship through the Bird in Hand Foundation. Launched
in 2014, the foundation aims to support young people by
providing scholarships for high school education, as well as
advocating for awareness of First Nations issues, among support
of other charitable endeavours.
At the end of her speech, Lalla handed the stage to
Zaachariaha Fielding and Michael Ross of musical duo Electric
Fields. Fielding, who also works as a painter and won this year’s
prestigious Wynne Prize, unveiled two artworks that depict
wanampi (water snakes), a nod to his heritage on the Anangu
Pitjantjatjara Yankunytjatjara Lands in northern South Australia.
Guests capped off dinner with the newly launched The Bird
single malt whisky, which features a bottle inspired in design by
the elegant shape of perfume flacons. Before long, the dance
floor opened and attendees shimmied into the night to the
sounds of retro music.
All in all, it was a memorable evening of glamour, fun and
glasses clinking ahead of a bright future.

Vogue July 2023 155

Designer Noah
Johnson wears
pieces from his
Tasmania x Noah
Johnson: Off Cuts
collection.

TASMANIA X NOAH JOHNSON

For sustainable fashion designer Noah Johnson, collaborating with Tourism Tasmania to create
a bespoke collection was a natural fit to celebrate the state’s wild and wonderful Off Season.
 VOGUE PROMOTION

Noah Johnson previewing
his sustainably sourced
winter capsule collection.
“OFF CUTS IS THE DECONSTRUCTION AND
RECONSTRUCTION OF AN IDEA, THE IDEA OF
Off Cuts garments are all individually handmade from discarded and second-hand fabrics. Some garments may differ to what is pictured.
U PS CA LE U P CYCLI N G
There’s something a little bit off about
Noah Johnson’s new winter collection
– in the most magical way. Made from
discarded summer souvenir-style tourist
items, the Tasmania x Noah Johnson:
Off Cuts collection breathes new life into
pieces that were once destined for landfill.
The sustainably sourced winter capsule
collection, commissioned by Tourism
Tasmania, brings to life the essence
of the Off Season – as the antithesis of
the clichéd summer holiday. Tasmania’s
Off Season is equal parts unique and
magical, nothing like a stereotypical
summer break, and it’s beautifully
captured in Johnson’s dreamy designs.
S U S TA I N A B L E B Y D E S I G N
At just 22, Tasmanian-born Johnson
runs his own clothing label One of One
Archive, creating fashion that repurposes
second-hand garments and fabrics.
“Growing up on the land of the palawa
people in lutruwita (Tasmania), I am
passionate about taking responsibility
for giving back to the earth, in return for
what it is giving to us,” Johnson says. “In
Off Cuts, I wanted to create a collection
out of clothing and materials that people
don’t wear often, or that may be seen
as disposable – tourist T-shirts, tea
towels and quirky souvenirs – and then

present them in an entirely new context.

THE CLICHÉ SUMMER HOLIDAY, REIMAGINED”
Left and above: designer
Noah Johnson’s unique,
creative collection of
pieces upcycled from
vintage ‘tourism’ garments.
I wanted to capture the essence of what
people buy when they think of ‘tourism’
and repurpose and subvert that to
represent Tasmania’s Off Season.”
O F F T H E B E AT E N P AT H
It’s during the quiet days of winter
that Tasmania’s Off Season fires up.
Johnson has brought the Off Season to
life through his unique, hand-crafted
designs. “Off Cuts is the deconstruction
and reconstruction of an idea, the idea of
the cliché summer holiday, reimagined,”
Johnson says. “It suggests that we can
holiday differently, we can go somewhere
like Tasmania’s Off Season where it’s
cold and a little weird and that this can
be amazing, too.” The upcycled winter
capsule collection Tasmania x Noah
Johnson: Off Cuts is available now
until sold out.

Find out more at

discovertasmania.com.au/off-cuts
VOGUE PROMOTION

VOGUE DIARY
Explore what’s in store and worth having this month.

CA L L TO ACT I O N
Samsung’s Galaxy Z Flip4, is
all we desire from a next-gen
smartphone in both form and
function. Notable features
include a cover screen that lets
you take calls, send messages
and more, long-life battery,
custom colour combinations,
and a flexible hinge that allows
the phone to stand on its own
while using apps, or taking
video calls and hands-free
photos. Go to samsung.com.au.

SEA CHANGE TIME TO SHINE

Attention all La Mer’s Crème de la Mer Swiss watchmaker Blancpain’s Ladybird
moisturiser fans: the cult classic has again Colours collection embodies the brand’s
been reimagined to celebrate the brand’s prestige quality and style. Designed for
lifelong commitment to supporting ocean the modern woman, the timepieces
conservation. Since launching, Crème de merge innovation and elegance, with the
la Mer has earned acclaim for its Miracle new colour combinations enhancing two
Broth, which strengthens skin, soothes refined small seconds and moon-phase
irritation and calms redness. The new complications. Seventy diamonds frame
collectible design is imbued with the the mother-of-pearl dial, while hue
regenerative energy of Giant Sea Kelp, the variants of midnight blue, peacock green,
outside of the limited-edition Blue Heart forest green, lilac or turquoise feature on
Crème de la Mer jar a tribute to its the Roman numerals and are echoed
power. Go to cremedelamer.com.au. on the straps. Visit blancpain.com.

N AT U R A L B E A U T Y HOLD TIGHT
The pretty packaging alone Crafted from buttery
is enough to lure you to full-grain leather, the
Lust Minerals. But there’s slouchy cool of the
more to this clean mineral Clovelly Crossbody
make-up and natural makes it ideal for day
skincare brand than its yet classy enough for
aesthetics. Delivering great cocktail hour. With a
results, these products will removable top handle,
help you look your best adjustable crossbody
without sacrificing strap and multiple
animals, your health, or pockets, it’s functional,
the environment. Visit too. See the range at
lustminerals.com.au. wandererstravelco.com.

Cancer
22 June-22 July
A close work or love partnership could
feel intense under this month’s Full
Moon. Are you in or out? That’s the big
cosmic question now. You’re outspoken
with Mars in your communication zone,
and a New Moon in your own sign
suggests a fresh start. While love and
money may need a rethink with Venus
retrograde, destiny sends you more
power and control over your career.
STYLE ICON: Hoyeon Jung
Libra
23 September-23 October
Get serious about how and where you
live. Mars impels you to seek perfection
but don’t be hard on yourself, and as
destiny links to relationships now, past
hurts can be healed. A New Moon
highlights your career where you need to
feel “at home” to thrive, and as Venus
retrogrades, aim to re-evaluate the
emotional and actual cost involved with
the people who surround you.
STYLE ICON: Dakota Johnson
Capricorn
22 December-20 January
Take a load off your mind this month.
A Full Moon in your sign can bring
intense emotion, so feel all the feels then
let it go. With a big focus on commitment
now, Venus retrograde may make you
rethink your financial needs. July’s New
Moon finesses new or ongoing liaisons
and thanks to the Moon’s North Node of
Destiny, home may be your go-to
destination of choice.
STYLE ICON: Florence Pugh
Aries
21 March-20 April
Your image and reputation at work are in
the glare of this month’s Full Moon so
get serious. Your ruler Mars moves into
your wellbeing zone to boost your inner
perfectionist just as the North Node of
Destiny in your own sign gives you the
power to shape the life you want. Home
life blooms with fresh New Moon
energy, while Venus retrograde urges
a rethink of romance.
STYLE ICON: Lady Gaga
HOROSCOPE
Leo
23 July-23 August
Your power to charm is on fire, but with
Venus retrograde is that really all you’ve
got to give? Time for a rethink, if so.
Destiny could bring fame, just get to
know yourself better first. A Full Moon
targets your wellbeing and work zone
so aim to hit a peak but schedule
a timeout, too. Mars inspires investment
in what’s on trend but also on message,
planet-wise.
STYLE ICON: Jourdan Dunn
Scorpio
24 October-22 November
Flaky friends could get the full force of
your no-nonsense approach this month
as your co-ruler Mars urges you to get
things done properly. Your career gets
a cosmic glow-up, but priorities may
change when Venus turns retrograde.
Destiny urges you to take charge of your
health, wealth and emotional happiness
by doing what calls you, not just what
looks or sounds cool.
STYLE ICON: Rachel McAdams
Aquarius
21 January-18 February
It must be love, or must it? You might not
be too sure with Venus doing a backflip
in your partnership zone. Talking things
through is essential now with the Moon’s
North Node of Destiny in your
communication zone. A Full Moon
could help you process serious issues, and
as Mars raises the bar on money
and power, a New Moon launches six
months of nurturing self-care.
STYLE ICON: Julia Garner
Taurus
21 April-21 May
Put a lid on life’s bigger picture under
the pull of this month’s Full Moon and
turn your passion inwards to focus on
romance and your creative desires. Mars
pushes you to excel with precision in all
you do, and as your ruler Venus flips
into reverse to bring a lifestyle and
money review at home, the cosmos hints
that your destiny is linked to deep
emotional healing.
STYLE ICON: Ana de Armas
Virgo
24 August-22 September
Your inner critic is likely to be fierce now
with Mars in your sign, so enlist your
go-to crew for emotional support. Set
yourself fresh goals that challenge but
also nurture you, and don’t overthink
love and money when Venus turns
retrograde. Thanks to the Moon’s North
Node of Destiny, you’ll soon have more
say in how finance and romance play out
in your life.
STYLE ICON: Naomie Harris
Sagittarius
23 November-21 December
This month’s Full Moon lands in your
money and values zone so it’s time to
take stock of what you have and what you
want. Mars makes you extra dynamic at
work, while Venus retrograde suggests
that travel or long-distance love could be
on hold for now. Get creative with your
accounting and invest in your future as
the Moon’s North Node is shaping your
romantic destiny.
STYLE ICON: Zoë Kravitz
Pisces
19 February-20 March
Friendships are in the Full Moon’s beams
this month. Who’s got your back? These
are the keepers. Other close relationships
have Mars adding passion but also
perhaps impatience. A health or work
issue could backtrack while Venus is
retrograde but all should be resolved by
October. The Moon’s North Node of
Destiny gives you a push to start shaping
your financial future.
STYLE ICON: Jodie Comer
Gemini
22 May-21 June
Channel the Full Moon’s power to
seriously sort out any financial or sensual
commitments this month. You’re
passionate about your home life with Mars
ASTROLOGER: STELLA NOVA
“in the house”, and your ruling planet
Mercury makes you super charming and
witty. A New Moon suggests you invest
in self-nurturing, and from now through
to 2025 your destiny revolves around
friendships and ambitions.
STYLE ICON: Kylie Minogue
Vogue July 2023 159
 FINAL NOTE

Softly go
Giorgio Armani takes a bread-and-butter staple to a new level by rendering
ballet flats in luxurious bouclé, as soft as cotton wool and light as fresh flour.

ALL PRICES APPROXIMATE DETAILS AT VOGUE.COM.AU/WTB

WORDS: ALICE BIRRELL

ART DIRECTION ARQUETTE COOKE STYLING ISABELLA MAMAS PHOTOGRAPH LAUREN BAMFORD

160 Vogue July 2023