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Hollywood’s
quiet achiever
GARNER Effect
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ARIANA GRANDE EN SWAROVSKI MILLENIA
CONTENTS

92
L OV I N G
JULIA
The rise and rise
of Hollywood’s
quiet achiever.

F E AT U R E S
CHANGEMAKERS
34
Women leading fearlessly

WE NEED TO
37
TA L K A B O U T
Radical rest, says Emmie Rae
38 R E P O R TA G E
A look back at the year that was
48 SELF-CARE
The case against New Year’s
resolutions
54 SPECIAL REPORT
Why survivor circles are saviours
58 SOCIETY
Is staying at home the final
taboo of motherhood?
62 PORTFOLIO
ON THE COVER
The great artist Yayoi Kusama’s life
Julia Garner wears Gucci
68 TA L K I N G P O I N T dress, $5200, bralette,
Wellness clubs are the $1850, and necklace,
new nightclubs $1250; her own earrings.
73 HOROSCOPE SPECIAL
What’s in your stars for 2025
Photography by
80 C U LT U R E Regan Cameron/WiB. Styled
Britt Lower, Jillian Nguyen, Freudian by Naomi Smith. Hair by
Gonn Kinoshita/Wall Group.
Nip and Ella Baxter Makeup by Charlotte Willer/
86 WOMEN OF THE YEAR Home Agency. Manicure by
Casey Herman/Wall Group.
Recapping the glitz and glamour of
Creative producer: Camille
our big awards night Peck/Eminente Creative
158 LIFE STORY Productions.
Annie Lennox
162 B A C K C H AT
Melanie Bracewell
Prada dress,
POA, and
tights, $3250.
 FA S H I O N

104
15 GET THE LOOK
Julia Garner’s fashion
and beauty style
17 TRENDING NOW
Summer-inspired SHORE
accessories THING
24 A LASTING Gucci’s 2025
IMPRESSION Cruise Collection.
The life and legacy
of Max Mara
26 KING OF COOL
An exclusive chat with
Tommy Hilfiger
PHOTOGRAPHY BY HOLLY WARD; EDWARD URRUTIA; GETTY IMAGES.

28 S H E E R PA S S I O N
The bare truth about
naked dressing
30 LOVE LE T TER
Cartier’s iconic bracelet
is a sign of the times
92 COVER STORY
Julia Garner on her biggest
year yet
104 THE STYLE SHORE
Take a beautiful Cruise
with Gucci’s collection
112 101 I D E A S
The new boho
118 SHOPPING
Hot summer special

B E AU T Y
124 N E W Y E AR , N E W YOU
Experts tips to level up your
beauty game in 2025
130 READ MY LIPS
Products for the perfect pout
136 TIME OUT
Chanel’s art of application
138 B E A U T Y E S S AY
Why your vulva is beautiful
140 B E AUT Y MUS E
Miranda Kerr

136
141 THE EDIT
Beauty news
142 FOUNDERS
FixBIOME’s Jasmine Chilcott
144 GLOW & TELL I N NER PE ACE
Our beauty director’s picks
Integrate your mind,
body and soul into your
LIFESTYLE skincare routine.
148 INTERIORS
Take a stroll around LA’s
Flamingo Estate

130
152 FOOD
Salad inspiration for hot
summer days ahead
156 THE EDIT
Lifestyle news
L I P S E RV I C E
The pulling power
of lipstick.
 Georgie McCourt
EDITOR
Deputy editor MELISSA GAUDRON
ART & PHOTOS
Creative director JUANITA FIELD
Art director REBECCA RHODES
Senior designer DANIELLE TARRANT
Photo director ROBYN FAY-PERKINS
FASHION
Fashion director NAOMI SMITH
Fashion editor JORDAN BOORMAN
Acting market editor IZZY ROOK
BEAUTY
Beauty director SALLY HUNWICK
Editorial coordinator/beauty writer FRANCESCA HARTLEY
FEATURES
Features editor ALEXANDRA ENGLISH
Deputy features editor HARRIET SIM
T RU N K Copy director DANIEL MOORE
Senior copy editor HILARY BOARD
CALL DIGITAL
For Louis Vuitton’s Head of digital ALISON IZZO
Digital editor MADDISON HOCKEY
latest release, creative Senior digital writer REBECCA MITCHELL
director Nicolas Digital content producer KATE HASSETT
Contributing digital writers RUBY FENELEY, ANGELA LAW
Ghesquière paid homage Social media editor GEORGIA NELSON
to the maison’s famed Contributing social media producer KRITI GUPTA
trunk-making origins with ADVERTISING
the Side Trunk handbag, National brand manager MELANIE SAVVIDIS
featuring LV’s instantly Head of Qld sales JUDY TAYLOR
Brand executive EMMA O’SULLIVAN
recognisable reinforced
metallic corners. MARKETING
Marketing director CARLY BOWRA
Head of consumer marketing LOUISE CANKETT
Senior marketing manager JESS TAYLOR
Head of research NATALIE BETTINI
Subscriptions campaign manager KATARINA KOURKOUTIS
ARE MEDIA
Chief executive officer JANE HUXLEY
Sales director ANDREW COOK
Director of content SALLY EAGLE
General manager of luxury NICKY BRIGER
Head of events & sponsorship CATE GAZAL
Finance business manager MELISSA TANUDJAJA
Digital strategy MELISSA DENNIS, ALEX KESHEN, ELISE WRIGHT
MARIE CLAIRE INTERNATIONAL
Executive director JEAN DE BOISDEFFRE
International deputy & finance director FÉLIX DROISSART
International brand director NICIA RODWELL
Chief content officer GALIA LOUPAN
Chief digital officer DAVID JULLIEN
International fashion & beauty chief editor FLORENCE DELADRIÈRE
Senior international brand manager CÉLINE HANANEL
International editorial coordinator MARIE BAZIN

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ED ITOR’ S LE TT E R

(Who could forget her sassy line in

Ozark: “If you’re a killer, then I’m Snow
White. And I don’t see any dwarves
around.”) Garner’s latest project is Wolf
Man, a supernatural gothic horror film
in which she shines, scares and – as
Jennifer Robinson usual – steals the show. To find out
and Saya Sakakibara more, turn to page 92.
(below) speaking
at our Women of By now, I hope you’re on the beach,
the Year Awards on by the pool, or taking a breath after a
November 13. huge 2024. This year was one of my
most significant to date. I navigated
a divorce. My eldest daughter finished
primary school. It was a lot. And yet,
as uncomfortable as change can feel,
stepping into a new, unexpected chapter
always feels exciting. We never know
what’s around the corner (although our
2025 horoscopes guide from page 73
might give you a little insight), but there
is nothing more certain than change.
From page 38, we reflect on the
year that was and, as you’ll read, 2024
will be forever etched in our memories.
Gisèle Pelicot courageously demanded
a light be shone on rape culture. Police
inspector Amy Scott ended a frenzied
stabbing incident in Sydney’s Bondi
when she shot down the attacker.
hen our Brittany Higgins finally found a
fashion semblance of justice when her alleged
EDITOR’S PICKS editors rapist, Bruce Lehrmann, lost his
return from defamation case against Channel 10.
a cover shoot Still, we live in a world of crisis, with
Camilla and with a big celebrity, the wider team devastating ongoing armed conflict.
Marc always has questions. What were they There was also light: Taylor Swift’s
bag, $550. like? What did they say? We want every Era’s concert had us all shaking it off,
single detail. As a society, we’re still while Céline Dion made an epic
infatuated with famous people, and comeback at the Olympics.
Lucy Folk for good reason. They are naturally As we enter 2025, I want to thank
choker, $750. mysterious and intriguing, but they’re you all for being part of the marie claire
also cultural icons. In the case of this community. This will be our 30th year
month’s cover star, actor Julia Garner, in Australia, and it’s going to be a big
the report was that it was like hanging one. We’ll keep doing what we always
out with a best friend. Her parents even do: championing changemakers,
came to the shoot to say hello. When amplifying voices that matter and
our features editor Alexandra English inspiring our readers to embrace
interviewed her, it was Garner who their own power.
asked the questions at the start, which And speaking of power, don’t miss
PHOTOGRAPHY BY JULIE ADAMS; JAY PATEL; PAUL MCMILLAN.

gives insight into her character – she’s all the action from our Women of the
innately curious about others. “Curious Year Awards on page 86. It was a night
people, to me, are smarter,” she says. I won’t be forgetting anytime soon.
Garner even entertained the marie Happy new year!
ArtClub shorts,
$320. claire crew on set with an impression
of Anna Delvey, who she played in
the 2022 miniseries Inventing Anna
(based on Anna Sorokin’s life). Garner
is Hollywood’s quiet achiever. From
high society fraudster Delvey to Georgie McCourt
Medik8 Crystal foul-mouthed Ruth Langmore in
Retinal 6, $135. EDITOR
Ozark, she’s uniquely magnetic.

FACEBOOK FACEBOOK.COM/MARIECLAIREAU INSTAGRAM @MARIECLAIREAU TIKTOK @MARIECLAIRE_AU WEB MARIECLAIRE.COM.AU

14 | marieclaire.com.au
 ON TH E C OV ER
Julia Garner wears
Gucci dress, $5200,
bralette, $1850,
and necklace,
$1250; Garner’s
own earrings.
All makeup by
1 Gucci Beauty.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY REGAN CAMERON/WIB. GARNER STYLED BY NAOMI SMITH. THIS PAGE COMPILED BY IZZY ROOK; FRANCESCA HARTLEY. WAVE HILL GARDEN & CULTURAL CENTER IN THE BRONX, NY.

C OV E R S TA R S T Y L E

3
GET THE
LOOK
Despite the cold New York weather, it’s warm inside Wave Hill
Garden & Cultural Center’s greenhouse. Within the glass walls
of the Bronx-based haven, marie claire’s January cover star, Julia Garner,
looks as bright as a summer’s day. Styled in Gucci’s Cruise 2024/25 7
collection, with makeup by Gucci Beauty, the NYC local is the epitome
of heavenly femininity amid the hothouse blooms. Snapped by
photographer Regan Cameron, her signature blonde curls pulled back,
Garner’s porcelain skin glows thanks to a sweep of Gucci Blush De
Beauté in Sweet Peach across her cheekbones, and a hint of the brand’s
cult-loved Glow Highlighter. The star’s lips are given a blurry, just-bitten
finish with Gucci Rouge De Beauté lipstick in Call It A Day, while
Gucci Beauty’s Mascara L’Obscur lends richness and allure to lashes.
For the full cover story, turn to page 92.

4
ALL ITEMS BY GUCCI AND GUCCI BEAUTY.
1 Glow Highlighter Multi-Use Silky Illuminating Powder in Frosted
Lilac, $98. 2 Bag, $5300. 3 Gucci Guilty EDP For Her, 50ml, $183.
4 Shoes, $1450. 5 Mascara L’Obscur, $68. 6 Blush De Beauté in Sweet
Peach, $88. 7 Rouge De Beauté Brillant lipstick in Call It A Day, $72.
A DV ERTI SI N G F EAT UR E

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 SHINE ON
Carry that festive season sparkle
into the new year with striking
silver, dazzling diamonds and
gleaming gold. A summery white
or black ensemble will keep
all eyes on the prize: jewels
P H O TO G R A P H E D B Y
D I E G O LO R E N ZO J O S E

ST YLED BY
J O R DA N B O O R M A N
Chanel cape,
$10,680, swimsuit,
$1810, earrings,
$950, and necklaces,
$1600 (top), $3130,
and $3430 (with
Chanel motif).

marieclaire.com.au | 17
TRE N D I NG NOW

Matteau top, $240;

1 Stella McCartney
jeans, $1530,
at Net-a-porter;
Cartier necklace,
$28,900, bracelets
(from left), $13,000
and $12,000,
watch, $11,800,
rings, $3400,
$2290, and $3200.

1 H&M necklace, $27.99.

2 Cult Gaia dress, $430, at
7 Moda Operandi. 3 Agmes
5 earrings, $150. 4 Viktoria
6 & Woods jeans, $390.
5 Paris Georgia top, $470.
6 St. Agni bag, $389.
7 Lucy Folk ring, $195.
8 The Row shoes, $1200,
8 at Moda Operandi.

marieclaire.com.au | 18
Louis Vuitton
dress, $5050, and
earrings, $830.
 Christian Dior
top, $5000, and
necklace, $9200.
 TRE N DI N G NOW

Christopher Esber top,

$220; Madre Natura
shorts, $300; Swarovski
necklaces (from top),
$630 and $299, and
rings (from top), $249 and
$189; Pandora bracelets, 1
$199, and $99 with
charm, $59; Scanlan
Theodore shoes, $400.

1 Celine necklace, POA. 7

2 Emporio Armani top, POA. 5
3 By Charlotte earrings,
$229. 4 Michael Kors skirt,
$1690, at Moda Operandi.
5 Christian Dior bag, POA.
6 Omega watch, $19,875.
7 Loewe sunglasses, $380.
8 St. Agni shoes, $329.
6
8

marieclaire.com.au | 21
T R E N D IN G N OW

Matin dress,
$590; Eres top
(underneath), $495;
Van Cleef & Arpels
necklaces (from
top), POA, and
$52,000.

HAIR BY KOH/VIVIEN’S CREATIVE. MAKEUP BY NISHA VAN BERKEL/ASSEMBLY AGENCY. MODEL: SIRI ELMELUND/IMG.

6
5

1 Mejuri necklace,
$2100. 2 Harris
Tapper top, $669.
3 Casa bag, $290.
4 Françoise skirt,
$635. 5 Pandora
ring, $189. 6 Edera
sunglasses, $310.
7 7 Celine shoes, $1650.

22 | marieclaire.com.au
 Gucci ring (right
hand, ring finger,
bottom), $3750;
Chopard rings (right
hand, ring finger,
top), $4360, (middle
finger, from top),
$8900 and $7930,
(left hand, from
top), $7930
and $6270.
A LASTING
IMPRESSION
At Max Mara, continuity and a deep respect
for the brand’s DNA have given the company
and its new generation of customers
a legacy to believe in

H
istorically, tracking down a recording have had eager photographers lining the runway trying
of Max Mara’s spring/summer 1992 to snap “The Supers” instead of the wall of iPhones
show at Milan Fashion Week would raised in a two-hand formation, and the emphasis
have meant making a pilgrimage to on structured tailoring – double-breasted silhouettes
the brand’s archival warehouse on the and late-stage power suits – has been replaced
outskirts of Reggio Emilia, a charming town nestled by softer shapes, sleek darts and origami-like folds.
in the heart of the Po River Valley in northern Italy. But the sensibility – the unbreakable throughline
It would have meant scouring the three floors of of both collections – is unmistakably Max Mara.
archives: sifting through old show notes, squeezing “We live in a constantly changing world, but
past revolving rails stuffed with every iteration of I think that the importance of a brand and its
the house’s iconic camel coat and side-stepping relevance lies behind its own consistency,” explains
towers of perfectly folded cashmere turtlenecks Maria Giulia Prezioso Maramotti, board member
and tomes dedicated to the art of tailoring. of Max Mara Fashion Group and granddaughter of
Fast forward to today, and the process is infinitely the house’s legendary founder, Achille Maramotti.
easier, if a little less romantic. Now with a simple Having spent much of her childhood with
Google search and the click of a button, you are her grandfather, who founded Max Mara in 1951
presented with Yasmeen and Cindy strutting down with a single suit and coat, Maria Giulia grew up
the runway in Milan in – albeit grainy – technicolour. immersed in the rhythm of the atelier – sewing
So much of the world has changed thanks to machines humming, patterns scattered across the
the advent of the internet, but compare the footage floor and the exhilaration of a new season. It was
with scenes from the house’s most recent runway there that she developed a deep respect for the slow,
presentation in Milan in September, and the intentional approach to design that her grandfather
similarities are striking. The 1992 runway might championed as he built one of the world’s first luxury
 TRE N DI N G NOW

FROM OPPOSITE PAGE

Max Mara’s double-
breasted Olimpia Jacket
is the label’s latest
iteration of its classic
camel-hair coat.

“MAX MARA
STANDS FOR:
WOMEN WHOSE
STRENGTH,
CREATIVITY,
AND DRIVE SET
THEM APART”
– Maria Giulia
Prezioso Maramotti

ready-to-wear houses. “For me, the importance of

preserving our values in terms of quality, in terms
of craftsmanship, is part of what our grandfather has
transferred to us and part of the company’s legacy.”
But Maria Giulia shares more with her
grandfather than just a surname, a penchant for
business and a passion for clothing that empowers
its wearer. Like Achille, an avid art collector who
amassed a remarkable collection now housed in the
Collezione Maramotti (a modern art gallery in Reggio
Emilia), Maria Giulia is deeply invested in the arts.
She plays a key role in the Max Mara Art Prize for Meanwhile, the Maramotti family – now in its
Women, which supports emerging female artists in third generation – continues to lead with confidence,
the United Kingdom, and is actively involved in the overseeing a fashion empire that spans nine brands
brand’s Women in Film awards, a program dedicated and 2500 stores in more than 100 countries, all
to advancing equal opportunities for women in the built upon the foundation laid by Achille.
film industry. The list of recipients includes notable A prime example of this legacy is the house’s
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF MAX MARA. WORDS BY MAEVE GALEA.

actors such as Gemma Chan, Zoë Saldana, and, latest reimagining of its classic lightweight camel-
most recently, Joey King. hair coat, the Olimpia Jacket. The double-breasted
“When I met Joey, what struck me most was her style and broad shoulders echo the 1992 collection,
warmth, her charisma and, above all, her optimism,” but the oversized yet straight silhouette and mini-
says Maria Giulia. “Despite her many achievements, length are unmistakably now. It’s clear that, in time,
she remains focused on the future, always seeking this new creation will join its predecessors – like
new ways to evolve and inspire. That’s exactly what the very first coat Achille designed in 1951 – in the
Max Mara stands for: women whose strength, Max Mara archives, marking yet another milestone
creativity, and relentless drive set them apart for the family.
as leaders of their generation.” “Today’s fashion is very fast and very crowded
A dedication to excellence and continuity and not very durable, which is exactly the opposite
runs deep at Max Mara. In an industry where of what we think sustains the brand,” says Maria
the revolving door of creative directors and CEOs Giulia. “And this is the reason why I think we
is often likened to a game of musical chairs, Ian are relevant for today’s fashion.” It’s a romantic
Griffiths has remained the steady hand guiding the sentiment, but the Maramottis know a legacy
house as its celebrated creative director since 2005. you can believe in is an unstoppable force.

marieclaire.com.au | 25
 T
he man at the helm of one of the world’s
most successful fashion empires is
talking about how he failed at school.
“I was a terrible student,” says Tommy
Hilfiger, the 73-year-old pioneer of classic
American cool. “I didn’t realise I was dyslexic until
later in life. I just thought I wasn’t very smart.”
Hilfiger, the second of nine children, was born
into a working-class family in Elmira, upstate
New York. “My parents couldn’t afford to send
me to college. I thought, ‘If I’m in business myself,
I’m going to make it work,’” he says.
It’s the day before his spring/summer 2025
runway show – set aboard a decommissioned Staten
Island ferry owned by Saturday Night Live’s Colin
Jost and alum Pete Davidson – and Hilfiger is
recalling a journey that began with $150 in savings
and a dream. In 1969, at 18 years old, Hilfiger
bought 20 pairs of bell-bottom jeans on the streets
of New York and drove them five hours upstate to
sell them from the boot of his Volkswagen Beetle.
Soon after, he opened his first store, People’s Place.
“I sold concert tickets, records, cool clothes, and
had my brother’s band practising in the basement,”
Hilfiger recalls. That early venture wasn’t just a
It was runways afloat at store, it became a community hub where young
the Tommy Hilfiger spring/
summer 2025 launch. people gathered to discuss music and fashion.
TOP Tommy was given In 1985, he launched Tommy Hilfiger, the brand
a rapturous reception. that would redefine American fashion.
His breakthrough came in the 1990s, when
Hilfiger’s preppy Americana aesthetic unexpectedly

KING
resonated with hip-hop culture. “The brand went
from being sort of a preppy all-American brand
to a brand that attracted hip-hop rappers, surfers,
skaters,” he says. Embracing this cultural shift,
Hilfiger leaned into bold logos and oversized
silhouettes, turning his customers into “walking

of COOL
billboards”. His clothes were worn by everyone from
Mick Jagger and David Bowie to Britney Spears
and Usher, creating a celebrity fan base long
before social media made such cross-cultural
appeal commonplace.
Today, four decades after launching his brand,
Hilfiger maintains the restless spirit of that teenage
Tommy Hilfiger’s new collection offers entrepreneur from small-town New York state.
a fresh take on his signature maritime style He openly talks about how he has learnt to use
 TREN DI NG NOW

The ferry was awash

with celebs and top
PHOTOGRAPHY BY BRE JOHNSON/BFA.COM; FILIPPO FIOR; STEFANIA CURTO; COURTESY OF TOMMY HILFIGER. WORDS BY GEORGIE MCCOURT.

models, both working

and as guests. CLOCKWISE
FROM LEFT Philanthropist
and model Ava Dash;
a branded lifebuoy;
New Zealand model
attention deficit disorder as a creative force. Georgia Fowler; three looks
“I have ADD so I could be working on something from the collection; and
but thinking about another thing,” he says. “But actor Brooke Shields (left)
with Tommy’s wife, Dee.
I always come back into focus because I know that
if I concentrate on priorities, I’ll get there.”
And even after so long in the game, there’s not
a hint of complacency to Hilfiger. “It’s never enough,” ready to move from the ferry to the city streets.” The
he says. Despite his success, he speaks about the collection strikes a balance between preppy, collegiate
future as though it’s his first year in business. “I keep charm and modern sensibilities, showcasing Hilfiger’s
thinking that I’m going to become successful in keen ability to capture the cultural zeitgeist. The
the future, even though other people tell me that grand finale of the show was a reminder of this, with
I’m successful,” he says. “I want better stores. Wu-Tang Clan’s Ghostface Killah, Method Man and
I want better advertising. I want better Raekwon, along with Questlove, curating
fabrics. I want better quality. I just want the electrifying soundtrack – a testament
everything to continue to get better and “I JUST WANT to Hilfiger’s status as a true cultural icon.
better and better.” EVERYTHING TO As this interview ends, Hilfiger
Tommy Hilfiger’s spring/summer GET BETTER AND reflects on the idea of the American
2025 collection marks a return to his BETTER AND Dream, a concept he’s often associated
nautical roots, seamlessly blending BETTER” with. “I believe I’ve achieved the
classic influences with contemporary ¸Jdbbn>^aë\Zg American Dream, but it’s never truly
trends. The lineup features higher finished because there’s always more to
waists, wider legs, cropped tops, and strive for,” he says. “The American Dream
oversized jackets, offering a fresh take on the is about working hard, persevering, and staying
signature maritime style that has defined Hilfiger’s committed to your path. It shows that you can
brand since 1985. “We’re revisiting the nautical and succeed if you keep going. I always tell students that
maritime inspirations that have always been part of if you have a dream, go after it. Do what you love,
our identity,” Hilfiger explains. “But for 2025, it’s a not just something to pay the bills. It makes all the
remix – effortless summer style with a confident edge, difference in the world.”

marieclaire.com.au | 27
 The bare truth about
NAKED DRESSING The trend isn’t just for A-listers. But it isn’t
necessarily for all of us, either. By Halie LeSavage

I
t’s 1993, and Kate Moss is Pugh’s controversy-inducing Valentino lace bodysuits and latex influenced
attending Elite Models’ Look ballgown in 2023, or ones that expose by strip-club attire, “this crossover
of the Year party in a completely some side-cheek à la Anya Taylor-Joy’s highlights how subcultures often pave
sheer slip dress and little black Mugler mini last May. However, these the way for broader trends”.
briefs. It’s 1998, and Charlotte York looks are not simply to get in front These days, at least on shopping
tells Carrie Bradshaw her backless of an algorithm, but involve something racks, naked dressing is, in theory, for
DKNY slip for her first date with Big much more powerful. “In the everyone. Writing this story over the
on Sex and the City looks more like a present, naked dressing is often summer, I could find 1440 results for
“naked dress”. It’s 2014, and Rihanna seen as a statement of confidence a “sheer dress” query online at just one
is crowned the CFDA’s Fashion Icon, and empowerment,” says Shelby department store and 608 for “corset”.
braless under a starry pink net of Ivey Christie, a fashion and costume Dresses are as revealing at Prada
Swarovski crystals. It’s 2015, and historian. “It challenges traditional as they are at Witchery. The only
Beyoncé is ascending the Met Gala notions of modesty and body image, difference is the price tag.
steps cloaked in a Givenchy gown allowing individuals to reclaim their Ivey Christie says that people
made up of nude tulle and strategically bodies and express their style.” are in fact seeking out the peekaboo
placed crystals. It’s 2024, and Emily Celebrity stylist Kat Typaldos has moments carried at hundreds
Ratajkowski or Zoë Kravitz or (insert dressed clients in sheer outfits for the of brands, at least in major fashion
your preferred KarJenner here) subtext. “It’s something that still feels capitals – just look at the gauzy
is arriving at some red carpet, quite taboo – people are able to co-op long-sleeve tops and see-through midi
somewhere, in a corset or sheath that this thing that we’re told that we skirts throughout street style
leaves nothing to the imagination. shouldn’t be doing,” she says. “I think in New York and Paris for proof.
All those outfits are variations that’s really amazing because,
on the same red carpet theme: naked especially in Western and American “BEING ABLE TO FEEL
dressing, which has become a catch-all culture, it’s very ‘shameful’ to be PROUD OF YOUR BODY,
term for garments that include naked. Being able to feel proud of your
sheer fabrics, strategic cut-outs and body, in a public way, is really exciting.”
IN A PUBLIC WAY,
body-hugging silhouettes that reveal Yet by the 15th time someone like IS REALLY EXCITING”
more than they conceal. It’s become the Jennifer Lopez wears a naked dress, – Kat Typaldos
default for when celebs want to be seen. the ability to shock, awe, empower or
The precedent stretches back scandalise seems to fade. We already Women who’ve tried, or at least
decades. In the 1920s, starlets like know some public figures will always considered, attending an event
the original It girl, Clara Bow, were be more transparent in their red carpet in a see-through dress or skirt told
slipping into semi-sheer garments for outfits than their interviews, and that me self-acceptance and dressing for
the first silent films. The advent of the they’re not beholden to quite the same a female gaze were the main appeal.
sexual revolution-meets-women’s- dress codes as the general public. “I love figure and shape, so I don’t
liberation movement in the ’60s and So, what about everyone else? usually have an adverse reaction to
’70s brought more adventurously sheer looks,” says Kelly Augustine, a

D
constructed pieces to the fore with it. esigners have spent the past stylist who specialises in dressing clients
But naked dressing really hit its year pushing a lingerie-adjacent outside of sample size, with a focus on
stride in near-present Hollywood. agenda on shoppers. In an era plus-size fashion. “I think gaze is all
At this point, by watching red carpet when women’s rights are being rolled about perspective – some would think
live streams and scrolling social media back, near see-through clothes this trend is for the male gaze, while
for a living, I have seen more nearly are positioned both as sexy and I could see how someone would use
naked celebrities than I have seen as a shortcut to reclaiming our bodies. a sheer look to exude ownership, power
actual naked people in real life. The sentiment echoes some of the and comfort in relation to their body.”
GETTY IMAGES.

Some outfits did feel tailored for earliest cases of naked dressing, Ivey Still, cultural and social barriers
maximum “did you see this?” sharing: Christie notes: in the case of brands can get in the way of everyone feeling
fabrics that free the nipple like Florence like Poster Girl or Mugler, which sell comfortable or safe trying the trend.

28 | marieclaire.com.au
 TRE N DI N G NOW

Taking the naked-dress plunge can This is the beauty of a once-niche

have vastly different outcomes based look making it to the mainstream.
on the race, size and socioeconomic As it becomes more and more
status of the person wearing it. “For normalised to show skin, it’s just as
instance, Black women and women acceptable to opt in as it is to opt out.
of colour may face different scrutiny There is more choice to shop than less,
or sexualisation compared to their more ways to evolve the styling, more
white counterparts,” Ivey Christie says. ways to push the definition of who the
Plus-size bodies are historically item emboldens and, ultimately, more
discouraged from showing skin – and ways to find confidence by withholding
Augustine says she’d like to see fuller instead of revealing. Given the trend’s
figures in naked dresses more often. inherently showy nature, some insiders
Both on the red carpet and on prefer to observe it than to actually
the street, those showing off a near- wear it. Evolving social mores haven’t
birthday suit are almost always thin. made naked dresses an office-friendly
Women who try them without fitting item, Typaldos jokes. Augustine
the runway mould face calls to cover up. agrees. “I actually like the look of this
Lauren Chan, a model and trend, love to see it on a runway and
size-inclusion advocate, even notes on a red carpet. But it’s not practical
that the options to test-drive the naked for my everyday life.”
trend are limited by size to begin with.
“It’s most accessible to folks who fit “I LOVE TO SEE IT ON
into sample sizes, though it hopefully
will be brought to the masses by way
A RUNWAY, BUT IT’S
of companies catching on to the trend NOT PRACTICAL FOR
and producing more sizes – but this MY EVERYDAY LIFE”
is the issue fashion always faces,” – Kelly Augustine
she says. “We’re onto something new
and exciting, and brands and designers Even celebrities have their limits.
make one sample in a [size 6 or 8].” “As a stylist, I’d never go to a client and
Runways reinforce that narrow say you should wear this because it’s
vision with narrow casting. By trending,” Typaldos says. “It’s more like
the time garments are made, only we have a conversation around the
celebrities or “fashion people” get garment and what wants to be
the option to participate. Emerging communicated comes first. A lot of
FROM TOP Kate Moss (left) and designers and renegade stylists are times, wearing a sheer dress isn’t even
Naomi Campbell at the Elite Models
event in 1993; Emily Ratajkowski stepping in when the mainstream about ‘This is sheer, which means it’s
(left) at the 2024 Met Gala; Zoë fashion system isn’t inclusive enough. sexy.’ It’s more just like, ‘How does this
Kravitz at the Met in 2021; Sarah Take Michaela Stark, a British make me feel?’” For clients like Meg
Jessica Parker in 1997. BELOW
Original It-girl Clara Bow in 1930. designer who specialises in corsetry Stalter, star of Hacks, who wore a sheer
and lingerie-like dresses that expose Norma Kamali dress and high-waisted
bellies, thighs and cleavage other briefs to the 2022 Emmys, the trend
designers might try to cover up. “It’s makes them feel present, and
stronger, it’s more creative and it’s empowered, in their bodies.
more for the female gaze,” Chan says. Earlier in 2024, Chan
commissioned the independent

E
ven as the naked trend starts to designer Mario Fugnitto to make her
evolve, there’s the possibility of two naked dresses in celebration of
naked fatigue. Around the time her second Sports Illustrated Swimsuit
high-fashion brands were re-upping feature. One was a crystalline
sheer fabrics on their autumn 2024 see-through dress meant to mimic
runways, Madé Lapuerta, the fashion splashing water over a black Skims
data analyst behind the website swimsuit, the other was a white terry
databutmakeitfashion.com, reported cloth mini resembling a soaking wet
that popularity among consumers for pool towel. Chan says they’re the most
sheer dresses and sheer fabrics had complimented pieces she’s ever worn
declined 5.4 per cent. By the time the – even model Lily Aldridge told her
trend trickles all the way down into she was the best-dressed person at
stores, a mindset shift could settle into their event. “It was empowering, it was
place: maybe the big question isn’t who showing the body, it wasn’t hiding it or,
gets to wear a naked dress, but who quote-unquote, fixing it in any way.”
actually wants to. It was also, ultimately, for a red carpet.
T R E N D IN G N OW

“The way the Love

bracelet is worn might
allow for more irony and a
sense of humour”
– Cartier’s Pierre Rainero

The new medium

Love bracelet in
yellow gold, $9950,
cartier.com.au.
INSET A 1970 ad for
the original bracelet.

Modern
Fast forward more than half a century and the Love
bracelet has evolved into Cartier’s best-selling collection
globally and is one of the house’s most iconic pieces. It has
graced the arms of A-lister couples, from Elizabeth Taylor
and Richard Burton to Prince Harry and Meghan Markle.
Justin Bieber wears a diamond-paved rendition paired with

LOVE
a Juste un Clou nail bracelet (Cipullo’s other most famous
design for the house), and Sofia Coppola has been known
to stack hers with her favourite Clé de Cartier watch
in rose gold.
The trend towards stacking and layering started around
10 years ago and has been embraced by the house, says
Pierre Rainero, the image, style and heritage director at
Cartier for the past two decades. “There’s a lot of playfulness
Once a symbol of eternal devotion,
now in the way people wear jewellery,” Rainero says. “I
today Cartier’s Love bracelet embodies believe that, in the future, the way the Love bracelet is worn
timeless elegance and evolution might allow for more room for irony and a sense of humour.
People will still hold on to the value and meaning of the

N
othing lasts forever, but some things deserve to be piece, but there may be a more playful way of expressing it.”
remembered. It was this idea that Cartier designer To prepare for this future, Cartier has been reconsidering
Aldo Cipullo wanted to honour when he conceived elements of the bracelet’s design. From December, the house
the sleek and uncomplicated design of the Cartier has introduced a new medium size (sitting between the
Love bracelet in 1969 while turning the page on classic with its original width and the small model) that
a broken heart. At the time, luxury jewellery was event-wear, Rainero hopes will allow wearers to play more with
COURTESY OF CARTIER. WORDS BY MAEVE GALEA.

ostentatious pieces laden with rubies and diamonds, designed proportion, or simply find their perfect fit. Going forward,
to complement an outfit and act as a signifier of status. all versions will feature a refined screw-and-hinge system,
But Cipullo – who could be considered the father of quiet once exclusive to the small model, allowing the wearer to
luxury – envisioned something altogether different: a sleek put it on and take it off.
oval cuff to sit snugly on the wrist, secured with screws “I think it’s very encouraging because it’s not just about
tightened with its very own screwdriver. Designed to be preserving memories; it also highlights our ability to invent
seldom taken off, the bracelet is a symbol of devotion and and renew our perspective on things. It reflects the constant
a daily reminder of an unbreakable bond. Legend has it that changes of time and, in a way, demonstrates a dynamic
when the piece was first released it was exclusively sold to energy, which is what design is about,” explains Rainero.
couples who would give each other their screwdrivers Nothing lasts forever. Thankfully, elegance is the only
for safekeeping. beauty that never fades.

30 | marieclaire.com.au
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CH A NGEM A K ER S
I N S P I R I N G WO M E N L I V I N G E X T R AO R D I N A RY L I V E S

Art with
heart
As a curator of Indigenous art at London’s
Tate Modern, Kimberley Moulton is
passionate about putting First Nations
art on the international stage

WORDS BY ALE X ANDR A ENGLISH

C
urators are the unsung heroes of the art world.
So unsung, in fact, that when Kimberley Moulton
– who has spent 17 years as one – was studying
art at university, she didn’t know what it was.
Derived from the Latin cūrāre, a verb
meaning “to take care of”, curators do exactly that: take
on the immense responsibility of ensuring an artist’s
works, ideas and imagination are cared for when they
are on display to the public. It involves interpreting
an artist’s message and utilising a gallery to communicate
it effectively through positioning, light, colour and physical
space. It’s an invisible collaboration – curators are the
showrunners of the art world, quietly working in the
background to bring about impactful cultural moments.
Currently an adjunct curator of Indigenous art at
London’s Tate Modern, Moulton is working to amplify
First Nations art on an international stage. It’s been a big
first year, with Moulton and her colleagues achieving two
major acquisitions from Indigenous Australian artists, one
of which was Yolŋu artist Naminapu Maymuru-White’s
Milŋiyawuy (Milkyway)*, a series of bark paintings that
tell the story of how her ancestors travel along a river
leading to the sky and can be seen in the stars.
Moulton was also involved in the Tate’s acquisition
of Archie Moore’s monumental installation kith and kin,
which won the Golden Lion (the art Oscars) at this year’s
Venice Biennale. The Bigambul/Kamilaroi artist was only
the second First Nations artist to solo-represent Australia
and the first Australian to take home the top prize.
 WOMEN W E L OV E

CLOCKWISE FROM
TOP Naminapu
Maymuru-White in
front of her artwork
Milŋiyawuy; The
Merri Singers from
STRUMPF AND BUKU-LARRNGGAY MULKA CENTRE IN YIRRKALA. *THE TATE ACQUIRED THE WORK IN COLLABORATION WITH THE FRIEZE TATE FUND; ALICK JACKOMOS COLLECTION MUSEUMS

Cummergunja
KIMBERLEY MOULTON PHOTOGRAPHED BY EUGENE HYLAND. THIS PAGE, FROM TOP: COURTESY OF SULLIVAN + STRUMPF. MAYMURU-WHITE IS REPRESENTED IN AUSTRALIA BY SULLIVAN +

mission, from left:

Iris Atkinson, Nona
Tye (nee James),
and Moulton’s
grandmother Claire
VICTORIA; COURTESY OF KIMBERLEY MOULTON; **THE TATE ACQUIRED THE WORK VIA DONATION FROM CREATIVE AUSTRALIA AS A JOINT ACQUISITION WITH QAGOMA.

Moulton (nee
Murray); Moulton’s
dad, Murray
Moulton, painting in
the TAFE Studio at
Shepparton in 2008.

To say the artwork is huge is an understatement. The

installation maps 65,000 years and 2400 family generations
through a genealogical chart hand-drawn in chalk. “When
I walked into his work, I had a visceral reaction, the hair
stood up on my skin,” says Moulton. “You’re reading these created a beautiful nurturing home where we were able
terrible words that our people have been described to be creative and play music, do art classes and
as on social media and in government documents, then extracurricular activities.” Her parents were factory workers
it goes up into his Gamilaraay and Bigambul language but were also creative and community-minded, working
and up into the heavens to his ancestors. Then there are at the Rumbalara Aboriginal Co-operative. As we talk,
these voids that he’s erased, the black holes of history.” Moulton points out two green canvases with black
After Moore won the Golden Lion, Moulton worked cockatoos on the wall behind her – her dad painted those.
with the Tate and Moore’s representatives to acquire the “He was always creative, but definitely more so in his later
work**. To have a work that talks about Indigenous death years,” she explains. Also behind her is a photograph of her
and incarceration and colonial legacy put on a global stage paternal grandmother, Claire Moulton (nee Murray), with
in England – well, that’s a curator taking care. two cousins, who, in the early 20th century, were members
of the Merri Singers performance troupe at the

W
hat’s often interesting about curators is the Cummergunja Aboriginal mission. It’s a spectacular
decision not to pursue an artistic career of their photograph: three women in flapper-style costumes, with
own. Moulton, a Yorta Yorta woman who grew ballet-pointed feet, holding tambourines that, from afar,
up as “a country girl” in Shepparton in regional look like orbs of light. The troupe – made up of men,
Victoria, did grow up making art. Her love of it kicked women and children – would travel Victoria and NSW
in early. “I remember my sister, Shannon, had this entire performing gospel, vaudeville and cabaret songs, fusing
Barbie land set up with every Barbie you could imagine, Yorta Yorta culture with contemporary music to raise
and I’d usually be off drawing or writing,” she says. “Mum awareness and money for their community.
“Culture and where we came from was always instilled
in us,” Mouton says. “Dad was very proud of our family
– he had books in his study that were full of photos of Nan,
my great-grandmothers and my great-great-grandfather.
“We didn’t really go on big family holidays, but
we would go on road trips to different places around
country Victoria,” she continues. They would also visit
the Cummergunja mission and go fishing in the nearby
Barmah State Forest. There was a cultural centre there,
the Dharnya Centre, which also held photos of her family.
“I loved going there and seeing all those photos of Nan,
as well as our history.”
In the 1990s, the Melbourne Museum relocated from
its building on Swanston Street in the CBD to its current
location in Carlton Gardens, and the cousins of Moulton’s
dad were part of creating the museum’s Bunjilaka
Aboriginal Cultural Centre. They asked him to contribute
some of his family’s photos.
“I grew up with this knowledge that my family had
an important role in our history, but as a kid you don’t

marieclaire.com.au | 35
 Archie Moore creating
kith and kin (left), and
an installation view.
BELOW The two works
that changed Moulton’s
perception of First
Nations art: Destiny
Deacon’s Meloncholy
(2000; left) – “I had
a light-bulb moment
in front of it: this is
what Aboriginal art
is, what it can be” –
and Moore’s Black
Dog (2013) from the
National Self-Portrait
Prize: “It’s so profound
in speaking to racial
abuse and depression.”

it, and you get in for free because you

shouldn’t have to pay to see your
own culture,” she says. “I remember
Dad being really proud, saying,
‘We’ll have to go to the museum one
day in Melbourne, in the big city, to
see photos of Nan,’ and then eight
years later I was working there.”
(When her father died unexpectedly
five years ago, Moulton found that
precious card in his bedside table,
along with photos of his daughters.)
Moulton stayed with the
museum for 15 years, starting in an outreach role where

CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: PHOTOGRAPHY BY ANDREA ROSSETTI/© ARCHIE MOORE/COURTESY OF THE ARTIST AND THE COMMERCIAL; © ARCHIE MOORE/
she’d take objects to kindergartens and aged-care homes,
before eventually working in Bunjilaka and becoming a

COURTESY OF THE COMMERCIAL, SYDNEY/PHOTO: CARL WARNER; COURTESY OF DESTINY DEACON AND ROSLYN OXLEY9 GALLERY, SYDNEY.
curator of its Victorian Aboriginal art gallery, the Birrarung
understand it as a part of you,” she says. It was when Gallery, and then as a senior curator in the First Peoples
Moulton left Shepparton and was doing Indigenous studies department. “It was a deep, slow learning process, with
at Monash University that it all clicked. “My uncle Wayne really deep listening,” she says of her progression into
Atkinson came to teach the class, and the whole lesson curation. “We talk a lot in our culture about deep listening,
was on our family history,” she says. Part of that history which is not just listening with your ears, but sitting and
includes a long line of civil activists, including her great- seeing and feeling and respecting, and I had time to do
great-uncle William Cooper, a founding secretary of the that. I was very lucky.”
Australian Aborigines’ League, created in 1936 to lobby the During her time at the museum, Moulton has been
government on behalf of Aboriginal people. involved in several handover ceremonies
“[Hearing all of that] was like a light-bulb through the museum’s repatriation
moment for me that made me think, ‘OK, “I THOUGHT, program. “I was a part of return ceremonies
I need to step up and think about how I can ‘OK, I NEED with community and colleagues for both
contribute and own it a bit more to honour TO STEP UP AND our ancestral human remains and objects,”
the work that my ancestors did for me to be HONOUR THE she explains. “These moments are
here right now,’” she says. Making a career of WORK OF MY life- changing: you see and feel daily the
art “wasn’t really on the cards” in her country ANCESTORS’” torment of colonial legacy but also the
town, and Moulton says she thought she healing that is happening through return
needed to become a doctor. “Along with art, and acknowledgment of these histories
I studied chemistry and biology in year 12,” she says, in museums and community.”
laughing. “I bombed because I was forcing myself into it.” Throughout her career, Moulton has maintained
At university, she found that art could be a viable career an independent practice. She’s a senior curator at Rising
option. “I realised I could read art and I could connect Festival – Naarm/Melbourne’s premier art, music and
to it, and I really enjoyed that aspect of engaging with art,” performance festival – commissioning Indigenous artists
she says. “So instead of pursuing a career making art, I was to make public art. The 2023 exhibition Shadow Spirit was
interested in how other artists make theirs – I was one of the biggest national First Peoples art commissions
interested in the interpretation, and the stories and histories in the state. In March, she’ll curate the TarraWarra Biennial,
you could tell through art that could make an impact.” an experimental and contemporary art showcase.
In a beautiful full-circle moment, after she graduated “My practice has always sat at the intersection of
Moulton got her first curatorial job in 2008, with the history, ancestral belongings and contemporary practice,”
Melbourne Museum. “I have this vivid memory of Dad she says. “It’s all intertwined, with the artist and
having this Bunjilaka card that all the mob got; you show community at the centre.”
 WOMEN W E L OV E

“The conscious
practice of doing
nothing can be quite
confronting,” says
Emmie Rae (left).

Radical rest is different from

meditation in that meditating can
be a bit active, like you’re moving
towards this goal of enlightenment
“WOMEN IN or mindfulness, or even trying for
longer stretches of time. You can get
PARTICULAR ARE distracted wondering, “Am I supposed
SO BAD AT to be thinking or not thinking?”
DOING NOTHING” There can also be a lot of rigidity
in meditation – having to do it every
morning or every evening – which
can make us resist it. It’s another
thing on the to-do list.
With radical rest, there’s something
about the passive nature of lying on
the floor, the conscious practice of
doing nothing, which can be quite
confronting. It’s about letting go of
the pressure to be productive in rest.
Women in particular are so bad
at doing nothing. We have a deep, deep
resistance to rest. I’m someone who
always has a million things I want to
W E N E E D T O TA L K A B O U T. . . do and create and achieve and work
on, and my problem was that there

Radical Rest
was never enough time. I was the least
likely person ever to rest until I was
(semi?) forced into it by the owner
of the first yoga studio I ever taught
It’s the summer holidays, your OOO is on and a cocktail is in at. I was trained in vinyasa, but she
your hand. How do you keep that feeling once the 9-5 starts was convinced I had a voice for
restorative yoga. I was deeply offended,
again? Emmie Rae, founder of The Daily Rest, explains but soon realised it was what I, and
all other creative and busy people,
needed more than anything else.
Incorporating conscious moments

M
ost people don’t know owners, high achievers and ambitious of rest throughout the day felt like
how to rest. Rest is people – these are the people who need pure torture at first – to be honest,
not just taking a nap, rest almost more than anyone else. sometimes it still does. When I started
scrolling or watching I recommend starting in a way practising radical rest, sometimes I
TV. The most important that feels almost too easy or doesn’t would feel refreshed and other times
PHOTOGRAPHY BY SHIRLEY CAI; SIMONE. AS TOLD TO ALEXANDRA ENGLISH.

thing about rest is that you’re not feel like you’ve done enough – even I would think, “Why did I just do that?
taking in any information through just lying flat on the floor or with your Did I just waste more time?” But
your eyes or ears. We’re always watching legs up the wall, covering your eyes once these practices were part of
things, reading, listening – we cook and setting a timer for 12 minutes. my everyday experience, it started
dinner with a podcast on. Radical rest Ideally it’s 20 minutes, but whatever to feel like I had so much more time
is an active practice in nothingness. you can start with. Maybe there in my day, it became easier to make
I founded The Daily Rest Studio are some ambient sounds in the decisions, I felt more creative and
to teach people how to rest. We do background, but ideally not. And had greater mental clarity.
live workshops a few times a month if you fall asleep, you fall asleep, but One thing I always tell beginners
where I guide a more curated and that’s not the point. The more you is that, starting out, it can feel really
complete rest experience, and tell practise it, the less likely you are uncomfortable. But I believe the more
people different postures to try to fall asleep; you get to rest in that we have a reaction to an experience,
(my background is in yoga). When in-between space. Try it every couple the more it’s a sign that something
I started teaching rest, everyone of days or wherever you can fit it in. is going to be interesting; it’s
was like, “That’s so boring. Maybe my I like to do it in the afternoon and something to explore and play with.
grandmother would be into that.” But then have a second coffee to boost There’s something so powerful about
activists, parents, creatives, business through the rest of the day. that conscious space of nothingness.

marieclaire.com.au | 37
R E PO RTAGE

French women crowd the

stairs of the Cannes Film
Festival’s Palais des Festivals
in May to demand an end
to gender-based violence.

T H E WA R O N W O M E N
After a spate of killings shocked the nation it seemed
women could not go for a morning jog or take their
newborn baby to a shopping centre without fearing
they might not come home. Scared and angry,
women took to the streets (again!), marching
to demand real action and the Prime Minister
responded, declaring violence against women a
“national crisis”. We were not alone. United women’s
marches took place across the globe – in the US,
Canada, France and Türkiye, to name a few – with
the sisterhood calling for equality, respect, safety and
freedom from oppression for women everywhere.
From the highs of Olympic gold and the feelgood
vibes of Brat Summer, to the devastation
of global conflicts and the return of Trump,
2024 will be forever seared into our memories

A C C I D E N TA L
HEROES
In France, rape trials are often
held behind closed doors.
That was before Gisèle Pelicot
demanded a light be shone on
rape culture. The 72-year-old
grandmother waived her right
to anonymity in the horrific
case that involved her husband
drugging her and inviting
up to 80 men to rape her over
a decade. She has become
the new face of feminism in
a country still reckoning with
its attitudes towards women.
In Sydney, police Inspector
Amy Scott was on duty
on a Saturday afternoon when
a man went on a frenzied
attack, fatally stabbing six
women and one man and
injuring 12 more at a Bondi
Junction shopping centre.
Amy Scott attends Alone, Scott ran towards
a candlelight vigil the danger, confronting
on April 21, eight
days after the Bondi the attacker and shooting
Junction stabbings. him, ending the carnage
and saving countless lives.

marieclaire.com.au | 39
 Kamala
Harris (right)
on SNL with
doppelganger
Maya Rudolph.

TRU MP V HARRIS Donald Trump raises

a defiant fist after an
For a brief, shining moment, Kamala Harris gave us hope assassination attempt.
there would be a new generation of leadership in the
United States. With a late campaign start in the run for
presidency, she came flying out of the blocks in August,
slaying in the meme wars with her Brat Summer/Gen Z
love affair and her engagement with pop culture icons
(including that memorable “Keep Kam-ala and Carry on”
appearance on Saturday Night Live). Ultimately, America
voted out an unpopular government to return convicted
criminal – and assassination survivor – Donald Trump
to the White House, while much of the world looked
on in disbelief. Now we watch and wait.

S HOW STOPPER S
Sartorial moments that live on in our memories

BABY DOLL BIRD SONG STATEMENT-MAKER

In a fashion-as-art moment, At Chanel’s spring/summer show, South African pop star Tyla stunned
Gwendoline Christie closed Maison rock royalty Riley Keough sang in her debut appearance at the
Margiela’s spring couture show in “When Doves Cry” while on a Met Gala in a striking virtual sand
a corseted rubber Galliano gown. birdcage swing. What’s not to love? hourglass by Balmain.

40 | marieclaire.com.au
 R EP ORTAG E

Kaylee McKeown
won successive
golds in the
backstroke double.

Paddling GOAT
Jessica Fox
(right) with
At 14, Arisa fellow gold-
Trew became medallist and
our youngest- sister Noemie.
ever gold
medallist.

GOLDEN ER A
At the Paris Games, it was our
female stars who shone brightest,
providing many of the most
memorable Olympic moments.
When we weren’t screaming
for Emma, Arnie, Kaylee and
Mollie in the pool, we were
gobsmacked by the heroics BMX golden girl
Saya Sakakibara
of skateboarder Arisa Trew, pole won the nation’s
vaulter Nina Kennedy and those hearts with her
enigmatic flying Fox sisters. emotional win.
And there wasn’t a dry eye in
the house when embattled BMX
rider Saya Sakakibara finally
won, and Paralympic swimmer
Alexa Leary celebrated hard
on the dais. The message was
clear: do you want to win gold?
Then play like a girl.
Paralympic
swimmer Alexa
Leary won
fans with her
gold-vibes only
celebration.

Emma McKeon
left Paris as
our greatest
Olympian.

Nina Kennedy
leapt into
history as our
first-ever field
gold medallist.
 WOR LD I N C R I S I S
It was not a year for peace. Since
the Hamas attack on Israel
in October 2023, the Middle East
has exploded and the sheer
numbers of casualties are
Terrified Palestinians
flee Rafah in Gaza
staggering. More than 47,000
with their children and are estimated to have been killed
what few possessions in Gaza and Lebanon, 100,000-
they can carry.
plus wounded, and more than
3 million civilians driven from
their homes. In Ukraine more
than 6.7 million people have fled
to seek refuge, mostly in Europe.
And the body counts continue
to rise. Meanwhile, the relentless
civil war in Sudan has caused
a tsunami of refugees – some 7.5
million have been uprooted.
Here’s to more peace in 2025.

Sudanese
In Ukraine, a refugees queue
woman carries her for essentials at
dog, injured in the Ambelia camp
a Russian air strike. near Adre, Chad.

42 | marieclaire.com.au
 A rainbow flag
is unfurled at
W H AT W E Bangkok’s Pride
Parade in June.
WAT C H E D
Streamed this. Binged that.

One Day: Rom-com remake

to an ’80s soundtrack

Colin from Accounts: Falling

in love via TV’s golden couple

Bridgerton: Lady Whistledown’s

a wallflower no longer

Baby Reindeer: Real-crime

thriller – could not look away

L OV E I S L OV E I S L OV E
Marriage equality continued to make inroads across the globe. In February,
Greece became the first Christian Orthodox-majority country to legalise
same-sex marriage, approving same-sex adoptions at the same time. In September,
Emily in Paris: Came for the Thailand became the first South-East Asian country to legalise same-sex
feels, stayed for the frocks unions, with the laws due to come into effect in January.

V I N D I C AT E D
After five years,
a criminal and a civil trial,
plus government inquiries,
the legal saga between
Bruce Lehrmann
Monsters: The Menendez
and Brittany Higgins
brothers plead innocence
ended after he lost his
defamation case against
Network Ten. In the
Federal Court case in April,
Justice Michael Lee found
that on the balance of
probabilities, “Mr
Lehrmann raped Ms
Dallas Cowboy Cheerleaders:
Higgins” giving some Brittany Higgins
Delivered high-kicks envy
closure to Brittany’s outside court.
search for justice.
R E PO RTAGE

ASSANGE
Julian Assange
LEGENDS RETURNS HOME reunites with
LOST When Julian Assange stepped his wife, Stella,
off his flight in Canberra as his lawyer
Gone but not Jennifer Robinson
forgotten. in June, it marked the looks on.
WikiLeaks founder’s first time
on Australian soil in 15 years.
For many, the moment
symbolised a victory for
democracy, but for Assange
and his team, which included
high-profile human rights
lawyer Jennifer Robinson, the
long, arduous task to bring
SHANNEN him back from exile was
DOHERTY a trial of negotiation mastery
1971–2024 and patience.
The beautiful, beguiling
bad girl of the ’90s died K AT E T H E
in July aged 53 after G R E AT
nine years with cancer, After a tumultuous nine
defiant to the end. months of chemotherapy,
the Princess of Wales
won over a new legion of
fans with the very British,
drama-free manner
in which she has fought
to be cancer-free. ”To all
those who are continuing
their own cancer journey,
I remain with you,
side-by-side, hand
DAME MAGGIE in hand,” she announced
SMITH in a video on Instagram.
1934–2024
The queen of the droll,
acerbic deliveries and
the master of many
iconic characters in her
past 70 years, died
peacefully in
September at age 89.

SILENCED
LIAM The Taliban has continued
PAYNE its unprecedented assault
1993–2024 on human rights and the
lives of women in
Directioners’ hearts Afghanistan. In its latest
broke when the One decree, women must not
Direction OG and solo utter a word outside the
artist died in October home. Women and girls are
after falling from the now banned from schools,
balcony of his hotel. universities, jobs, parks,
He was 31. sport and public life.

44 | marieclaire.com.au
 Governor-General
Sam Mostyn.

Nicole Kidman on
the red carpet in
Los Angeles before
accepting her Lifetime
QUEENS OF OZ Achievement Award.
From Hollywood to Melbourne, to
the corridors of power in Canberra
and the royal court of Denmark, Missy Higgins
homegrown female trailblazers have at the ARIAS.
been making their mark. In January,
our own Tassie-born Princess Mary
was crowned Queen of Denmark.
Powerhouse performer Nicole
Kidman became the first Australian
to receive the American Film Institute
Lifetime Achievement Award for her
significant body of work. In July, Sam
Mostyn became only the second
woman to be sworn in as our GG.
Pop icon Missy Higgins was inducted
into the ARIA Hall of Fame – and
delivered an awesome performance
of “Scar” backed by an all-star
all-female rock band. Google it.

King Frederick
and Queen
Mary of
Denmark (and
Tasmania).
 MP Hana-
Rāwhiti Maipi-
Clarke, 22,
shreds the bill.
LEFT The protest
in Wellington on
November 19.

F I R S T N AT I O N S R I G H T S
Across the ditch, tens of thousands marched in New Zealand
protesting against a controversial bill – a copy of which was
dramatically ripped in two by NZ’s youngest Indigenous MP.
Protesters voiced concerns that the bill about the Treaty of Waitangi
could erode hard-won rights and has sparked a reawakening of
conversations around Indigenous recognition. Meanwhile, In Canberra,
in Australia, First Nations Senator Lidia Thorpe heckled King Senator Lidia
Thorpe stages
Charles at Parliament House, yelling, “You are not my king,” her protest.
and accusing the Crown of genocide.

GETTY IMAGES; ALINA GOZINA; GIRL IN THE BANDANA JOEL PRATLEY; LIAM DANIEL/NETFLIX; ED MILLER/NETFLIX;
VIR AL FEVER
The moments that stopped our doomscrolling dead in its tracks.

GIULIA PARMIGIANI/NETFLIX; MILES CRIST/NETFLIX; COURTESY OF NETFLIX.

YES, CHEF RAYGUN RULEZ HIPPO HERO CÉLINE SOARS

The Bear’s Jeremy Allen She came, she saw, she Moo Deng, Thailand’s Living legend Céline Dion
White broke the internet kangaroo-hopped. Our baby pygmy hippo, is made the ultimate comeback
with his racy rooftop Calvin memorable breakdancer has officially the country’s on the biggest stage: opening
Klein underwear ad. retired but lives on in memes. hottest sensation. the Paris Olympics.

46 | marieclaire.com.au
 R E P O RTAG E
Sabrina
Carpenter kicks
off her Short n’
Sweet Tour in
September.

GIRLS, GIRLS,
GIRLS
If 2024 had an anthem, it was
the sound of screams echoing
from female-fronted stadium
tours across the world. Kicking
off the year, Taylor Swift
reignited the magic of girlhood Charli XCX at
with the revamped version of the LACMA
Art+Film Gala.
her Eras tour after dropping her
chart-topping album The
Tortured Poets Department in
April. In true sisterhood spirit,
Swift’s supporting acts, Gracie
Abrams and Sabrina Carpenter,
both released hugely
successful albums and
embarked on sold-out tours.
Meanwhile, Charli XCX
Dua Lipa released Brat, which became
performs at the sound of the summer
the Rock & alongside Billie Eilish, Ariana
Roll Hall of
Fame induction Grande and newcomers Tate
ceremony. McRae and Chappell Roan.

Taylor Swift
on her Eras Tour
in Florida.

Pop princesses
Chappell Roan
and Olivia Rodrigo.
SE L F -CAR E

(No thank you!)

48 | marieclaire.com.au
 S
ick of feeling like you need to overhaul your
entire life and personality as soon as the
clock strikes 12 on New Year’s Eve? Us too.
A well-lived life should be crafted as a
We think you’re perfectly fine just series of building blocks, the lessons from
each year building on the last. A well-lived life is not
as you are. But if you’d like to start built by trying to be something you’re not, nor by
2025 on the right foot, we’ve got punishing yourself for not being able to quit your vices
the experts to help. From finance – and then feeling guilty when you inevitably cave.
The second Friday in January marks Quitters Day,
to romance, career, sex and fitness the date by which most people start reconsidering
–whatever you have in mind for their New Year’s resolutions, and studies show that
about 80 per cent of people have given up completely
the next 12 months, you’ll find the by February.
answers here. Take notes So this year, we’ve decided to do away with all
these words like “given up”, “failed” and “quitter” to
instead give ourselves a more positive – and realistic
– chance at creating the life we want to live in 2025.
It’s not about restriction or deprivation, it’s the
opposite: it’s about embracing pleasure, setting
achievable (and fun) goals, and prioritising our wants
and needs above what we’re told we should want and
need. New year, same you.
SE L F -CAR E

“A NEW YEAR IS THE

PERFECT TIME TO STEP
OUTSIDE OF YOUR
COMFORT ZONE”
– Chantelle Otten

as simple as ,“I want to try a new date place. I’ve never

been [insert place] before – let’s get dressed up and
go out!” Enjoy the moment without feeling pressured.
4. Set bold sexuality goals: A new year is the
perfect time to step outside of your comfort zone.
Maybe you’re curious about a swingers’ club,
a threesome, or just expanding your idea of what’s
possible. Setting adventurous goals (even if they feel
a bit out there) gives you something fun and exciting
to look forward to and makes sexual exploration
part of your personal growth.
5. Get comfortable talking about sex: It’s incredible
how much can open up once you’re comfortable
discussing sex, whether it’s with a partner or a friend.
Start with a simple question or share something new
you’ve learnt – openness is contagious. And if you’re
S P I C E U P Y O U R (S E X ) L I F E … keen to dig deeper, consider sex therapy as a space
WITH CHA NTELLE OTTEN to explore what you want, free of judgement.
Why is it so important for people to make their
The award-winning psycho-sexologist, sexual health sexual wellness a priority in 2025?
educator and author and podcast host. Sexual wellness is so much more than physical
intimacy – it’s about feeling confident, connected
What are your top five tips for a sexy new year? and comfortable in your own skin. Prioritising sexual
1. Set a fortnightly intimacy challenge: If you’re wellness can enhance your relationships, boost
in a relationship, spice things up by setting a new self-esteem, and help you embrace what truly brings
challenge each fortnight (26 new things a year!). This you joy. When we take time to invest in our sexual
could be trying a different position, exploring a new health, we’re giving ourselves permission to grow,
toy, or even experimenting with sensual massage. explore, and really celebrate this part of who we are.
It keeps things fresh and encourages you both to keep In 2025, let’s make this a priority – it’s one of the best
discovering each other’s desires. gifts we can give ourselves.
2. Prioritise self-love: Single or not, getting in touch What’s your New Year’s resolution?
with what you enjoy is so empowering. You could try This year, I’m focused on balancing passion and
a self-love challenge where each week you explore playfulness, really working on my friendships and
different ways to connect with your body, whether relationships, and embracing the joy in even the
it’s through mindful touch, exploring new fantasies smallest moments. Having lost my mum in 2024,
or learning about what makes you feel good. It’s I want to take time to appreciate everything in front
a powerful way to build confidence and pleasure. of me. I also want to keep exploring new ways
3. Date with intention and fun: If you’re dating, to stay curious and creative, both in my work and
approach it in a way that’s both fun and safe. Be clear my personal life. There’s a lot to look forward to,
about your boundaries and desires, even in casual and I’m excited to see where it all leads.
settings like a one-night stand, or dating your
long-term partner! Let your partner know what Sex Therapy Sessions with Chantelle Otten
you’re comfortable with, but keep it light – something is available to stream on Audible.
 “REMEMBER,
SWEAT DOESN’T
EQUAL SUCCESS”
– Laura Henshaw

CL I MB T HE C A R E E R L A DDE R
… W I T H HOL LY G A R BE R
The entrepreneur turned business coach specialises
in holistic career coaching and team training.

What are your top five tips for returning to work?

1. Be engaged in your career, not just your current
role: Your current job is an important part of the
whole arc of your career, so while you are in it, look at
what global benefits you can derive, such as acquiring
broadly beneficial skills like negotiation.
2. Pay attention to what tasks you truly enjoy: We
can think broadly about where we can improve, but
let’s also make sure we are paying attention to what
we truly enjoy. Keep a running list. This will help
when you are making career decisions and thinking
about where you really thrive and feel truly engaged.
3. Keep a “wins” list: Keep a list of every time you F I T T E R , FA S T E R , S T R O N G E R
did well in your role. This could be consistently
… W I T H L A U R A H E N S H AW
meeting deadlines or putting forward ideas that
get picked up. When it comes to your performance The CEO and co-founder of Kic, a fitness app and
review, having a list ready to go is an asset. network that prioritises feeling over appearance.
4. Learn how to manage up: Learning how to
manage is an important skill if you wish to progress What are your top five tips for a healthy 2025?
to a leadership role. One way to practise is to start 1. Discover your “why”: Finding your purpose
by learning how to manage “up”. I see a lot of people is essential for the days you’re struggling with
resist this, but embracing it can have positive effects. motivation. Your “why” should have nothing to
5. Advocate for yourself: Make sure you are actively do with how you look. Instead, focus on the benefits
sharing when you do well with relevant team that movement brings to your life: more energy, less
members. That may be in a formal review or it may be stress, better sleep and more confidence.
in an informal check-in with your manager. You can 2. Ditch the diet: If you’re thinking, “Diet starts
use these moments to sense-check with your boss to in January,” I get it, I’ve been there. But trust
see if they agree you were performing well, and if they me, it’s not worth it. Instead, try focusing on eating
have any feedback on how you could perform better. intuitively and listening to your hunger cues. Fuelling
How can we maintain the momentum all year? your body properly gives you the energy to show
See if you can leverage the “fresh start effect”. up as the best version of yourself in 2025.
It’s a psychological phenomenon in which we are 3. Workout your way: Experiment with different
more likely to pursue our goals when we start with workout styles. There are so many ways to move your
a time-based landmark. You only get a new year once body, it’s all about finding what works for you.
every 12 months but there are plenty of other fresh 4. Let go of self-limiting beliefs: Running is the
starts to choose from. Using the start of the month or purest example of this: 57 per cent of women stop
the start of the week to recommit to your resolutions running when they turn 15 due to self-image,
may help you persevere as the year moves along. confidence and their changing bodies. Don’t let past
What are your career resolutions for 2025? experiences define you. You’ll be surprised by how
I like to frame my resolutions up as intentions. That capable you are.
language helps me feel more committed and positive. 5. Move to suit your mood: Save higher intensity
One of my intentions is to launch a new business – workouts for when you’re energised, and match your
hopefully by February! mood with some lighter intensity movements like
Pilates, yoga or walking when you’re feeling a little
holly-garber.com. “meh”. Remember, sweat doesn’t equal success.
How can we maintain the momentum all year?
It’s completely normal for your motivation and energy
to ebb and flow. Listen to your body and and know
that rest is always an option.
What are your health and fitness goals for 2025?
I would love to do another marathon. I also always
feel so connected with myself when I step outside
and switch off from my phone, so if I can make a little
more time for this in 2025, I will be very grateful.

kicapp.com.

marieclaire.com.au | 51
SE L F -CAR E

“DON’T FORGET
A FUN FUND,
BECAUSE LIFE’S
ABOUT BALANCE”
– Victoria Devine

SORT YOU R F I NA NCE S …

W I T H V IC T OR I A DE V I N E
The former financial adviser and creator of She’s
on the Money, a podcast and educational platform.

What are your top five tips for being better with
money this year?
1. Ditch the one-size-fits-all budget: Build a budget
that aligns with what matters most to you. Start with
an emergency fund, and don’t forget a fun fund,
because life’s about balance!
2. Set it and forget it: Automate transfers to your
savings, investments and debt repayments. With
each automatic deposit, you’re keeping your goals
on track, effortlessly.
PR IOR I T ISE R EL AT IONSHIPS 3. Superannuation is your power move: Get to
know your balance, consolidate your accounts, find
… W I T H R ACHEL VOYSE Y out what you’ll need for your retirement, and consider
A psychologist and founding director of The adding extra for those sweet tax breaks.
Relationship Room therapy service. 4. My 24-hour rule: Whenever you’re tempted to
buy something, wait 24 hours. Usually, the urge
Your top tips for people who want the following: fades, and you’ve saved yourself from another
1. To be closer to my partner: Set a monthly impulse purchase.
check-in over a glass of wine or a meal. Both partners 5. Invest in yourself: There’s loads of financial
can share what they feel is going well and identify an wisdom out there that’s totally free. Even if cozzie-livs

GETTY IMAGES; MIRANDA STOKKEL; LAURA HENSHAW PHOTO BY MARTEN ASCENZO; ALL OTHERS SUPPLIED. AS TOLD TO ALEXANDRA ENGLISH.
area that could be improved. Add in some date nights, has your big money dreams on pause, soaking up this
and in 12 months you should feel the spark again! knowledge now means you’re ready when your
2. To revive drifting friendships: Reach out to circumstances change.
friends and check in even when a face-to-face catch- How can we maintain the momentum all year?
up is just not on the cards. This keeps the most Find an accountability buddy. Studies show that
important part of the connection healthy and alive simply telling someone your goal gives you a 65 per
until you can get back to having fun together. cent chance of achieving it, but with regular check-
3. To improve my relationship with myself: Pay ins that number skyrockets to 95 per cent!
attention to your inner dialogue – work towards What’s your New Year’s resolution?
cultivating positive self-talk and practicing self- To turn more women into investors. If more of us take
compassion. Treat yourself with the same care and charge, we’re not just growing our own wealth, we’re
understanding that you would a friend. shifting financial power. You don’t need to be wealthy
4. To prioritise family time: Open a discussion with to invest – start where you are and let each dollar
your family about realistic expectations and what work toward your future. And thanks to new
matters most to each person. Speaking about this as platforms, you no longer need a large sum of money
a family can be a nice way to support each other and to get started. Instead of waiting for “the right time”,
be more intentional with your time together. start now and let your investments do their thing.
5. To set better boundaries: Start by saying, “I’m not
sure that is going to work for me, let me have a think The Business Bible, by Victoria Devine (Penguin,
about it and get back to you.” That gives you time to $36.99), is out now.
check in with yourself about what matters and then
muster up the strength to say no. There is an inherent
buzz when you respect yourself enough to set and
maintain boundaries so practise, practise, practise,
but don’t be too hard on yourself if it takes some time.
Why is it so important to maintain relationships?
I love Esther Perel’s quote, “The quality of your
life ultimately depends on the quality of your
relationships.” Taking the time to pour love and
attention into them means we are the driver of our
own happiness and wellbeing.

relationshiproom.com.au.

52 | marieclaire.com.au
 Why not give
someone else
˧˛˘˕˘ˡ˘Ѓ˧ˢ˙
your hindsight?

We’ve all wished we could tell our younger selves what we know now. Volunteering as a Raise mentor
is the next best thing. We’ll provide all the support and training, all you need to do is give us 2 hours
˔˪˘˘˞˔ˡ˗˖ˢˠˠ˜˧˧ˢ˛˘˟ˣ˔ˬˢ˨ˡ˚ˣ˘˥˦ˢˡ˕˨˜˟˗˖ˢˡЃ˗˘ˡ˖˘˔ˡ˗˖ˢˡˡ˘˖˧˜ˢˡʡ

Be sure to get in early to secure a place at a high school convenient to you.

Apply to become
a mentor today
raise.org.au
 WARNING: This article discusses
topics such as child sexual
assault and domestic violence.

SURVIVOR
CIRCLES
Amid Australia’s epidemic of sexual
violence, a new wave of peer-led
support groups is changing the way
victim-survivors heal

WORDS BY KATHRYN MADDEN

GUTTER CREDIT
 SPE C I AL R EP ORT

I
n a small gym in inner-city Melbourne, eight
women are pounding punching bags. Every hook
is charged with emotion, every jab a reclamation
of control. “Don’t be afraid to be angry. You have
the right to be angry,” bellows the instructor.
As the timer goes off, one participant breaks into
tears, her body hunched over and trembling.
This isn’t your typical fitness class; rather, it’s
Left Write Hook, a support group for adult survivors
of child sexual abuse and trauma. Founded by
academic Dr Donna Lyon, a survivor of child sex
abuse herself, the eight-week program empowers
women and gender-diverse people to reclaim their
bodies and stories via a combination of writing
and non-contact boxing. “I thought, ‘I wonder
what it would be like to meet other survivors and
do something with the creative arts?’” says Lyon,
44. “So we sit around in a gym, we write to a prompt,
we locate our trauma, we share our writing and
then we learn the art of boxing as a way to process
the stored emotion onto a bag.”
It’s a unique and considered process, and also
an important one. While we know the statistics
around child sexual abuse are horrifying – according
to the 2023 Australian Child Maltreatment Study,
one in four Australian adults has experienced child
sex abuse – less attention is given to what happens
next. How do survivors heal? And how significant
is peer-led support?
Nikki*, 33, who was abused by her grandfather
as a child, stumbled on Left Write Hook after her
partner picked up a flyer at a local cafe. “I’d been
doing a lot of healing work and I love sport,” she says.
“I’d never been in a survivor-led group before, and
I felt I was ready for that. And the idea of hitting
things also appealed to me.”
She arrived at her first session simmering with
angst. “I’d been very conditioned by my abuser not
to talk about what happened to me, so the idea of
actually naming it was quite scary,” she remembers.
But as the workshop got underway, her words started
to flow. “The idea is to write unconsciously without
self-censoring, so it accesses parts of oneself that
are usually kept regulated or repressed, and manages
to get into really deep stuff you don’t want to think
about ... And then you have the option to read out your
writing to an incredibly non-judgemental group –
people who intrinsically understand your experience,
even if theirs wasn’t exactly the same ... For survivors,
any time we talk about our experience we’re used
to censoring the explicit details to protect the other
person. So to have a group of people who are just like,
‘Thank you for sharing, that’s fucked and I’m really
WARNING: This
sorry it happened to you’ is really, really powerful.”
article discusses
By this stage in the session, emotions are bubbling
sexual abuse and
GUTTER CREDIT

at the surface. “By [sharing your trauma] you’re

domestic violence.
undoing this thing that you’ve been taught not to
do, so your body’s in a really panicky state,” explains
Nikki. “But the best thing to do is to move through

marieclaire.com.au | 55
 CLOCKWISE FROM
ABOVE Left Write
Hook participants isolation,” says Lyon, adding that all the instructors are
in the writing phase,
which allows them survivors, too. “There’s a real sense that they’re on this
to share their trauma; journey with you, so it’s kind of a democratic form
the group’s founder,
Dr Donna Lyon;
of leadership. No-one’s there to fix anyone. And don’t
Harrison James get me wrong – I’m all for therapy, I’ve been in therapy
was a Survivor Hub for 12 years and Left Write Hook is not a substitute
participant before
becoming a facilitator. for professional mental health support. But I think
having survivors centred as experts of their own
narrative is fundamental to change.”
For Nikki, who was scared to hit an inanimate
object in week one and was boxing fiercely by week
eight – and courageously sharing her story – that
change was profound. “I think the program helped
that somatically – and the action of boxing is an me to become the person I would’ve been if the abuse
interesting tension, because you’re processing your hadn’t happened,” she says. Now, in low moments
feelings from the past but you also have to be in your on her ongoing healing journey, she knows she can
body in that moment.” always call on her “beautiful Left Write Hook queens”
The impact of the workshop, which is spotlighted for support. “It’s not all on you to process everything
in the moving documentary Left Write Hook (winner yourself. It’s like a giant collective hug.”
of the 2024 Melbourne International Film Festival

W
Audience Award), has been studied by researchers hen Anna Coutts-Trotter, 23, took the
at the University of Melbourne, who observed man who abused her to court, she had
a decrease in PTSD, depression and anxiety in a strong support network: a loving
participants, along with increased personal agency, family, her friends, a counsellor,
resilience and sense of belonging. “I see people a witness-assistance worker. But the
coming in full of fear and almost childlike, and over word she uses to describe her experience is “isolating”.
a couple of weeks, as they begin to write, narrate their Her former boyfriend had sexually, physically and
story and process their trauma in a safe space, they emotionally abused her from age 15, and she’d bravely
begin to change,” says Lyon. “I see them walk taller. decided to report him to police to protect future
I see them smile. And that’s not to say you come and victims. “I was young and I felt like I didn’t know any
do our program and it’s all roses and glitter and your other survivors,” she recalls. “I remember saying to
trauma’s gone and everything’s OK. That’s not the my counsellor that I wanted to talk to someone who’d
case, and sometimes things get been through the legal process. And she
worse before they get better. said, ‘There’s no peer support that I know
But the research backs up the “THE PROGRAM of in Sydney. I can’t make a referral
transformation [I see]; it’s an inner HELPED ME because it doesn’t exist.’”
transformation where people begin TO BECOME It was this moment that planted the
to find a sense of belonging.” THE PERSON seed for The Survivor Hub, the not-for-
Central to Left Write Hook is the I WOULD’VE profit Coutts-Trotter (who’s the daughter
solidarity and connection between BEEN IF THE of federal MP Tanya Plibersek) founded
participants. “When you see your with Brenda Lim in 2021. The organisation
stories amongst other [survivor]
ABUSE HADN’T seeks to support, inform and connect
stories, it normalises your experience HAPPENED” people impacted by sexual assault via
and you begin to move out of – Nikki private social media groups and in-person

56 | marieclaire.com.au
 SPE C I AL R EP ORT

LEFT “The idea

of hitting things also
appealed to me,” says
victim-survivor Nikki
of Left Write Hook.
BELOW Anna Coutts-
Trotter co-founded
The Survivor Hub.

meet-ups, which take place in libraries, “I FEEL LIKE WHEN see these individuals as people who’ve
universities and community centres I LEAVE, I FEEL had very tumultuous experiences, but
across New South Wales, Victoria and LIGHTER, LIKE I’M they’re standing here, and they’re proud
Western Australia (the Australian
Capital Territory and Queensland are
NOT CARRYING and they’re resilient,” he explains. “Anna
said to me, ‘Instead of vicarious trauma,
launching soon). There, an open EVERYTHING it’s vicarious resilience.’ That shift has
discussion is led by a facilitator, also ON MY OWN made it a hell of a lot easier for me;
a survivor, and might cover anything ANYMORE” it really builds me up.”
from navigating intimacy to friendship – Anna Coutts-Trotter Vicarious resilience – a sort of
fallouts and the legal process. (The emotional osmosis fostering mutual
Survivor Hub can’t offer specific legal empowerment and growth – is likely
advice, but it’s a popular general topic. Coutts-Trotter why demand for these support groups is surging.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY RICCARDO RAITI; COURTESY OF LEFT WRITE HOOK; THE SURVIVOR HUB; GETTY IMAGES. *SURNAME WITHHELD.

estimates that 30 to 40 per cent of participants are In the first half of 2024, The Survivor Hub had 900
going through the court process, which can be sign-ups, and 68 people have completed the flagship
confusing and retraumatising.) Left Write Hook program, with more than half
The mood of these meet-ups often defies returning for a second or third program. Both groups
expectations. “When people imagine peer support, have waiting lists they can’t accommodate. “We’re
they probably picture a dark room with people sitting a little scared about that. Research says it takes
in a basement with our heads in our hands crying, 20-plus years for survivors to disclose child sexual
sharing terrible stories,” says Coutts-Trotter. “But it’s abuse, so a program like ours isn’t going to run out
not like that at all. It’s filled with joy and connection of an audience, as much as we’d like that,” says Lyon.
and dark humour, and just a lot of really nice things. Therefore, government funding is essential. Coutts-
And sometimes it can be emotional. I’ve cried Trotter agrees. “I fear that without getting funding
in meet-ups, but it’s never been a sad cry. It’s been – without something long-term and sustainable – we
a therapeutic relief. I’ve been holding onto this part won’t be able to do The Survivor Hub,” she says. “My
of my story for so long and I’ve carried so much dream is to grow it and one day have meet-ups in every
shame ... I feel like when I leave, I feel lighter, like state and territory, particularly in regional and rural
I’m not carrying everything on my own anymore.” areas. It shouldn’t matter where you are or who you
Yet for all the power and potential of peer-led are, you should have access to support.”
support groups, they’re also challenging. For one The stakes here are high, because these peer-led
thing, they tend to be run by volunteers (“I work 30 support groups are not just about inspiring stories and
or 40 hours a week unpaid on The Survivor Hub,” says heart-lifting connections, but the broader impact on
Coutts-Trotter, who’s also studying social work full- Australia. Healing, like the survivor circles themselves,
time), and may place onus and emotional pressure is cyclical and circular – it’s why survivors like James
on survivor-advocates to do the work. To lead the way. now offer support to their peers, and why 14 Left Write
To potentially take on fellow survivors’ trauma. Hook participants have upskilled to become trainers.
For Harrison James, 24, a child sex abuse survivor Each is a step towards dealing with the complex,
who attended The Survivor Hub meet-ups before long-term effects of trauma on our society. Adds Lyon,
becoming a facilitator, it’s all about perspective. “It’s like Rosie Batty says: healing is prevention.”
“We can hear stories of individuals who’ve gone
through hell, and if we take that on board it’s going For help, call Lifeline on 13 11 14 or Full Stop
to be really tough. Or we can switch our mindset and Australia on 1800 385 578.
So you want
to be a
stay-at-home
mum?
 S O CI E TY

As the fourth wave of feminism rolls over social media’s “tradwives”,

can you still admit you might want to leave your career to raise a family?
Adrienne Tam reports on the latest motherhood taboo

W
hen Gretchen Adler’s is to spread good health to the world, The rise of these “flawless” tradwives
three children want a so I am much more concerned about has brought a renewed focus on the
snack, their mother moving forward with my mission, tension between stay-at-home mothers
doesn’t hand them rather than conversing with the and working mothers, the notion of
supermarket-bought sweets or naysayers. Motherhood is demanding feminism and the stigma stay-at-home
packaged chips. Instead, the 38-year- and full-time and we are required to mums face (aka “motherism”).
old goes into the kitchen to make them make choices about how we want to “I believe this all stems from the
“Goldfish” crackers and “Oreo” biscuits lead our lives. I choose to live my life early women’s liberation movement,
– from scratch. A self-described the way I do, which is not reflective of which sought to address an inherent
traditional mum and wife, Adler’s how someone else chooses to live theirs.” bias in patriarchal culture that said
TikTok and Instagram accounts Adler is part of the “tradwives” – that women – their intellect, their
(@gretchy) are filled with videos of her short for traditional wives – movement capacity and their contribution to
cooking or baking food for her young that began in 2018 on Instagram and society and culture – were inferior
kids, aged eight, six and three. More TikTok and rose to prominence during to men because women did not work.
than half a million people follow her the pandemic. Tradwives are described Raising children and running a
across her social media channels, as women who choose to stay at home household was not deemed as valuable
watching as she creates cheese, flour, and focus their time and attention on or respectable as employment,” says
muffins, bread, and a variety of sauces, caring for their children and domestic clinical psychologist and founder of
from home-grown ingredients. Adler duties, rather than build a professional The Wellness Fountain in Sydney,
proudly states her children have never working career. Often shown cooking Dr Maria-Elena Lukeides.
eaten “ultra processed snacks” and she in the kitchen, tradwives lean into “Early in the [women’s liberation]
espouses the belief “food is medicine. slow-living that harks back to “simpler movement, it meant women were no
It’s also poison, so choose wisely”. times”. Those times were, of course, longer as vulnerable in relationships.
While the stay-at-home mum not as strong on women’s rights, which They could make choices because they
(SAHM) has her fair share of fans, she is one of the reasons many feminists could support themselves and their
also has a large number of detractors. have an issue with the tradwife trend. children. It also meant women could
A one-minute viral video of Adler Tradwives are also generally find personal fulfilment in places other
making her children snacks produced characterised as being subservient than their home or motherhood. Over
thousands of negative comments, and financially dependent on their time this led to pressure on women
most of them pointing out the husbands, which also draws criticism. to ‘have it all’,” she continues.
“privilege” of this kind of lifestyle, If the definition of a tradwife has “Now, when a mother chooses to
while others expressed anger that similarities with a SAHM, that’s stay at home to raise her family she
she was seemingly judging them for because they are invariably linked. is viewed as regressive or labelled
how they fed their own children. Just as “housewife” became “stay-at- ‘anti-feminist’. A traditional woman’s
“People take it as a personal attack home mum/wife”, tradwife is another role as nurturer and homemaker needs
when they see someone doing things evolution of a woman who prioritises to be seen as equally important as the
differently from them. This is [due to] the home. However, since tradwives role of a woman in the workplace.
an insecurity they may have about are predominantly on social media, New-age feminism should be about
their own lives, and something they their portrayal is highly curated and women having the right to make the
need to address personally,” Adler tells exaggerated. Well-known tradwives, choice about how they live their life.”
marie claire. “There are many who feel such as the softly spoken Nara Smith, While Lukeides says being a
that I am privileged to be a stay-at- ultra-feminine Estee Williams, and tradwife is a personal choice that
home mother or that I have too much Ballerina Farm’s Hannah Neeleman doesn’t need justification – “If they
time on my hands because I don’t work. (often considered the queen of want to choose to be a tradwife, more
I do not spend much time responding tradwives), favour a 1950s aesthetic, power to them” – she also says the
to the negativity because my life is very are conventionally beautiful, and tradwife trend could potentially
fast-paced and fulfilling. My mission always appear perfectly put-together. set back the SAHM movement.

marieclaire.com.au | 59
 “When a mother
chooses to stay
at home, she’s
called ‘anti-feminist’”
– Dr Maria-Elena Lukeides

“Tradwives often present an idealised,

unrealistic version of domestic life
that doesn’t reflect the reality for
most stay-at-home mums,” explains
Lukeides. “This can create unrealistic
expectations and further stigmatise
stay-at-home mums who don’t meet
this perfect image. Some stay-at-home
mums might not make it out of their
pyjamas until lunchtime. And, even
then, they would throw on some
activewear because they likely don’t
ABOVE Gretchen
have the time or energy to get perfectly Adler loves baking
preened. The tradwife movement tends from scratch for her
to lean into traditional gender roles three children. RIGHT
YouTube personality
and sometimes emphasises female Abigail Roth.
submission, which can reinforce
negative stereotypes about stay-at-
home mothers being subservient or
less empowered than working mums.”
Popular YouTube personality and
stay-at-home mum Abigail “Abby”
Roth (@thefirstgensahm) is often
labelled a tradwife due to her dedication before him, can’t voice her to care for their loved ones, which
to “classic” living and traditional disagreements with him or call brings light to everyone in the family’s
values. But the 31-year-old, who is the him out on bad behaviour. The best life. Where women can embrace
sister of conservative US commentator part of marriage is that each person that, they should.”
Ben Shapiro, does not consider herself encourages the other to grow and A 2020 study of tradwives by
a tradwife and takes issue with some change for the better through their Oxford University researcher Dr Julia
of the trend’s attributes. “I just don’t input as equal partners in the Ebner found that up to 30,000 women
agree with the concept of a woman relationship,” Roth tells marie claire. in the United Kingdom described
being subjugated by her husband, “Another aspect of the tradwife concept themselves as tradwives. These women
in the sense that she must be meek I don’t agree with is the idea that a wanted to “return to exaggerated
woman who must work to help support notions of masculinity and femininity”
her family is in some way less feminine and made misogynist statements
or womanly than a woman who can be including, “Women’s highest value
at home. A woman who works because to men is her sexual value, and she’s
that is the most direct way she can most valuable when she’s in her
serve her family’s real needs is sexually pristine state.”
absolutely fulfilling her womanhood.” One of Australia’s leading
At the same time, Roth holds views experts on right-wing extremism
that might be considered radically and terrorism, Dr Kristy Campion,
traditional by some. “My ‘classic’ says there are two types of tradwives:
perspective on work is that women those who adopt the tradwife lifestyle
should not choose to pursue a career as a private and nonpolitical decision,
or to work as a matter of personal and far-right tradwives who see their
self-fulfilment when they could devote position as a political one. “Far-right
themselves fully to their families,” tradwives often use their platforms
explains the mum-of-two. “The to project far-right politics and
question is always how is your family ideological positions, often using
best served, and women have a a soft, cottagecore-type aesthetic,”
beautiful and truly unique power explains Campion. “They may believe

60 | marieclaire.com.au
 S O CI E TY

ABOVE Former
Married At First differences across time and
Sight star Bella contexts in how different women
Frizza recently
left her career in view empowerment and how they
radio so she could themselves seek to exercise their
spend more time
with her son Finn.
agency. The key, from my perspective,
LEFT Like many is that we ought to allow for this
tradwives, Estee difference and plurality, so that
Williams favours
a 1950s aesthetic.
women have agency and the ability
to make choices securely and
without harm.”
Statistics show that SAHMs in
Australia are on the decline, likely
due to the high cost-of-living and
housing crisis. Bucking the trend is
radio announcer and former Married
At First Sight (MAFS) star Bella
Frizza, who recently gave up her
decade-long radio role to become a
SAHM in order to spend more time
with her two-year-old son, Finn.
Deciding to step away from her dream
job and take up a remote marketing
role wasn’t an easy decision, but it’s
that they are adopting a purer form demonised for placing value in one the 39-year-old is glad she made.
of femininity before it was supposedly their domestic responsibilities. “I was coming home from work
‘corrupted’ by modernity, left-wing “If we strip back the gloss of exhausted and I couldn’t be that
PHOTOGRAPHY BY GETTY IMAGES; COURTESY OF BELLA FRIZZA; GRETCHEN ADLER; ABIGAIL ROTH; ESTEE WILLIAMS.

progressivism, and feminism. Their social media and dig deeper – beyond rock for Finn,” Frizza tells marie
audience might not even be aware the notion that being a tradwife is claire. “He would be exhausted from
of the beliefs being projected within just a ‘trend’ – we can see there is a daycare and I would just want to get
the content. This socialises people to broader historical and global push him to bed. That’s not a life. That’s
far-right views without transparency, to recognise that women’s social, not how I want him to experience
and can serve to promote or recruit reproductive and domestic his childhood. And because of what?
people into the various movements. Because I want to be a career woman?
What might at first glance be content If I’ve chosen to have this baby in my
glorifying home cooking, a simpler life “Women are not life, then I want to be the best person
and specific marital behaviours, can I can be for him.
also contain messaging that is homogenous, and “When I was on MAFS in 2016,
controlling, anti-immigration, racist, feminists are I was relentless about not wanting to
intolerant, homophobic, and often have kids,” continues Frizza. “I just
hostile to other views and behaviours.” not homogenous” wanted my career and a husband.
Campion’s colleague at Charles And I got absolutely trolled for not
Sturt University Dr Kiriloi M. Ingram, – Dr Kiriloi M. Ingram wanting children. But now that I’m
who specialises in political science, here, I’m like, ‘OK, I love being a mum.’
feminist international security and responsibilities ought to be valued,” It’s the most incredible job I’ve ever
terrorism studies, adds that far-right she says. “Indeed, feminists have been had. But I still stand by anyone who
tradwives think rearing ideologically pushing for these responsibilities to be doesn’t want kids. And I stand by
and racially pure children can weaken rightly viewed as skilled labour – a anyone who does want kids, and
and undermine the out-group, that is, position that I personally agree with. anyone who wants to be a stay-at-
non-white and gender-diverse peoples, “Women are not homogenous, home mum or a working mum. There
and more broadly, feminists. However, and feminists and feminisms are is no ‘one-size-fits-all’. Everyone makes
Ingram notes that it is important that not homogenous. As a result, there their own choice and that’s what’s
non-far-right tradwives are not is inevitably always going to be important. Live and let live.”
 PAT T E R N
RECOGNITION
Yayoi Kusama surrounded by several
brightly coloured artworks that show
how her repertoire expanded beyond
polka dots (though her top is a wink
to the works that made her famous).
The series of vibrant, patterned panels
are collectively referred to as My
Eternal Soul. Kusama began painting
them in 2009 and the series now
consists of more than 800 works.
 P O RT FO L IO

in
COLOUR
The world’s most successful living artist,
Yayoi Kusama, will have eight decades of
art on display in a blockbuster Australian
exhibition. By Saskia Tillers Coles

F
or 85 years, Yayoi Kusama has been plagued
by polka dots. Over her lifetime, she’s made
hundreds, thousands, millions – now surely
billions – of them since they first appeared to
her in a vision when she was a 10-year-old
living in Matsumoto City in Japan’s Nagano Prefecture.
The fixation began with hallucinations; the
endlessness of the dots represented infinity, she has said.
Turning them into art was a way to expel her obsessive
tendencies. Kusama spent her childhood feverishly
drawing and painting, despite her conservative parents’
discouragement. When she ran out of art supplies, she
would use mud from the nearby river, or raid the family’s
plant and seed farm (hence the pumpkin obsession) for
canvas sacks to paint on. Clearly, there was no way to
stop the impulse, so when Kusama was 20 her parents
relented and allowed her to move to Kyoto to study the
Japanese modernist Nihonga style of painting at Kyoto
Municipal School of Arts and Crafts.
In 1959, age 30, she moved to New York and spent
the next 14 years exhibiting paintings, sculptures and
installations across the United States, firmly securing her
place in the male-dominated American and international
© YAYOI KUSAMA PHOTO BY YUSUKE MIYAZAKI, COURTESY OF OTA FINE ARTS.

art scene. Her breakthrough came in 1968, when she

organised a series of “Happenings”, in which participants
were naked except for the polka dots painted on their
bodies, and were situated in her Mirror Rooms (Mirror
Performance) or in famous public places around NYC
(in the case of The Anatomic Explosion).
In 1930s and ’40s Japan, it was expected that girls
would go from being dutiful daughters to devoted wives
and mothers. Kusama challenged all of that, instead
becoming the world’s top-selling female artist and most
successful living artist. Still consumed by obsessive
tendencies, Kusama admitted herself into a psychiatric
hospital in Tokyo in 1977, where she still lives and
creates art today.

Yayoi Kusama is at Melbourne’s NGV International

now until April 21, 2025.

marieclaire.com.au | 63
P O RT F OLI O

SEEING SPOTS
A portrait (left) of Kusama in 1939,
age 10, the same year she started
having polka dot hallucinations.
The condition was later identified
as a nervous disorder called
rijin’sho, or depersonalisation
syndrome, and it has continued
throughout her life. In an effort
to process her psychological state,
Kusama used art as self-therapy,
transcribing the dots she was
seeing in her mind onto objects,
rooms and canvases.

TO INFINITY
In the 1960s, Kusama started to
experiment with sculpture. In one
instance, she covered the entire floor
of a mirrored room with polka-dotted
phallic creations (right). She also
began exploring performance art
and organising “Happenings” across
New York, and made politically driven
works in response to the Vietnam War.

RIGHT Installation view of Yayoi Kusama’s

Infinity Mirror Room – Phalli’s Field (1965)
at the Castellane Gallery, New York.

UPON REFLECTION
In 1966, Kusama turned up to the Venice
Biennale uninvited and set up her work
Narcissus Garden on the grass outside the
Italian Pavilion. The work, which consisted
of 1500 reflective plastic balls, was a
commentary on vanity. She caused further
scandal when she started selling the orbs
for $2 each – a deliberate critique of the
commercialisation of the art world – which
saw her expelled from the event. In 1993,
Kusama was finally officially invited to
represent Japan at the 45th Venice Biennale.

LEFT Installation view of Yayoi Kusama’s Narcissus

Garden (1966) at the 33rd Venice Biennale.
THIS PAGE, FROM TOP: COURTESY OF OTA FINE ARTS © YAYOI KUSAMA; COURTESY OF OTA FINE ARTS AND DAVID ZWIRNER © YAYOI KUSAMA. PHOTO: ROBERT BENSON; COLLECTION OF DAISUKE MIYATSU © YAYOI KUSAMA.
OPPOSITE PAGE, FROM TOP: COURTESY OF THE ARTIST © YAYOI KUSAMA; © YAYOI KUSAMA; COURTESY OF OTA FINE ARTS, VICTORIA MIRO AND DAVID ZWIRNER © YAYOI KUSAMA.

M AGIC PU MPK I NS
Kusama’s first pumpkin drawings appeared as early as 1946,
and her fascination with the vegetable only grew more intense
with time. Whether painted or crafted in soft parachute nylon,
stainless steel or mosaics, her pumpkins, gourds or kabocha squash
(Japanese pumpkin) are almost always spotted and often
anthropomorphic: growing tentacles, swelling to immense sizes
CLOCKWISE FROM TOP: The Hope of the or moving, swaying or dancing. “I love pumpkins because of their
Polka Dots Buried in Infinity Will Eternally
Cover the Universe (2019) at Kusama’s solo humorous form, warm feeling, and a human-like quality,” Kusama
exhibition Yayoi Kusama: All About Love Speaks said in 2015. The NGV International acquired the five-metre-tall
Forever at Fosun Foundation, Shanghai, China; bronze Dancing Pumpkin (2020), above, and unveiled it in
installation view of Yayoi Kusama’s Dancing
Pumpkin (2020) at New York Botanical Garden; November 2024 ahead of its exhibition opening in December.
and Pumpkin (1981) by Yayoi Kusama.

marieclaire.com.au | 65
 MIRROR, MIRROR
Kusama’s Infinity Mirror Room installations have mesmerised audiences across the globe, immersing them in trippy, kaleidoscopic
reflective spaces that appear to repeat ad infinitum. Mirrored walls, floors and ceilings project patterns of light, paint or furniture into
a manufactured abyss. She has created more than 20 Infinity Mirror Rooms over her career. In the one above, from 2024, she used
flashing LED lights arranged in a concentric pattern to create an infinite honeycomb. Another, below, which was shown at the
Tate Modern in London in 2020, features an elaborate chandelier that rotates slowly, sending flickering lights into the distance.
ABOVE Installation view of Infinity Mirrored Room – Beauty Described by a Spherical Heart (2024) at the Victoria Miro Gallery in London.
BELOW Chandelier of Grief (2016/18) at the Tate Modern in London.

66 | marieclaire.com.au
THIS PAGE, TOP: QUEENSLAND ART GALLERY/ GALLERY OF MODERN ART; © YAYOI KUSAMA; PHOTOGRAPHY BY NATASHA HARTH, QAGOMA. BELOW: © YAYOI KUSAMA; PHOTOGRAPH COURTESY OF NGV. P O RT FO L IO
OPPOSITE PAGE, TOP: GETTY IMAGES; COURTESY OF OTA FINE ARTS AND VICTORIA MIRO © YAYOI KUSAMA. BELOW: COURTESY OF OTA FINE ARTS AND VICTORIA MIRO © YAYOI KUSAMA.

FLOW ER B OM B
Kusama sometimes invites audiences to contribute to her infinity rooms by adding elements
such as polka dots (above) or faux gerberas (below) and stickers. Recalling a hallucination from
childhood where a floral tablecloth transposed itself onto every surface, Kusama said in 2018,
“I saw the entire room, my entire body, and the entire universe covered with red flowers, and
in that instant, my soul was obliterated... This was not an illusion but reality itself.”
ABOVE The Obliteration Room (2002–present) at Queensland Art Gallery.
BELOW Installation view of Flower Obsession (2017) at the 2017-2018 NGV Triennial at NGV International Melbourne.
 Club
wellness
People are swapping happy hour for hyperbaric
chambers and picking up potential partners in
the sauna. Private wellness clubs, writes Kathryn
Madden, are the new third places – if you’re
lucky enough to get in the door
 TA L K I N G PO IN T

I
’m lying in a poolside cabana sipping on a superfood
smoothie spiked with bovine collagen, watching
reflections of the gold-leaf ceiling dance on the water to
a soothing soundscape devised by neuroscientists. I waft
around the corner in an Alice Temperley robe and slippers
and peer into the snow shower, where cascading ice flakes offer
a civilised alternative to the traditional cold plunge, and then
a steam room swathed in rose quartz. My instinct is to grab my
phone and capture some content; it’s what we’re programmed
to do in spaces of such uncommon beauty. But I resist the urge,
partly because I don’t want to disturb the zen state brought
on by my massage – during which I lay on a hot onyx bed
in a room lit to enhance my circadian rhythm and was drizzled
with honey like a baklava pastry – and mainly because
a sign kindly asks guests to refrain from taking photos.
Surrenne, a private members health club in the swanky
London suburb of Knightsbridge, describes itself as “a new era
of ultra-luxury social wellbeing”. The club opened in April 2024
courtesy of the Maybourne Hotel Group (parent company of
Claridge’s and The Connaught), and is free to access for guests
staying at The Emory or The Berkeley – with a sly back passage
for very important clientele. Everyone else can become a
member for about $20,000 a year, plus a $10,000 joining fee,
for which they will be welcomed by a team of professionals
who’ll oversee every aspect of their health and wellbeing:
healing massages, high-tech facials, holistic nutrition plans,
bloodwork with medical director Dr Mark Mikhail,
microbiome mapping, epigenetic testing and personalised
supplements delivered daily.
In news to nobody, wellness is a booming industry valued
in the trillions, with a captive, often fanatical, audience. Silicon
Valley tech bros infuse themselves with peptides and – in the
case of 47-year-old venture capitalist Bryan Johnson – teenage
boys’ blood on a relentless quest to live forever. Once-kooky
concepts like biohacking and longevity have seeped into
medical books and mainstream culture, with more than
60 per cent of consumers surveyed by McKinsey in 2024
considering it “very” or “extremely” important to purchase
products and services that help with longevity.
But Surrenne is one of a new crop of high-end health
nirvanas merging the science with a social aspect, too.
At Remedy Place in New York and West Hollywood, guests
partake in social acupuncture or grab an IV drip while
watching a movie, perhaps alongside Kourtney Kardashian-
Barker or Drake. At Australian private wellness club Saint
Haven, members drink mocktails at the marble hightop bar
after stimulating their circulation in a pair of lymphatic
compression boots or inhaling the world’s purest air inside
a hyperbaric oxygen pod. Since launching in Collingwood,
Melbourne, in May 2023, the demand has been so high that
three more have opened across the city, with additional
locations planned for Sydney in 2025.
On the fourth floor of Surrenne, I enter the hallowed
Tracy Anderson studio, dedicated to the famous body-sculpting
method of Gwyneth Paltrow and Victoria Beckham’s trainer.
The room is heated to 35°C, the floor is sprung to minimise
impact on joints, and resistance bands hang from the ceiling.
One woman is stretching and chatting to a receptionist
about her weekend jaunt to Sardinia, and puts in an order
for a green juice post-class. “No fruit, babe,” she says familiarly.
A perky American instructor guides us through a sweaty
workout, and afterwards I ask the green juice drinker – let’s
call her Kate, as anonymity is paramount at Surrenne – if she’s

marieclaire.com.au | 69
TA L KI N G P OI N T

FROM TOP In Saint Haven founder Tim Gurner, who oversees the four
Surrenne’s Tracy
Anderson Studio, locations in Collingwood, Toorak, South Yarra and St Kilda.
the room is heated Gurner, a property developer and dedicated biohacker
to 35°C, the floor himself, saw a gap in the market for a luxe centre that
is sprung, and
resistance bands merged the health facilities of a wellness retreat with the
hang from the practicalities of a private club – minus the stuffy and sexist
ceiling; the private traditions. “Why do we all burn ourselves out and then have
wellness club
favours calming, to escape to Gwinganna or Eden or Chiva-Som? Why
neutral-toned, can’t we [live like that] every day?” he asks.
minimalist interiors Gurner attributes some of Saint Haven’s success to
with warm lighting.
a widespread re-prioritisation of health post-pandemic.
People are more conscious of their mortality, partying less
as nightspots shut down, and experimenting with sobriety.
“I think that leads people away from big nights, but they
still want to be able to socialise,” explains Gurner.
Many are searching for community, too – according
to a recent study, one-third of Australians feel lonely – and
for “third places” outside the home and workplace, where
they can convene and connect. “Our members talk about
Saint Haven being their second home,” affirms Gurner,
hinting that clubs like his may even offer a solution to the
downward spiral of dating apps. “Believe it or not, we’ve
had three engagements from [people who met] in our sauna.
If you’re a single, healthy-minded person looking for
someone with shared values, this is definitely the place
to be … Just come and sit in our sauna.”
Fifty-eight per cent of Saint Haven members are women,
42 per cent men, with an average age of 33 to 45 across
the different locations. “We have such a diverse range of
members,” adds Gurner. “We have incredible artists, elite
athletes, footballers, and lots of Australia’s key executives
a regular at the club. “I come six times a week, usually for who need a place to go and hide from the world. So you
the Tracy Anderson classes. It’s a way of life now,” she tells could be sitting at the bar next to a bank CEO on one side
me. “I’m 50 but I look and feel 21. I do everything natural. and a hot international artist on the other. It’s a great mix.”
Surrenne’s the place I come to reconnect and feel better The newest opening, Saint in St Kilda, is aimed at a
– then I go home to my kids and work, and I’m better.” younger-minded, though not necessarily younger, crowd.
It must be lovely to make use of the plush facilities, too, It features co-working spaces, a breath-work studio,
I comment. “I don’t go to the pool, sauna or steam room red-light therapy and all the standard amenities of its
as I have those at home,” she says. “I’ve stopped using sister clubs, but also a den with a DJ and cinema. “We’re
public pools. But the valet is great.” serving 100 per cent natural alcohol there on Friday and
I think I want Kate’s life, and the closest I’ll get to that Saturday nights,” says Gurner. “The music’s more upbeat.
dream is probably Saint Haven in Melbourne. Not that If you are 25 to 50 and you’re looking to meet someone,
joining up is necessarily an option, given the club’s rigorous I think it’s going to be a great place.” Especially so for
application process and extensive waitlists. “We don’t talk a growing but typically overlooked demographic whose
about member numbers, but each of our clubs is at capacity lifestyle inhabits the space between cramming into
– the membership waiting list is now over 25,000,” says boiler rooms and having babies.
 “BELIEVE IT OR
NOT, WE’VE
HAD THREE
ENGAGEMENTS
FROM PEOPLE
WHO MET IN
OUR SAUNA”
– Tim Gurner,
Saint Haven

Private members clubs are big news across the world

right now: Casa Cipriani is the place to be and be seen in
New York, The Wilde just opened in Milan, and Soho House
will soon launch in Sydney. Each is built on exclusivity –
which is the natural allure of a members club, but becomes
more complex when wellness is added into the equation.
Should perfect health be the domain of an elite few,
something only the wildly rich can afford or the exceptionally
connected are invited into? Like the referral-only Pilates
studios popping up in New York, or Sydney’s Lockeroom
Gym, where only high-flying business executives need apply.
Gurner points out that Saint Haven memberships, which
start at $179 a week and reportedly go up to $2000 a week,
aren’t as prohibitive as they may initially appear. “They’re
actually good value,” he says. “Because these people are FROM TOP Saint
travelling the world [to visit health retreats] ... They have Haven’s Elixir Bar
a private club membership, a gym membership, a Pilates serves alcohol-
free beverages in
membership, a recovery membership ... [Once] they combine an elegant setting
all of that into one place, we’re much more efficient from featuring fluted
a time perspective and also from a cost perspective.” marble; in the
wellness club’s
After expanding into Sydney in 2025, Saint Haven is candlelit bathhouse
looking to go global. Maybe our demand for these spaces you’ll find a 38ºC
PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY SAINT HAVEN/PETER BENNETTS; SURRENNE.

comes down to a growing appreciation of “wellth”, a term pool infused with

essential minerals
coined by ex-Wall Street trader Jason Wachob to describe to aid muscle
how physical and mental wellbeing makes us richer. recovery; and a
Or maybe privacy is the real drawcard here, even for very teardrop chandelier
hangs above a
unimportant people like me. In a world where your every reverse osmosis
movement is tracked on Find My Friends and we barely filtered water
sneeze without sharing it on Instagram, a ban on social fountain, where
members can fill
media – implemented at all Saint Haven clubs except Saint their water bottles.
– is quite thrilling. Sometimes it’s just nice to have a secret.
I eventually visit the Saint Haven sauna, set in an
ultra-sumptuous sanctuary that feels a little like a Puglian
bath house, but mainly like a whole new world. I sit opposite
an Australian musician who’s shorter than I expected,
surprisingly witty, and makes a mildly shocking revelation.
But I can’t share the juicy details; those are the rules
of private wellness clubs.

marieclaire.com.au | 71
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Your 2025 astro guide
A clean page. A fresh start. A new chapter.
The year ahead is full of promise. From career
to coupledom and cashflow, see what’s
already written in the stars for your sign

WORDS BY NATASHA WEBER ILLUSTRATIONS BY LEAH ANN EARLY

2 02 5 HO RO SC OP E SPEC IA L

LOVE AND RELATIONSHIPS HEALTH AND HAPPINESS

Pluto clears the air on that tricky With Neptune moving into your sign
friendship – keep it or cut it, in March, focus on fortifying your
but either way reclaim your power. gut health and watch for allergies or food
Venus’ March retrograde sees sensitivities. Thankfully, the sun arrives
you reevaluating your love life; in your sign that same month, giving
what do you really want? Circle you an extra energy kick. Saturn’s last
March 23; it has romantic lap through your mental health zone offers
fireworks written all over it. Mars emotional closure and full-spectrum
tests your patience at home, but healing – mind, body and soul.
by year’s end, comet Chiron brings
family healing and good vibes. THE VERDICT
Realignment and soulful discovery
CASH AND CAREER abound in 2025. January’s north
The new year brings stability node shift feels like a big exhale
to your finances as Uranus as a karmic chapter closes, making
finally exits your cash zone. room for something even more aligned.
Professionally, Pluto has you Mercury throws you a curveball (hello,
rubbing shoulders with VIPs who retrograde!), but you’ll find your groove
M A R C H 21– A P R I L 19 are noticing your hustle. July’s full by April. March’s solar eclipse brings
moon sees a major career win a fated new beginning; trust that it’s part

ARIES
AND ARIES RISING
or personal goal come full circle.
And November? With both
full and new moons triggering
of your path. The real game-changer?
Neptune and Saturn enter your sign,
guiding you towards a spiritual glow-up.
your financial axis, expect major
2025 MANTRA: money moves and maybe even POWER DATES March 29,
Let go and let flow a breakthrough investment. March 30, May 25, October 7

LOVE AND RELATIONSHIPS HEALTH AND HAPPINESS

February’s full moon fires you up Neptune’s shift into your mental
to stand your ground with a family health zone tempts you into a spiral
member (about time!) March’s of self-doubt. But the eclipses
lunar eclipse in your love zone stirs in 2025 hit your cosmic reset button,
drama, but it’s paving the way for reminding you that everything
the relationship sparkle you’ve been works out just fine when you trust
waiting for. By September’s solar the process. By October, Venus helps
eclipse, clarity hits, and if you’re single you master a better work-play balance.
a romance blossoms with someone Consider a stress-tracking app
who has their act together. This year, or loosening up in dance class
Mercury’s retrograde pushes you to to shake off stress.
upgrade your social circle – bye-bye,
emotional vampires. THE VERDICT
This is the year for finding your footing
CASH AND CAREER and feeling anchored. The first half
Pluto hits the zenith of your chart, brings a whirlwind of fast and furious
emboldening you to pursue a career changes. But by July, erratic Uranus
where you call the shots. Between leaves your sign, finally bringing that
February and June, Jupiter blesses sense of stability you’ve craved. Things A P R I L 2 0 – M AY 2 0
you with a lucrative money-making may not be as thrilling, but the calm
prospect; take action, or it could pass
you by. December’s new moon delivers
a profitable collaboration, perhaps
and clarity are worth it. By November’s
full moon, you’ll be loving this
brand-new, zen version of yourself.
TAURUS
AND TAURUS RISING
through a business partnership
or working with a mentor or coach POWER DATES January 31, 2025 MANTRA: I trust that
to elevate your financial game. April 20, November 5, November 21 the cosmos has my back
LOVE AND RELATIONSHIPS HEALTH AND HAPPINESS
Your inner circle gets an upgrade in Mars leaves you prone to accidents
March when Mercury retrogrades and or flare-ups, so skip the risky
Neptune warns of a friend’s little white extreme sports or anything
lies. This year, only quality connections involving heavy lifting and focus
make the cut. September’s solar eclipse on self-care and getting your beauty
drops a truth bomb that helps you sleep. By November’s new moon, you’ll
set healthy family boundaries. October be sipping green smoothies, booking
is pure romance for couples, while that Pilates class you’ve been putting off,
Venus plays Cupid for singles. or even unplugging for a digital detox
By December’s new moon, some to give your nervous system a break.
couples take the next step, from
moving in to exchanging vows. THE VERDICT
This is your year of breaking free and
CASH AND CAREER being your authentic self. February
Feel like you’re coasting or ready to kicks off with Jupiter finally moving
chase something bigger? The moon’s forward in your sign, bringing a burst
north node has you questioning your of good luck and paving the way for
purpose, with some Twins pivoting growth until June. But the real cosmic
to a whole new career. Jupiter’s headline? Uranus enters your sign M AY 21– J U N E 2 0
collaboration with Pluto supercharges in July, poking your inner rebel. You’ll
your confidence and leadership skills
– you’re saying yes to opportunities
that matter. Upskilling becomes
be craving big changes and feel ready
to be true to yourself. Prepare for
an electrifying year of transformation!
GEMINI
AND GEMINI RISING
the key to your big success story,
and Mars sees you hustling harder POWER DATES April 17, 2025 MANTRA: I choose authenticity
than ever for that extra income. May 19, June 1, July 7 over approval

LOVE AND RELATIONSHIPS HEALTH AND HAPPINESS

Expect an invitation to a dazzling June’s full moon brings a surge of
social event in January. Then, Uranus energy; channel it into something
drops a friend’s shocking revelation, wildly productive. November’s your
and though it may be jarring, you’ll power month for ambitious health
respect her commitment to speaking goals. Thanks to the sun’s vitality
her truth. April’s full moon facilitates boost, you’ll crush your workouts
an emotional release within your and maybe even sign up for that
family, especially if you’re preparing marathon. This year, Uranus pushes
for the bittersweet moment of children you to break free from limiting
leaving the nest. As the year wraps, la mindsets and rewrite your narrative.
luna redefines relationship standards
for singles, and Venus delivers a THE VERDICT
meaningful Christmas gift for couples. It’s a year of growth and golden
opportunities. In February, Mars
CASH AND CAREER has you shifting into high gear,
February’s full moon brings a financial pushing past setbacks and stepping
breakthrough, whether it’s a fresh into your power. Then, in June, Jupiter
budgeting plan or a golden idea to graces your sign for the first time in
J U N E 21– J U LY 2 2 boost income. Come April, the solar more than a decade, bringing a lucky
eclipse jolts your career, and you could streak that opens doors. November,

CANCER
AND CANCER RISING
get an unexpected job offer or decide
it’s time to go all-in on your side hustle.
Neptune pushes you to pursue your
however, slows your momentum.
See delays as a chance to refine your
vision for even bigger success.
creative calling, but Venus keeps you
2025 MANTRA: I am a magnet for luck grounded, reminding you to balance POWER DATES January 14,
and for growth opportunities your passion with paying the bills. February 24, June 10, June 25

marieclaire.com.au | 75
 LOVE AND RELATIONSHIPS HEALTH AND HAPPINESS
Uranus introduces fresh faces that Jupiter is your cosmic cheerleader,
lure your wild side out to play. cartwheeling into your mental
They are fun, but are they good health arena in June and
for you? Pluto’s retrograde in May sending your inner critic to the
provokes office politics or exposes backseat. Sure, Mars might leave
a romantic revelation – honesty you feeling flat, whether from
and heart are your secret weapons. crushing deadlines or epic nights
Come November’s new moon, out. But December’s sun is your
a shaky family relationship finds spiritual power bank, recharging you
its footing following a beautiful to your most energetic, vibrant self.
moment of vulnerability. The
year ends on a high note, with THE VERDICT
relationships built on trust and This new year is a time to upskill and
lasting connections that just click. reframe your beliefs. As wanderlust
dares you to explore new places,
CASH AND CAREER you will enrich your world view
This year’s eclipses across your and seek experiences that challenge
money axis could flip your financial your thinking. By May, Saturn
world with a sudden career detour, propels you toward self-mastery,
high-stakes investment opportunity, encouraging you to tap into your
or costs you didn’t see coming. inner wisdom, pursue formal J U LY 2 3 – AU G U S T 2 2
It may feel like everything’s in flux, education, or learn through hands-on
but these twists are leading you
towards your pot of gold at the
end of the rainbow. By July,
experience. Ultimately, this year
sees you question ingrained dogmas
and shift how you see yourself.
LEO
AND LEO RISING
Uranus’ wake-up call reveals
your next professional move with POWER DATES February 13, 2025 MANTRA: Life is my teacher,
unmistakable clarity. July 22, July 25, August 26 self-mastery is my power

LOVE AND RELATIONSHIPS HEALTH AND HAPPINESS

Your relationships are getting a cosmic Pluto makes your health zone
audit in 2025, with the moon’s north its home in 2025, serving up major
node illuminating your partnership transformation energy. Will you
zone. Coupled? Prepare for channel it into meal-prepping like
relationship epiphanies that align a pro and finally mastering those
with your soul’s evolution. Single? deadlifts, or let it tempt you down
Your soulmate could be entering the rabbit hole of stress-eating
stage right, or you could completely and Netflix marathons? Hint: your
revamp your dating criteria. After body’s begging for the first option.
June, Jupiter sprinkles social stardust The cosmos backs your wellness
everywhere, filling your iCal with revolution, but the choice is yours.
vibrant gatherings. December
wraps up the year with a new THE VERDICT
family chapter worth celebrating. This is your year of metamorphosis
and awakening. Like a butterfly
CASH AND CAREER breaking free from its cocoon, you’ll
Watch your wallet when Neptune feel the powerful pull of the eclipses
swirls into your investment sector in your sign, especially during March’s
in March, making financial waters blood moon and September’s solar
murky. Someone’s advice might shake-up. While the myriad changes
sound too good to be true – because and personal transformation feel
AU G U S T 2 3 – S E P T E M B E R 2 2 it probably is. By May, Saturn steps intense, this is the master plan of
in as your savvy money mentor, the cosmos. When you surrender
VIRGO
AND VIRGO RISING
helping you separate fact from
fiction and build lasting wealth.
Until June, Jupiter champions your
to the process, everything aligns
perfectly with your destiny. Unfurl
your wings and soar.
career ambitions, opening doors
2025 MANTRA: I am in sync to leadership roles. This is your POWER DATES January 14,
with divine timing cue to step up. February 24, June 10, June 25

76 | marieclaire.com.au
 20 25 HO RO S CO P E S PE C I A L

LOVE AND RELATIONSHIPS HEALTH AND HAPPINESS

You’ve evolved, and now your The lunar and solar eclipses flip your
relationships are playing catch-up. health script in 2025. March opens
Singles, watch out for Neptune’s doors to emotional healing; think
smooth-talking charlatan – all smoke therapy breakthroughs and forgiving
and mirrors, that one. For couples, your past self. As your mind releases
it’s time for candid conversations a burden, your body will thank you.
and honest confessions. Pass the Come September, you’ll revolutionise
truth serum! Saturn’s arrival acts how you nourish and nurture
as a relationship crucible in May, yourself, adopting a diet bursting
strengthening solid relationships and with wholesome foods, minimising
dissolving those past their prime. With processed snacks and elevating
Pluto far from your family sector, you your wellbeing to the top of your
can look forward to more peaceful and priority list.
supportive dynamics at home.
THE VERDICT
CASH AND CAREER Rebirth and radiance star in this
The year is your launchpad to career new year. After weathering the cosmic
nirvana. Business owners schmooze storms of 2024, you’re finally getting
with the who’s who and impress a breather. Last year’s struggles? Think
industry titans. Itching for a of them as boot camp for the soul.
S E P T E M B E R 2 3 – O C TO B E R 2 2 professional U-turn? Jupiter opens When April’s full moon lights up your
doors, making the impossible possible. sign, it’s time to strut your stuff. And

LIBRA
AND LIBRA RISING
Uranus’ retrograde offers a second shot
at an investment opportunity or social-
media collaboration. By November’s
come September, you’ll shine so bright
that even your past self won’t recognise
this stunning new version of you.
new moon, a fresh income stream or
2025 MANTRA: I radiate beauty side hustle materialises, fattening up POWER DATES April 13,
and wisdom from within your purse in time for Christmas. September 23, October 21, November 3

LOVE AND RELATIONSHIPS HEALTH AND HAPPINESS

Eclipse magic lights up the love March brings Neptune’s scattered
zone of singles, whether that coffee influence to your health sector, so pace
shop crush finally makes a move yourself carefully. Don’t overextend,
or a dating app match resonates. and when you feel like you’re running
When Uranus exits your partnership on low-battery mode, let nature be your
zone in July, marriages find calmer recharge station. This year, try energy
waters, but its September retrograde work such as reiki, chakra balancing
prompts a reassessment of business or acupuncture for extra support
alliances and lingering relationship and vitality. The year’s special gift?
issues. This year, family dynamics Community service and charitable
shift as you reject controlling acts that fill your cup and give
behaviour, and November shows you a lasting sense of purpose.
you why certain friendships were
meant to last only a season. THE VERDICT
This is your year of passion and
CASH AND CAREER progress. Mars, your planetary ruler,
Your career gets a cosmic boost has had you feeling less sparkly than
in February, when the full moon usual. But mid-April marks a zodiac
lights up your creative genius, power shift that evokes your inner
helping you solve that problem warrior. Suddenly, you’re owning rooms
everyone else is stuck on. Uranus again and remembering exactly who you
brings exciting financial possibilities are. Come November, you question your O C TO B E R 2 3 – N OV E M B E R 21
in 2025. Still, while a partnership abilities during Mercury’s backward
offer looks promising, skip
the get-rich-quick temptations.
Focus on honest work and steady
dance. Yet Venus steps in with a gorgeous
reminder that you are more than just
enough – you’re absolutely necessary.
SCORPIO
AND SCORPIO RISING
growth instead of quick
wins. Some Scorpios could POWER DATES April 18, May 13, 2025 MANTRA: My inner warrior leads
see inheritance windfalls. September 22, November 20 with courage and conviction
2 02 5 HO RO SC OP E SPEC IA L

LOVE AND RELATIONSHIPS HEALTH AND HAPPINESS

Saturn’s not playing games with your Uranus moving out of your health sector
heart this year. Sure, that gorgeous brings clarity after all those wellness
arm-candy might catch your eye, trends – from cold plunges to extreme
but you’re ready for someone real detoxes. By July, you’ll crack the code
who shows up, not just shows off. on what truly serves your body. The sweet
If you’re still dreaming of a rescue spot? A fuss-free routine that slides right
romance, Neptune has a wake-up into your lifestyle. Mercury’s retrograde
call. But it’s not all tough love. unleashes criticism that rocks your
Some couples level up with confidence, but by late November your
rings, mortgages, or fur babies. success silences the naysayers.
Family-wise, the north node heals
an ancestral wound or pattern. THE VERDICT
Enrichment and goddess energy
CASH AND CAREER fly high this year. Jupiter stirs
When Mars awakens your something within: a hunger for more
money sector in February, you’re than the everyday grind. By late June,
ready to level up your wealth you’ll crave substance over mundane
game. Whether through smart small talk. Through confronting
investments or strategic saving, and accepting your shadow side, you
you’ll seek wisdom from financial will emerge as the powerful goddess you
N OV E M B E R 2 2 – D E C E M B E R 21 or business gurus or money-savvy were born to be. With Pluto cementing
friends. Watch for lucrative its place in your communication zone,
SAGITTARIUS results from April. March
and September’s eclipses reinvent
your words become magnetic. People
will listen when you speak, especially
AND SAGITTARIUS RISING your career path – maybe even in digital spaces.
radically. Don’t resist these
2025 MANTRA: I claim my shadow changes; they’re aligned with POWER DATES April 18,
self and awaken my power your professional destiny. May 13, September 22, November 20

LOVE AND RELATIONSHIPS HEALTH AND HAPPINESS

Uranus exits your romance sector, June’s full moon draws you to a
and dating gets real. After spiritual practice that calms mental
exploring your share of wildcards chatter. You feel a health wake-up
and situationships, you’ve finally call even before Uranus enters your
mapped your heart’s true north. wellness zone in July. Your body’s
This year brings a love that aligns sending signals that it’s time to stop
with your deepest values – the running on empty. The year’s second
forever kind. Couples, February’s half sees you exploring new paths,
emotional tsunami washes away from mushroom coffee to sound
old baggage, leading to September’s healing, but it’s best to skip extreme
sweet celebrations. On the family fads that promise quick fixes.
front, Neptune’s sixth sense
makes you the emotional compass THE VERDICT
for your family. This is to be a year of sagacity and
empowerment. Saturn’s big shift
CASH AND CAREER brings you face-to-face with your
With Pluto transforming your authentic self in 2025. After last year’s
money zone in 2025, you’re hard work and life lessons, you’re
revolutionising your relationship finally ready to channel that hard-
with wealth and worth. Raise earned wisdom into serving your
your standards. It’s time to stop own agenda. No more saying yes when
underselling what you bring you mean no. While you are done
to the table and start demanding suffering fools or wasting time
what you deserve. April’s full on unworthy ventures, remember D E C E M B E R 2 2 – J A N UA RY 19
moon illuminates the path Capricorn: your newfound strength
to that elusive work-life balance
you’ve been chasing. By October,
Venus crowns your professional
doesn’t mean leaving your compassion
behind. Balance that bold backbone
with a gentle heart.
CAPRICORN
AND CAPRICORN RISING
efforts with sweet success, perhaps
with an accolade, advancement POWER DATES May 25, July 11, 2025 MANTRA: I choose myself
or industry recognition. December 22, December 25 without apology
LOVE AND RELATIONSHIPS HEALTH AND HAPPINESS
Uranus revolutionises your romantic If Mars has triggered health hiccups,
radar, and what once seemed irresistible February brings relief. When the red planet
(the stable banker or free-spirited exits in April, vitality returns, bringing
artist) now feels flat. For couples, steadier energy levels and restorative
April’s Mars energy demands skilful sleep. Mindful yoga, nature walks
communication, not confrontation. or tai chi become your medicine. July’s
Let your sexual chemistry be the bridge full moon holds special magic, so pay
over troubled waters. Whether single attention to those dream messages;
or coupled, this year’s eclipses tempt your angels are sending answers.
you to taste new erotic flavours.
And those family wrinkles? They’re THE VERDICT
finally smoothing themselves out. This is your year of breakthroughs
and radical change. As Pluto makes
CASH AND CAREER your sign its home, a profound
The 2025 eclipses illuminate your transformation begins. Yet your
financial blind spots, highlighting the evolution is a journey, not a destination.
money moves that need modernising. You’re laying the groundwork for lasting
If investments are draining rather than success, so take your time and nurture
gaining, it’s time to pull the plug; your growth. The power planet calls
no more funding dead-end ventures you from frivolity to fierce accountability,
or business partners who don’t add as you graduate from life’s playground J A N UA RY 2 0 – F E B R UA RY 18
value. Though opportunities dazzle to its boardroom. From April, Jupiter
throughout February, March, August
and September, stay sharp and
waves a tantalising opportunity; own
your decisions, be your own boss and AQUARIUS
scrutinise the fine print. Meanwhile, claim your sweet reward by October. AND AQUARIUS RISING
Mercury’s November backspin offers
a career do-over or a sweet second POWER DATES January 27, 2025 MANTRA: I am the architect
shot at a professional triumph. April 17, June 24, August 7 of my transformation

LOVE AND RELATIONSHIPS HEALTH AND HAPPINESS

Couples, prepare for curveballs Saturn and Pluto have you picking apart
that test your flexibility. Your other your reflection, but don’t let that inner
half might surprise you with dreams critic win. Here’s your truth: your body
of country living or announce is beautiful, full stop. February’s full
they’re starting their own business. moon reveals what your intuition has
Trust the journey; it’s reshaping been trying to tell you, so trust your gut.
your story together. Singles, June Keep that water bottle close (your cells
introduces you to someone whose will thank you). Mars plays with your
zest for life is magnetic. And their energy levels between April and June,
contagious laugh? That’s the cherry so listen when your body whispers “rest.”
on top. July sees you rebelling
against family expectations THE VERDICT
and craving more independence. This is your year of trailblazing and
Maybe you’ll move out or start transcendence, and it’s bringing the big
setting firmer boundaries. questions: are you walking your own
path or following someone else’s? In
CASH AND CAREER January, the north node enters your sign,
Your finances are dancing between and it’s serving a cup of truth tea. Change
feast and famine – flush one minute, is uncomfortable, but so is staying stuck.
tight the next. Play it safe in 2025 From May until September, Saturn gives
and skip those tempting get-rich- you breathing room – a sacred pause to
quick schemes. From March, trust decompress through quiet reflection and
only what you can see and touch. soul-stirring talks that feel like magic.
F E B R UA RY 19 – M A R C H 2 0 Here’s the silver lining: your hard
work pays off when Saturn aligns POWER DATES January 12,
PISCES
AND PISCES RISING
with lucky Jupiter in June, while
Mercury has you commanding
attention in all the right
February 28, April 21, September 8

This is an edited extract

professional places. By October from Your Celestial
2025 MANTRA: I am aligned and November, your A-game Compass by Natasha Weber
with my true north becomes your new normal. (Penguin Books, $36.99).

marieclaire.com.au | 79
 C U LT U R E
YO U R F I X O F F I L M , M U S I C , A R T & B O O K S EDITED BY H A R R I E T S I M

ING
AV
A
H

Britt
MOME

NT

Lower
The star of Apple TV+’s
hit show Severance
ponders life’s big questions

Each day Britt Lower goes to work

in a corporate prison. From a sterile
cubicle in a windowless office, she
inputs data into a clunky computer.
But while most employees would
wither under the nauseating fluorescent
lights, Lower finds inspiration in her
surroundings, which are in reality
the set of the cult series Severance.
“The low ceilings and the golf green
carpet feel super-surreal,” says Lower.
“The cast [including Patricia Arquette
and Adam Scott] do go a little bananas,
so I try to stay awake in that lighting
by shadow boxing.”
The 14-time Emmy-nominated series,
which debuted in 2022, explores
a dystopia where employees can opt
to undergo a surgical severance of their
work lives from their personal lives;
Lower plays the belligerent Helly R,
who, like her fellow “severed” workers,
has no memory of any life outside work
when she is in the office.
Fortunately, Lower loves her job,
and has returned for the second season
after the three-year gap since the first.
The 39-year-old whiled away part of
that time by joining a circus to play
ukulele and walk a tightrope.
While Ben Stiller’s impeccable
directorial vision might lie at the core
of the show’s success, so does its ability
to mirror humanity on a deeper level.
“The themes of the show rattle people,” W AT C H
says Lower, “because we’re all on that Season two
journey of trying to find out who we of Severance
are, and this strange little office contains premieres on
lots of archetypes that people can January 17
relate to in different ways.” on Apple TV+.
 CU LT U RE

Netflix, Boy Swallows Universe was the

third most-watched English-language
show on the platform globally. Fisk – a
personal favourite currently in its third
season and showing no signs of slowing
– is being touted as the closest thing
any audience has had to the delightful
drudgery of The Office (US) since the
universally loved series aired its final
episode more than a decade ago.
Elsewhere, Charlotte Wood became
the first Australian to be shortlisted for
the prestigious Booker Prize since 2014
and Royel Otis made their debut on the
Billboard Hot 100 and were named one
of 25 artists to watch by the Grammys.
Osborne-Crowley – the author
of that excellent essay from almost
five years ago – published her third book
Australia Has Finally Shrugged in July, this time about her experience
as one of only four reporters allowed

Off Its Cultural Cringe into the New York courtroom during
Ghislaine Maxwell’s trial. When
I read that, I was surprised to see an
Australian play such an important role,
We’ve long exulted in the glory of our sporting greats. Are we now but then I caught myself, because, why
ready to acknowledge the talents of our artists and writers? wouldn’t one be?

A
few years ago, my friend You might already be familiar
shared a series of scanned with it. Phillips’ essay is considered
pages in our group chat. a cornerstone of Australian cultural AFTER A STEADY DIET
It was an essay by a young criticism, pinpointing the penchant for
woman reflecting on her Australians to see the work of our own
OF SERIES SET AGAINST
recent breakup. She wrote about how artists and writers as somehow inferior THE SEDUCTIVE SQUALOR
she had lost herself, how her identity to anything from overseas. Assumedly, OF NEW YORK, I’M
was subsumed by the relationship in it’s all tied up with our tendency MORE DRAWN TO
a way her boyfriend’s never was. At the towards tall-poppy syndrome, AUSTRALIAN VOICES
time, I didn’t recognise the author’s a self-deprecating sense of humour THAN EVER BEFORE
name – Lucia Osborne-Crowley – nor and lingering colonial inferiority
did I know that Meanjin, the word complex. And yet, 70 years on, that
printed in tiny text on the bottom belief had quietly taken root within
corner of each page, was one of me. Lately, I’ve felt it unravelling. What does all of this work have
Australia’s oldest and most respected After a steady diet of HBO series in common, besides being really good?
literary magazines. But the writing set against the seductive squalor of New Maybe it’s that none of it is overtly
resonated. When I reached the final York, and books about transgressive “Australian” in the kitschy, Crocodile
paragraphs and discovered that most 20-somethings living in London, I’m Dundee sense. Nor are they trying
of the story had unfolded in Sydney, more drawn to Australian voices than to sell the Summer Bay dream, holding
I was stunned. How could someone ever before. Comparison is the thief onto a nostalgic version of Australian
from the same, seemingly insular, of joy, but give me an episode of Fisk life – or a cliché of one – that has mostly
corner of the world as us have written and a Lech Blaine biography over a faded. They tell stories that resonate
something so profound? I didn’t BBC comedy or Pulitzer Prize winner because they are real. It reminds me
realise it then, but I was unknowingly any day of the week. It seems the rest of the “Don’t kill the part of you that is
participating in something that the of the world is catching on, too. In 2024, cringe, kill the part of you that cringes”
Australian writer A. A. Phillips named Bluey was officially – and astoundingly meme. We’ve finally stopped cringing
– and shamed – in a 1950 issue – the most watched show (of all shows) at ourselves. The result speaks for itself.
of Meanjin: cultural cringe. in the US, and in its second week on – Maeve Galea

marieclaire.com.au | 81
WHO’S
THAT
girl?
FREUDIAN NIP
A dead dog at Christmas
might be lacking in holiday
spirit, but comedy duo
Jenna Owen and Vic
Zerbst find the funny bone
in their newly released
The new vanguard of national treasures is making Stan original, Nugget is
a name for itself in Australia’s competitive creative Dead: A Christmas Story.
It’s not the first time the
scene. Commit these fresh young faces to memory pair, who perform as
Freudian Nip, have leant
on humour in the darkness
after a viral skit about the
Voice referendum pushed
them into the spotlight.
Next up, their long-awaited
six-part comedy series
Optics is awaiting
release on the ABC.
Turn on your alerts.

JILLIAN NGU YEN

There are actors who appear on the
radar as if by chance (or a well-timed
publicity scheme). Then there are
actors like Jillian Nguyen, who radiate
such talent and grace that if feels as
though they have always been there.
Consistently turning out one project
after another, from ABC’s Barons
alongside Hugo Weaving to Shayda,
which premiered at the Sundance Film
Festival, the talented actor has been
cooly riding the wave of success. ELLA BA XTER
Her most recent work, a gripping When Ella Baxter sat down to write what would become
series for Paramount+ called One her acclaimed new novel, Woo Woo, she initially penned a
Night, is no exception. We can’t wait 20,000-word letter to her stalker with the expectation no-one
to see what she does next. would ever read it. “A year or two” later, after giving birth
reframed her perception of fear, she sent it to her publisher and
hasn’t looked back. In covering everything from female rage, the
intersection of art and money and the chaos of being chronically
online, Baxter has her finger on the pulse of Australian youth.
 CU LT U RE

MAINA DOE
If you were lucky enough
to have stood in the crowd
at one of Maina Doe’s
electric sold-out shows
in Sydney and Melbourne,
you’ll know that the brooding
R&B artist doesn’t just put
on a show, she puts on an
experience. As one of the
most exciting talents on
K I R LI SAU N D E R S the local music scene, the
Not many people can Somali-Indonesian-Australian
command a roomful of artist is not only inspiring
entrepreneurs, actors, artists a new age of genre-bending
and thought-leaders to howl listening, she’s leading the
in a collective wolf cry, but Kirli charge. Just listen to her
Saunders did just that at marie latest EP, ODIWAMS.
claire’s International Women’s
Day event earlier this year.
Wielding her powerful prose,
Saunders tells stories of love
and First Nations wisdom
through her collection of
poetry. Next up, the prolific
young creative’s latest book,
Eclipse, arrives in February.

SAR AH ELLEN
The lore of Australian model Sarah Ellen began with
a YouTube video and a pair of dancing eyebrows (google
it). What followed was a slew of high-fashion campaigns
and even a starring role in Neighbours. Now, the buzzy
young talent is playing to a different beat after debuting
her indie pop band, Paloma, at Sydney’s Pleasure Club
in August. Keep an ear out for an imminent EP drop.

marieclaire.com.au | 83
C U LTU R E

What’s on...
Mark your calendars, these enticing entertainment events
are coming to a theatre, gallery or living room near you

SEE
Picnic at
Hanging Rock
In the scorched Victorian
highlands, four schoolgirls
and a teacher vanish without
a trace. In 2025, the Sydney
Theatre Company reimagines
this beguiling Australian
gothic thriller in a haunting
adaptation with dazzling
lead Olivia DeJonge (who
played Priscilla in Elvis). From
February 17 to April 5; tickets
at sydneytheatre.com.au.

SEE
Ethel Carrick
Ethereal dreamscapes and floral
still-lifes are taking over the National
Gallery of Australia in Canberra
from December, as a major
retrospective honours the work
of English Impressionist and Post-
Impressionist painter Ethel Carrick.
Open now until April 27.
RIGHT Esquisse en Australie [Sketch
in Australia] 1908, by Ethel Carrick.

SEE
READ
FINNEAS
The Group If you know 10-time Grammy and
This new novel by Sigge Eklund, two-time Academy Award winner
translated from Swedish, will Finneas only as the older brother
make an excellent couch of superstar Billie Eilish, now is the
companion for summer. And time to study up. The alt-pop singer/
with its short chapters and songwriter has announced a series
gripping prose, it also makes of Australian gigs beginning January
for a perfect poolside page-turner 9 on his For Cryin’ Out Loud! tour.
(Allen & Unwin, $32.99). Tickets at frontiertouring.com.
 SEE
Nijinsk y
This category-defying
interpretation of visionary
dancer Vaslav Nijinsky’s final
performance comes to life in
Melbourne from February 21
to March 1. Exploring the depths LISTEN
of human emotion, this powerful
retelling by the Australian Ballet Rosie
is not to be missed. Book at All eyes (and there are 81 million
australianballet.com.au. pairs on Instagram alone) are on
K-pop singer Rosé. In December,
she drops her first studio album as
a solo artist after nearly a decade
of topping charts in the girl group
Blackpink. Queue Rosie on your
playlist now.

W AT C H
The Room Next Door
“Will you help me die?” former
war correspondent Martha
(played by Tilda Swinton) asks
long-time friend Ingrid (Julianne
Moore) in this spirited drama
that unpacks the right to die.
In cinemas from December 26.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY NICK RASMUSSEN; GETTY IMAGES; PAUL MCMILLAN; MINORI UEDA; SARAH HICKSON.

STREAM
The Six
Triple Eight
Actor Kerry
Washington leads
the charge in this
inspiring true story
of the first and only
female US Army
battalion of colour
to be stationed
overseas during
World War II.
Stream it on Netflix
from December 20.

marieclaire.com.au | 85
Jarin Baigent, Narelda
Jacobs, Melissa Leong,
Kylie Kwong and
Liandra Gaykamangu.

Celebrating the Maria Thattil and

Ashani Dante.

WOMEN of 2024
Raised glasses, powerhouse performances and inspiring messages were the order of the night when Australia’s
female changemakers and creatives gathered to celebrate marie claire’s Women of the Year Awards

The Women of the Year Awards were supported by Max Mara. Above, from left: Victoria Lee,
marie claire editor Georgie McCourt, Kate Bell, Laura Jones and Saya Sakakibara, all wearing Max Mara.
 S LUG

AWA R D S
Presented by

The 180 guests

were spellbound
by the speeches.

S
et at Walsh Bay before an iconic, glittering Sydney
Harbour backdrop, marie claire’s Women of the
Year Awards were presented by Swarovski and
supported by Volvo, Max Mara, Revlon, Dr LeWinn’s
and G.H. Mumm. It was a night to remember.
At the entrance, Volvo electric cars formed a guard of honour
to welcome the country’s most inspiring women, including
Emma McKeon, Narelda Jacobs, Jennifer Robinson, Maria
Thattil, Grace Tame and Melissa Leong. There was no shortage
of glamour, with many guests shimmering in Swarovski jewels,
and with winners being awarded a custom Swarovski trophy.
As the Women of the Year were announced in each category,
their speeches made us laugh, cry and cheer. Grace Tame set
the scene for the evening, reminding us that “making change
is uncomfortable”, while Designer of the Year Liandra
Gaykamangu’s gratitude for the women in her life had many
guests welling up with tears.
Accepting the Changemaker of the Year Award, Vanessa
Turnbull-Roberts spoke of Country and place, the “power of
spirit” and the fact “change never happens alone”. As always,
Celeste Barber managed to make a statement while eliciting fits
of laughter after being named Entertainer of the Year, along with
Asher Keddie. Guests were buoyed by the support in the room, Icon of the Year
winner Emma
leaving with hearts full and an ignited passion for change. McKeon and
Cody Simpson.

marieclaire.com.au | 87
Guests were able
to check out Volvo’s
new fully electric
SUV, the EX30.

Musicians
Charlie Collins
and Carla
Wehbe.

Revlon brought
the glam factor.

Sally Obermeder,
Edwina Bartholomew, The Titanique
Melissa Doyle and cast belted
Annabelle Williams. out songs.

Janice Pip Nicole Warne Jesinta

Petersen. Edwards. Ronni Kahn. Shadbolt. Franklin.
 Nicole Warne
Shadbolt and
Jesinta Franklin.

Past Designer of the

Year winner Rebecca
Vallance congratulates
Liandra Gaykamangu.

Emma McKeon
accepting her Icon
of the Year award.

Grace Tame.

Gemma O’Neill, G.H. Mumm

Jackie O and kept the bubbles
Ariarne Titmus. flowing.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY PAUL MCMILLAN; JAY PATEL; ROBYN FAY-PERKINS. WORDS BY MADDISON HOCKEY.

AWA R D S
Presented by

Teela Reid,
Samantha Harris,
The winners Vanessa Turnbull-
received a stunning Roberts and Jennifer
Swarovski trophy. Narelda Jacobs. Robinson.

marieclaire.com.au | 89
 H O L LY W O O D ’ S
CHAMELEON
Shape-shifting star
Julia Garner can channel
any fashion vibe –
poised and cool yet
soft and summery included.
Also this month: Gucci’s
2025 Cruise Collection,
on-trend boho combos,
and outfits to suit
any event.

Gucci dress, $5200,

bralette, $1850, and
necklace, $1250;
Garner’s own earrings.

All makeup by Gucci

Beauty. Gucci Blush
De Beauté in Sweet
Peach, $88; Rouge
De Beauté Brillant
lipstick in Sally Soft
Honey, $72; Mascara
L’Obscur, $68.
Fragrance: Gucci
Guilty For Her EDP,
50ml, $183.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY REGAN CAMERON/WIB. STYLED BY NAOMI SMITH.

marieclaire.com.au | 91
I N TE RVI EW

WORDS BY
ALEXANDRA ENGLISH

STYLED BY
Hollywood’s quiet achiever
NAOMI SMITH Julia Garner is making a
PHOTOGRAPHED BY career of defying genre
REGAN CAMERON
 Julia Garner wears
Gucci top, $3000,
bralette, POA, shorts
(with belt), $3000,
and necklace, $3150;
Garner’s own earrings
(worn throughout).
 I NT E RV I E W

BEAUTY NOTE:
ALL MAKEUP BY GUCCI BEAUTY
Glow Highlighter Multi-Use Silky
Illuminating Powder in Opal
Pink, $98; Rouge De Beauté
Brillant lipstick in Call It A Day,
$72; Mascara L’Obscur, $68.

OPPOSITE PAGE
Christian Dior
jacket, dress, and
boots, all POA.
THIS PAGE Prada
dress, POA.

marieclaire.com.au | 95
Chloé dress, necklace
(shorter), and stockings,
all POA; Christian Dior
necklace, POA.

“I don’t like to call them

characters, they’re people
who you meet who have a
significant part in your life;
they never leave you”
 I NT E RV I E W

t’s a beautiful image, the opening Mark Twain – sits among 11 hectares of gardens and
shot of this story. Julia Garner woodland. “I’ve been coming here since I was three
standing in a field of tall grass, years old,” she says, full of sentiment and excitement,
a bouquet of wild daisies in her with a touch of pride. “I know the grounds so well.
hand and the sunlight gently My parents have a membership and they come every
illuminating her skin. Her soft weekend – they literally walked here to visit me
blonde curls dance on the breeze, and her yellow on set today.”
boho revival Gucci blouse billows with the wind.

F
It’s light and romantic; it could be a fragrance ad or Garner’s newer fans, a supernatural
(Gucci Bloom, perhaps?). But the vision it conjures thriller might seem like an odd choice
is in stark contrast to the reason we’re here: to for the actor, whose recent roles have been
talk about her new jump-out-of-your-skin scary firmly cemented in some version of reality.
supernatural gothic horror film, Wolf Man. But those who have been following her
That Garner can do both – channel fear and career for the past 13 years know that Wolf Man
romance for the same project – is testament to her makes sense. Garner doesn’t choose her roles
skill as one of her generation’s most chameleonic because of the genre, she chooses them because
actors. There’s been no better display of that than of their humanity. Her showreel runs the movie-
when she simultaneously played a gun-wielding making gamut: some coming-of-ages, a few dramas,
foul-mouthed 19-year-old with a deep Southern a couple of comedies, several thriller-action and
accent in Ozark and a fake heiress high-society thriller-crime fusions and more than one sci-fi;
scammer whose pretend German accent was she’s been in a few cults, gone through some teen
tainted by both Russian and English (the British pregnancies, lived in a couple of trailer parks and
and the Gossip Girl kind). even been a cannibal. Taken on surface level, the
It’s the latter accent that Garner is speaking in roles seem disparate, but a closer read reveals
while we shoot, entertaining the marie claire crew a few through-lines: the women Garner portrays
with her perfect impression of Anna Delvey (real are always tough on the outside with cracks of
name Anna Sorokin), who she played in the 2022 vulnerability; they exist in worlds that buzz with
series Inventing Anna. That Garner could not only sinister undertones; they leave you with an
pull off that delicate and “consistently inconsistent” overwhelming and unsettling feeling things
accent at the time but also whip it out years later, aren’t quite what they seem.
shows how deeply Garner’s roles settle into her But when Garner is asked what she thinks is the
bones. “I don’t even like to call them characters,” common quality in all of her roles, she’s quick to say
she says of the real and fictional women she plays. “curiosity”. “They have to have a sense of curiosity
“They’re people who you meet who have a significant because if you don’t have curiosity, you lack depth,”
part in your life; they never leave you.” she says emphatically. “You can meet somebody and
Hearing her say this in her natural accent they can be super educated, they can go to an Ivy
is almost a shock. It’s pure New York, baby. League school, but if they’re not curious it means
Garner grew up in Riverdale, a suburb in the they lack wisdom. So, to me, they’re like, ‘Eh,
Bronx, New York, walking distance from where she’s whatever,’” insert dismissive shrug here. “I’d rather
shooting today at the Wave Hill gardens estate. someone who’s had an interesting life, a deep life.
It’s a sprawling property on the slopes of the Hudson Maybe they didn’t go to the [right] school but they
River, where an 1800s mansion – whose prominent are curious about how things work, connecting
tenants have included Theodore Roosevelt and to people. Curious people, to me, are smarter.”

marieclaire.com.au | 97
I N TE RVI EW

OPPOSITE PAGE
Christian Dior top,
$4300, corset, skirt,
boots, and rings, all
POA; stylist’s stockings.

Garner herself is – of course – incredibly curious, I think I had an easier time expressing how I was
having been the one to ask questions first today. feeling through other people’s words rather than
(When I jokingly suggest we switch this interview my own,” she says.
around, she laughs and responds, “I was thinking Just three years later, in 2011 when she was
the same thing!”) 17, Garner made her feature film debut, in Martha
It may not seem like it, she adds, but despite Marcy May Marlene, starring Elizabeth Olsen, who
all the curiosity and questions, she can be incredibly was also making her film debut. A friend’s girlfriend
shy. “When people find that out, they find it hard was interning at the casting call, and Garner landed
to believe,” she says, laughing. But that shyness the role of Sarah, a member of an abusive cult. She
is what drew her to acting in the first place. was so green to the industry that when the film was
Garner’s parents were academic, but she hated later picked up for the Sundance Film Festival – the
school. She struggled with learning disabilities that largest independent film festival in the States – she
made reading difficult, and also had epilepsy. She’s didn’t know how monumental that was. When
said before that not being able to articulate herself Garner had to ask her teacher for time off, she said
properly made her feel “stupid” and “dumb” and it was for, “I don’t know, this festival thing in Utah.”
so she shut down. Her home life, though, was vibrant (Since then, she’s returned to Sundance many times
and creatively fulfilling. Garner’s mother, Tamar for her films, and even met her future husband,
Gingold, was a comedic actor who Mark Foster, there in 2013.)
appeared on the Israeli equivalent In 2012, Garner gained her first
of Saturday Night Live before “I had an easier starring role, in Electrick Children
moving to the US in her twenties as Rachel, a fundamentalist
and becoming a therapist; her time expressing Mormon teen who believes she
father, Thomas, grew up in Ohio how I was feeling is experiencing an immaculate
and teaches art at a junior school. conception, impregnated not
Her older sister, Anna, teaches through other by God but by a song she heard
special education and English people’s words on a forbidden cassette tape.
as a second language in a It was clear early on that Garner
Manhattan high school. rather than had the It factor. In 2012, she also
The family’s home, my own” had a small role in the coming-of-
Garner once said, was a Noah age cult classic The Perks of Being
Baumbach-esque “full-on New York a Wallflower. She played Susan,
Jewish household”, filled with books, rugs, paintings, a highschooler dealing with the grief of her
cacti, old electronics and a framed Matisse poster boyfriend’s suicide. In an interview with Vanity Fair
from The Metropolitan Museum of Art. She loved for the 10th anniversary of the film, writer-director
watching films with her parents. While most Stephen Chbosky revealed that Garner originally
early-aughts pre-teens were watching Finding Nemo had a bigger part, but it was cut because she was
or Spy Kids, Garner was being educated in the too good. “I knew from second one of her audition
classics: she saw the 1950 film All About Eve, starring that she was a very, very special talent,” he said.
Bette Davis, at nine; Rosemary’s Baby, Roman “I remember she had a scene with Charlie [the
Polanski’s 1968 Satanistic psychological horror protagonist, who is in love with Emma Watson’s
starring Mia Farrow, at 11; and Martin Scorsese’s Sam] and they were so remarkable together that
1976 neo-noir thriller Taxi Driver, when she was 12. it actually confused the audience. [They] thought that
Growing up on a steady diet of cinematic art, Charlie and Susan used to date, which really threw
Garner decided that acting would be the solution off everything. So I had to call her and say, ‘I’m really
to her shyness. She asked her parents if she could sorry. I literally had to cut your scene because you
take acting classes, and at age 14 started at New were too good at it, you confused the audience.’”
York’s T. Schreiber Studio. She loved it. The shyness For the next five years before her “breakthrough”
immediately faded away. “I was just so awkward that in Ozark, Garner became a familiar face on screen,

98 | marieclaire.com.au
I N TE RVI EW

OPPOSITE PAGE
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“I grew up in a family of artists who

taught me that really great art
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with 17 credits to her name across TV series, short “Delvey’s accent was definitely the hardest accent
films and features. She worked with an impressive I will ever do,” says Garner. “It was a combination
roll call of A-listers including Parker Posey, Brendan of different accents, and she’s gifted with so many
Fraser, Jessica Alba, Josh Brolin, Bruce Willis, Joseph different languages so she kind of picks up whoever
Gordon-Levitt, Lily Tomlin, Lena Dunham, Juno she’s around. It’s really hard to do a linguist’s accent.”
Temple and Keri Russell. It was worth it: Garner received nominations for
And then along came Ozark. The Jason Bateman- an Emmy, a Golden Globe, a Critics Choice and
directed Netflix series tells the story of the Marty and a Screen Actors Guild award – as well as rapturous
Wendy Byrde (played by Bateman and Laura Linney), applause from the marie claire team at our
who relocate their family from Chicago to the Ozark cover shoot.
mountains in Missouri to launder money for a

B
Mexican drug cartel. Garner steals the show as ack to Wolf Man. In the Leigh Whannell
Ruth Langmore, the cunning teen leader of a local remake of the 1941 original, Garner plays
family of petty criminals. By the time the series ended Charlotte, the workaholic wife of family
in 2022, Garner had won three Emmys, a Golden man Blake (played by Christoper Abbott)
Globe and received more nominations than you and mother of Ginger (Matilda Firth).
can count on one hand for the Screen Actors Guild When Blake’s estranged father disappears and is
Awards and Critics Choice Awards. presumed dead, Blake inherits his childhood home.
Her time on Ozark overlapped with multiple The family relocates from San Francisco to Oregon,
other hit projects. In 2018’s psychological-comedy- but gets into an accident in their removal van along
drama miniseries Maniac, about the strangers Annie the way. Guided by the light of the full moon, they
Landsberg (Emma Stone) and Owen Milgrim (Jonah retreat to a nearby abandoned farmhouse only for
Hill) who meet during a series of mind-bending Blake to be clawed by a werewolf. We can all guess
experiments conducted by a pharmaceutical what happens from here: Blake transforms into
company, Garner plays Annie’s sister, Ellie, who a violent beast set on killing his own family. So yes,
died in a car accident and appears in flashbacks. Wolf Man is a gore-y and jumpy supernatural horror,
The same year she played a deceased sister, but it’s also a smart and compassionate commentary
she played Juno Temple’s very much alive and feisty on ambiguous grief.
little sister, Terra Newell, in Dirty John, the true “I was already drawn to the role because I think
crime series based on a podcast of the same name. Leigh is really great in this genre and it meant I
Terra expends a lot of energy trying to make her would get to work with Christopher Abbott [Garner
mother, Debra (played by Connie Britton), see that played Abbott’s one-time roommate in a 2016 episode
her new boyfriend, John Meehan (played creepily of Girls], so reading the script was the final check,”
by Eric Bana), is a violent conman. Here, Garner she says, making an invisible tick mark in the air.
mastered another accent: Terra’s nasal-millennial- “I read it and thought it was great. How it was
Kardashian upspeak. written felt like a contradiction in a way because
Then, of course, there was the infamous Anna it’s a supernatural film but it still feels very grounded.
Delvey in Shonda Rhimes’ Inventing Anna, another That really attracted me to it and to Charlotte.”
true story about the fake German heiress who conned To prepare for her roles, Garner keeps a diary
New York’s elite out of hundreds and thousands from the perspective of the person she’s portraying.
of dollars and left a “friend” with a $US62,000 hotel “That’s one of the basic things I’ll always do, because
bill. Garner started filming Inventing Anna just until I really start to journal and [build up] things
weeks after wrapping season three of Ozark. When to pull from, I don’t feel like the person is 100 per
the industry shut down during the pandemic, she cent in my bones, so that’s a must for me,” she says.
wasn’t sure which show would pick back up first, To understand Charlotte even further, Garner called
so she alternated between Ruth and Anna each day her mother for a therapist’s perspective. “I asked,
for six months to avoid losing their accents. In the ‘What book should I read for Charlotte?’ And she
end, both returned at the same time and she spent recommended a lot of books on grief. That plays
the next year oscillating between the two roles. a huge role in this film – the seven stages of grief

100 | marieclaire.com.au
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the couple go through. They used to have a and the Foster the People frontman married in
connection, but they don’t have one anymore. December 2019, eight months after he proposed
They were mourning their relationship even in Yellowstone National Park during an RV trip
before he became diseased.” As Blake transforms across the American West.
into a werewolf, Charlotte and Ginger must As someone who thrives on emotion and a packed
confront the loss of the person they love, even when schedule, Garner is also conscious of not burning out.
he’s standing right in front of them. It’s the kind She’s been prolific throughout her career so far, but
of ambiguous grief families living in the hell of says 2024 was her busiest year yet. “After the actors’
losing someone to dementia will know all too well. strike [in 2023] I went back to work and it just kind
Some children who grow up with therapist of hasn’t stopped,” she says. She starred in Apartment
parents relish it, while others resent the psycho- 7A, a prequel to Rosemary’s Baby that tells the story
analysation of their every move. “[They] probably of the minor character Terry Gionoffrio, who, in
just don’t want another family psychotherapy the original, falls to her death from an apartment
meeting,” Garner says, laughing. “It’s funny, window. This movie wonders whether she actually
I remember sometimes getting annoyed at it jumped. “Then I did Wolf Man from March to May,
as a child, but now looking at it, I love it. I would and then two weeks after that I did another film I’m
do some sort of social work if I wasn’t an actor.” excited about called Weapons.” It’s also in the horror
As an actor, Garner deploys her inherited genre: a multi-story epic about the disappearance
emotional intelligence in other ways. “I grew up in of high school students in a small town. “I also
PHOTOGRAPHY BY REGAN CAMERON/WIB. HAIR BY GONN KINOSHITA/WALL GROUP. MAKEUP BY CHARLOTTE WILLER/HOME AGENCY.

a family of artists and they taught me that really great wrapped Fantastic Four about four days ago,” she
art has to move people and make them not feel alone. adds, laughing. It’s her first foray into the Marvel
This was the other thing that attracted me to acting: Cinematic Universe. “I asked Josh Brolin, who’s in
MANICURE BY CASEY HERMAN/WALL GROUP. CREATIVE PRODUCER: CAMILLE PECK/EMINENTE CREATIVE PRODUCTIONS.

it made me feel less alone,” she says. “Everybody has Weapons, ‘How can you tell what isn’t going to burn
the same amount of emotions; the only difference is you out?’ and he said that if a job or a script is really
that in my job you’re not supposed to suppress those great, it’s never going to burn you out. You’re going
emotions, you’re supposed to put them on display to be energised by the art, and it’s so true because
for other people’s satisfaction and entertainment, all the ones I did this year are very exciting.”
and to make them feel like they’re not alone either.” Before we leave, Garner wants it known that she
If there’s an actor better at communicating “loves Aussies – and New Zealanders!” (the latter
without language than Garner, they’re yet to come an adoring nod to our photographer Regan
to mind, even after days of thinking back on our Cameron). “I think I’ve worked with almost every
conversation. Perhaps it was because she was Australian by now,” she says. “Almost!” In 2023,
so uncomfortable with language that Garner is Garner starred in The Royal Hotel, which was set in
an expert in telegraphing a character’s complicated the shimmering and hostile Australian outback and
inner world without saying a word. It’s in the slight earned her a 2024 AACTA nomination for Best Lead
twitches of her eyes, the way her arms hang; Ruth Actress in Film, one of Australia’s most prestigious
had a very specific walk, Anna flicked her hair. industry awards. It was her second time working with
“I make my living by making people feel less the Australian director Kitty Green (the first being
lonely,” she continues. “The interesting thing in 2019’s The Assistant, a quiet scream of a movie
is that when you work non-stop, you don’t have about the Me Too movement).
time to sit in your own emotions. But then I have “I have so many Australian friends and so many
to use my emotions – exploit my emotions – to satisfy friends in Australia,” she says. “I was so excited to
other people. It’s a very strange job.” do this shoot with Australians.” I suggest we could
To maintain balance outside of this “very strange consider her an honorary Australian. “I’ll take it!”
job”, Garner uses her rare time off wisely. “When I’m she says. “I feel weirdly at home there.”
not working, I try to see plays, I try to read books
as a break from reading scripts, and I just really try Wolf Man is in cinemas from January 16;
to see the people who ground me,” she says, referring The Fantastic Four: First Steps is due for release
to her parents, of course, and her husband. Garner in 2025, and Weapons in 2026.

marieclaire.com.au | 103
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 101
ideas
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PHOTOGRAPHED BY
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112 | marieclaire.com.au
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bracelet, $49.95. 2 Camilla and
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H&M dress, $129, and bag, $89.99;
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My Island Home necklace, $145. 2 Bianca Spender top,
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114 | marieclaire.com.au
 Balance out frills and
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marieclaire.com.au | 117
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TIME
TO
STEP
UP
These experts are at the top
of their fields, and will get you
looking and feeling your best
for 2025. By Sally Hunwick
and Francesca Hartley
 BE AU T Y

Invest in a
makeup sponge
“For a soft natural skin
finish, I love a blending
sponge to make foundation
look seamless. I love one
that has an egg shape to get
into facial corners. Make
the sponge really wet so it
expands, then squeeze out
the excess water. It will help
really refine the texture of Regular trims
your skin. I also recommend
“Booking in a regular
putting that sponge in a
haircut will help with your
zip-lock bag; it’s the perfect
hair health. As long as your
way to touch up your
haircutter is only trimming
makeup during the day.”
the split ends and nothing
PETER PHILIPS more, eventually the length
Creative director will become thicker and fuller
of Dior Makeup and will have an incredible
result on the density and
health of your lengths.”
MICHAEL KELLY
Colourist and Salon HER founder

Put your skin first

“My advice is to prioritise
the health of your skin,
especially through daily sun
protection. Consistent sun
care not only shields against
premature ageing but also
promotes a radiant, healthy
appearance. Pair this with
preventative or corrective
skin treatments and
products tailored to your
skin type and condition,
and you’ll be investing
in a lasting glow that
helps to keep you looking
refreshed all year round.”
“PRIORITISE THE
HEALTH OF YOUR SKIN, DR MICHAEL
ESPECIALLY THROUGH ZACHARIA
DAILY SUN PROTECTION” Facial plastic surgeon
– Dr Michael Zacharia

marieclaire.com.au | 125
B E AUT Y

Walk before you run

“Start small. Don’t say I’m going to
go for an hour walk, because then
you may set yourself up for failure.
But if you say I’m going to do this
for 10 minutes every day, that’s
a huge feeling of accomplishment.
[Then] move into brisk walking
or jogging. You always want to
have people experience success.”
JAY CARDINELLO
Live a little longer Celebrity personal trainer
“Look at your lifestyle habits,
especially sleep, stress,
exercise and diet, and make Exfoliate regularly
an assessment of how well “It helps remove dead skin cells,
you’re doing there. Find the unclog pores, and improve the
parts you’re not good at and absorption of other skincare
try to change things one at a products. Use a gentle exfoliator
time. Eat natural foods as once or twice a week, depending
much as possible and limit on your skin’s tolerance, to reveal
processed foods. Do one thing fresher and smoother skin.
at a time and you’ll start seeing Personally, I’m all about that mild
benefits. It’s not just about daily exfoliation using AHA and
being healthy 20 years from BHA products. I find them to
now, it’s also about being be much gentler on my skin
more functional now.” than physical scrubs.”
DR BRIAN KENNEDY APRIL BRODIE
Longevity expert Integrated facialist

126 | marieclaire.com.au
 Lower your percentage
“The 10-step morning and night
routines aren’t sustainable for
the average person. Instead, use
“THERE’S NO EXCUSE fewer products with more effective
NOT TO BE DOUBLE ingredients. Staying consistent
CLEANSING. START WITH with lower percent actives will
ONE TO REMOVE [GRIME], help preserve the skin barrier.
Also, focus on beauty from within.
THEN FOLLOW WITH Tailor ingestible options and [take a]
SOMETHING HYDRATING” more holistic approach when it
– Diandra Politano, comes to skin health and beauty.”
dermal therapist and
Dior expert DR YALDA JAMALI
Cosmetic doctor at NSDL

Take a supplement
“New, low-molecular weight
collagen clearly proves that it will
have a significant effect on skin.
It is clinically proven to promote
skin regeneration, enhance skin
hydration and enhance firmness.
Because of its benefits, it’s great
for those with mature skin. But it’s
also effective for those who have
a big event like a wedding coming
up and want to supercharge their
results. We know some people
are still unsure about collagen and
think it’s pseudoscience. But we’re
seeing a lot of collagen sceptics
see results. [New gen collagen
has] converted a lot of people to
collagen advocates.”
ANNA LAHEY
Founder of Vida Glow
Forgive and forget
“One reason is, we’re biologically
wired to pay attention to what’s
wrong and what’s hurt us. When
it becomes a habit [not forgiving] can
have really negative consequences.
Your blood pressure can go up, you
might lose your appetite. [It messes]
with your cardiovascular system,
nervous system, hormonal system.
Most people would dramatically
reduce their stress and anger if they
did a better job of counting their
blessings, keep the hurt in perspective
and look for the beauty in life. You
forgive and then you let it go.”
DR FRED LUSKIN
Director of the Stanford University
Forgiveness Projects

Watch the wash

“As a rule of thumb, hair should
be washed when it gets dirty. So
if it looks oily, your scalp is itchy,
or it doesn’t smell fresh, give it a
wash. If you have oily hair or work
out regularly, washing your hair
daily can be perfectly fine. The
key is using a gentle, sulphate-free
shampoo that won’t strip your
hair of its natural oils. For drier
hair types, less frequent washing
is better to maintain moisture.”
SIMON BRIGHT
Celebrity colourist

Be more mindful
“Start each day by dedicating a
few quiet moments to self-care and
gratitude. Rather than immediately
checking my phone or emails, I take
a moment to reflect on what I’m
grateful for, setting a calm and
positive mindset. From there,
I transition into personal care –
whether through my skincare ritual,
a gentle stretch or any activity that
brings a sense of wellbeing. Beginning
the day with intention creates
a positive foundation, setting
an uplifting tone for everything
that follows.”
CHARLES ROSIER
Co-founder of Augustinus Bader

“MOST PEOPLE WOULD DRAMATICALLY REDUCE

THEIR STRESS AND ANGER IF THEY DID
A BETTER JOB OF COUNTING THEIR BLESSINGS”
– Dr Fred Luskin, forgiveness expert
 BE AU T Y

Play with colour

“Makeup is a great way
to introduce colour to your
daily life and your routine.
I don’t think there is an ugly
colour; there is just colour
you don’t know how to
use yet. We need to really
encourage [people] to play
with us. And, of course,
Slugging it’s makeup – you can
The trend of applying a just wipe it off.”
thick layer of super-moisturising
balm overnight is here to stay. CÉCILE PARAVINA
“Most people will benefit from Makeup artist and member
skin slugging; it’s something of Chanel Cometes Collective
that even I do once a week.
We know that when the
humidity drops, your skin will Carve out time
lose water to the environment “Be unapologetic about
and become drier almost self-care and prioritise time
immediately. So, using an for you. A new year often
occlusive moisturiser [with ignites a feeling within
ingredients like petroleum that we need to change
jelly, squalane and lanolin] something about ourselves,
at night will help to repair so let’s go into 2025 taking
compromised skin barriers a holistic approach to beauty:
and seal in moisture.” your wellbeing, nutrition,
DR MUNEEB SHAH mental health, sleep, lifestyle
and even spiritual wellness.
Dermatologist All these factors contribute
to becoming the best version
of yourself.”
DR JOSEPH HKEIK
All Saint Clinic founder
PHOTOGRAPHY BY MAX PAPENDIECK/TRUNK ARCHIVE; EDWARD URRUTIA.

marieclaire.com.au | 129
There’s never a wrong time to wear a statement lipstick. marie claire puts the most-wanted
lip colours under the spotlight to prove their pulling power, whatever the climate

PHOTOGRAPHED BY EDWARD URRUTIA WORDS BY SALLY HUNWICK

 BE AU T Y

OPPOSITE PAGE,
GUCCI Rouge à
Lèvres Mat Lipstick
in Louisa Red, $72;
THIS PAGE, CELINE
Le Rouge Celine Satin
Lipstick in Rouge
Triomphe, $110.

T
he other day I was looking everywhere for together.” While designer Gabrielle Chanel famously
a lipstick – in my work bag, my weekend quipped, “If you are sad, add more lipstick and attack.”
shopper, in my car, in evening clutches. My And why not buy in? A lipstick is beautiful, feels
11-year-old son asked me what I was doing satisfyingly weighty in our hand, looks good when
and I said, “Looking for my lipstick.” He applied and can be taken out in public – unlike
replied (correctly) that I have many lipsticks and asked, some other beauty items in our makeup bag. It’s
“Why don’t you use one of the ones in your bedroom?” no wonder then that brands are offering us uber-luxe
Of course I could. But I didn’t want just any lipstick, versions we can barely resist.
I wanted the lipstick. Which, in that moment, was a nude Take Celine, which recently brought out a singular
shade created by Peter Philips for Dior. With its matte red lipstick that has been nothing short of revered
finish and brown-tinged rose tone, it was everything for its colour, finish and beautiful gold housing.
I needed to make everything right, right now. Or Chanel’s exclusive 31 Le Rouge, a 12-strong line
It’s no secret that lipstick has the power to change of stunning hues, inspired by the maison’s iconic
your face completely. Full lips, symmetry, colour. But, address: 31 Rue Cambon in Paris. Then, of course, there
of course, it’s not just your face that it affects, it’s also is Hermès’ seasonal collections of lip colours, which
your inner self. The perfect shade can boost confidence fans flock to purchase thanks to the stunning Pierre Hardy-
in an instant, and this is probably why – at a time when designed coloured, refillable lipstick tubes and lip-
interest rates are sky-high and the monthly squeeze giving formulas that come in a variety of finishes.
is real – we are buying up high-end lipsticks. But if we are going to flex the plastic for a lipstick
In early 2024, the Australian Bureau of Statistics that will set us back three figures, how do we pick
found that women were spending on “little luxuries” the right one? “Start by choosing the right shade,”
like lipstick instead of bigger ticket items, presumably explains celebrity makeup artist Rae Morris.
to lift their spirits. Known as the “lipstick effect”, it’s “If you lean towards gold jewellery, opt for a warm,
an economic phenomenon where our desire for lip orangey-red. If silver is more your style, go for
colour increases as things turn gloomy on the financial a cool, true red.”
front. The reasoning being that, when facing an So, if you are feeling the urge to obtain a lavish
economic crisis, consumers get their luxury in bite size. lip colour when everything else feels a little tight,
Lipstick’s ability to inject instant confidence we are certainly not going to stop you. Because
like a magic bullet is something that history’s most when you find your lipstick love (I found mine
respected women knew well. Hollywood icon Elizabeth that day in the pocket of a jacket), everything else
Taylor once said, “Put on some lipstick and pull yourself seems just a little easier.

marieclaire.com.au | 131
B E AUT Y

BEAUTIFUL BALANCE
“WHEN IT COMES TO
PARTY-SEASON MAKEUP,
IT’S ALL ABOUT BALANCE,”
SAYS MAKEUP ARTIST
RAE MORRIS. “YOU
DON’T NEED TO GO
OVER THE TOP TO MAKE
A STATEMENT. A BOLD LIP
CAN MAKE ALL THE IMPACT
YOU NEED, ESPECIALLY
WHEN PAIRED WITH WELL-
GROOMED BROWS.”

132 | marieclaire.com.au
 OPPOSITE PAGE,
FROM LEFT
PRADA Monochrome
Hyper Matte Lipstick in
Pompei, $80; DIOR Rouge
Dior Limited Edition
Lipstick in Masquerade,
$79; HERMÈS Rouge
Hermès Matte Lipstick in
Rouge Bleu, $110.
THIS PAGE, CHANEL
31 Le Rouge Matte
Lipstick in Rouge
Camélia, $240.
 PLUMP AND
HYDRATE
“IF YOUR LIPS
FEEL DRY, APPLY
LIP BALM ONLY
TO THE CENTRE
[BEFORE LIPSTICK],
TO PREVENT
THE COLOUR
FROM SLIPPING,
ESPECIALLY IN
WARMER
WEATHER,”
SAYS MORRIS.
 BE AU T Y

OPPOSITE PAGE,
BURBERRY Kisses Matte
Lipstick in Oxblood,
$56. THIS PAGE, FROM
TOP, GUERLAIN Rouge
G Velvet Lip Refill in Le
Brun Chaud, $66; SISLEY
Le Phyto Rouge Limited
Edition Lipstick in Rouge
Hollywood, $85.

marieclaire.com.au | 135
 Skincare that focuses on inner
peace is changing attitudes to
ageing, writes Sally Hunwick

W
hile the science of skincare continues
to evolve and improve, there’s
a renewed focus not only on the
products themselves but also how
they’re applied. New science says that
the amount of time we take to work a formulation into
our skin – especially when we use specific, research-
backed techniques to apply it – could have benefits
that reach beyond our complexion.
“In a world that is turning faster and faster,
time becomes the ultimate luxury,” says Chanel’s
international scientific communications director,
Armelle Souraud. But it’s a luxury we need to give
ourselves, says the research, because even as little
as 10 minutes spent solely on our complexion could begin with the heart and soul, otherwise cosmetics will
be key to ageing well. be useless,” she once said
While scraping together some time for ourselves The way the experts suggest we do this is to repeat
each day can feel like an elusive goal, Souraud says skincare gestures (more on those later) until they become
it’s well worth it for the knock-on effect to our inner second nature. “Chanel encourages women to take time
well-being. Get into the habit and you will help boost and cultivate moments of care, repeating gestures until
a feel-good response that creates feelings of they become part of an intuitive personal ritual,” says
connectedness, contentment and a sense of calm. Souraud. “This can shape the future of your skin.”
“The beauty ritual is a great moment to care and Meaning that if you’re one to slap some cream on before
reconnect with oneself,” agrees Souraud. “This escape bed without much thought beyond hitting the pillow,
offers a reprieve from the hustle and bustle of everyday you might want to have a rethink.
life, whether at work or at home.” Certainly, Gabrielle “We are further exploring the impact of massage,
Chanel herself believed in the ethos. “Beauty care must gestures and accessories,” says Souraud, who says these

136 | marieclaire.com.au
 BE AU T Y

methods awaken all our senses and are key to creating

a more holistic approach to self-care.
ANTICLOCKWISE
This means it’s not just our skin that is benefiting FROM RIGHT
but also our mind and body. Gabrielle “Coco”
Chanel has long created a specific set of massage Chanel knew that the
soul lies at the heart
techniques for each of its product lines to help of beauty; Chanel’s
add glow and lift to the face, and assist ingredients Sublimage L’Extrait
Pommade Or, $855,
to penetrate better. This could be in the form of and Sublimage
upward strokes moving from your neck to your face, L’Extrait de Lotion,
followed by sweeping strokes upwards and outwards $505; stopping to
smell the roses can
along cheekbones, and horizontal strokes outwards improve wellbeing.
on the forehead. BELOW Chanel’s
The house’s latest innovation in facial massage, Pantin lab in Paris.
which couples with the brand’s prestige Sublimage
skincare collection, goes one step further, with a
gesture that focuses on the facial fascia. In case you
haven’t been introduced, fascia is the connective tissue
that supports the face and every part of the body. houses to incorporate a sensorial evaluation
Helping to keep it supple will help smooth lines, laboratory – and later a department of neurosciences
reduce puffiness and help boost collagen production. – to work expressly on developing formulas that are
“La Fascia de Chanel massage is based not only high-performance but also keenly focused
on cutting-edge science that integrates body on the sensory aspect of skincare.
and mind,” says Souraud. “These technologies now make it possible to
Interestingly, studies have revealed for the first time decode the emotions activated or moderated by the
the relationship between wellbeing and fascia, so this application of a cosmetic product,” says Souraud.
type of facial massage is more than just Combining the know-how of 300
feel-good – it may just give your whole “IT’S BASED ON scientists around the world, Chanel has
wellbeing an uptick too. “[It’s a] unique shown that skincare is far more than skin
technique, which involves slow, intense
A CUTTING-EDGE deep. “Studies have been carried out on
stretching of the facial fascia,” explains SCIENCE THAT facial perception, emotions, the sensory
Souraud. “It significantly intensifies INTEGRATES BODY appeal of textures, and the wellness
the benefits of the skincare.” AND MIND” experienced when using a product,” says
PHOTOGRAPHY BY EDWARD URRUTIA; COURTESY OF CHANEL; GETTY IMAGES.

In 1993, Chanel was one of the first – Armelle Souraud Souraud. The findings are revelatory.
A good skincare routine can help us
become more grounded and feel better
from within – both of which can make us more
appealing to others, beyond how our skin looks.
Of course, ingredients play a big part in whether
a product will push the needle on how well we age.
“Quality raw ingredients are important, as is
formulation know-how,” says Souraud. “What
you want is a perfect balance between efficacy,
sensoriality and tolerance.” Sublimage L’Extrait,
for example, has vanilla planifolia grown and
harvested in Chanel’s open-sky lab in Madagascar
to boost the radiant appearance of skin.
Exactly when you schedule a moment for yourself
is up to you, but try to make it a daily habit. You might
find that the knock-on feel-good effects on both your
face and your wellbeing will be life-changing.
 One photographer seeks to dispel vulva stigma
with a book that busts open the very real issue of
body shame and turns it into self love. By Ellie Sedgwick
 H E ALT H

I
was fourteen when my journey
with vulva anxiety began. Sitting
in math class, a boy handed me
a note with a question that would
haunt me for years: “Do you have
an innie or an outie?”. And no,
he wasn’t talking about belly buttons.
Through high school, the words that
boys used to describe vulvas – “kebab,”
“upside-down volcano,” “octopussy” –
further fuelled my self-doubt. I began
to wonder, “Was my vulva weird?
Was I abnormal?”
By the time I was in my early
twenties, this anxiety had intensified
to the point that I was considering Photographer Ellie Sedgwick
labiaplasty, which involves the removal (right); and getting up close and
or alteration of tissues from the labia personal with women (above) for
her new book, which features
(the folds of skin that sit on either side more than 500 vulvas.
of a person’s vaginal opening). I went
so far as to book two consultations,
and both surgeons were all too willing “One in six Australians feels anxious or
to proceed with the surgery without
as much as looking at my vulva.
embarrassed about the way their labia looks”
Ultimately, my third consultation – Women’s Health Victoria
in India – where I was working at
the time – saved me from undergoing including herpes, thrush and This underscores the need for
unnecessary labiaplasty. When vaginismus. When I started this greater education and acceptance,
I showed this doctor my vulva, project, I had no idea just how which is why Flip Through My Flaps
he informed me that what I wanted common these concerns are and is needed now more than ever. I’ve
surgically altered was completely how many people suffer in silence. seen how powerful it can be. During
“normal”. He sent me away with By putting these issues on the page, each photography session, I witnessed
the homework to research what real, I hope to shatter the silence and stigma how creating an open, accepting space
unedited vulvas look like. I thought and create a more open conversation. where women felt free to share their
to myself, “If only there was a book While this journey was inspired stories and vulnerabilities can produce
of vulvas that I could buy to help me.” by my experience with vulva anxiety, lasting change. Women would come
Inspired by this experience and it’s no longer just a personal issue; into the photoshoot hiding their bodies,
years of suffering in silence with my it has become a public health crisis. but by the end of it they would be
body insecurities, I announced on One in six Australians feels anxious confidently walking around nude. I’ve
Facebook in 2018 that I was creating a or embarrassed about the way their had so many people tell me that I’ve
coffee table book of vulva photographs labia looks, according to a recent study changed their life; I’ve even received
to raise awareness of vulva diversity. from Women’s Health Victoria. Sadly, a text from someone’s husband on their
Seven years later, my book, Flip this issue is even more pronounced wedding day thanking me for changing
Through My Flaps: An Exploration in gen Z, with almost one in four his wife’s outlook on her body.
of the Vulva, is finally here. The book people aged 18-24 feeling vulva anxiety Shame can’t exist in silence.
features more than 500 vulvas or unhappiness, and more than a third By documenting the beauty of vulva
alongside personal stories and raw associating their labia with negative diversity, I hope this book shifts
reflections. It’s a tribute to the beauty words such as “weird,” “disgusting” the conversation from one of shame
and complexity of vulvas in all their or “ugly.” One in 10 Australians aged to one of love and appreciation.
forms. This book is my way of showing 18-50 (equivalent to more than half We owe it to ourselves to rewrite
others that there is no “perfect” vulva, a million people) say they’ve either the narrative on what it means
only the one that belongs to you. had or considered having labiaplasty, to feel comfortable in our skin.
Creating Flip Through My Flaps which is one of the country’s fastest
PHOTOGRAPHY BY ELLIE SEDGWICK.

was a deeply personal journey for me. growing cosmetic procedures.

I wanted to go beyond photography This anxiety isn’t just an emotional Flip Through
and explore the often-taboo aspects burden; it can impact physical, mental, My Flaps: An
of women’s health. Through and sexual health too. In fact, more Exploration of
photographing hundreds of people than 43 per cent of respondents who the Vulva, $169,
across Australia, London and reported labia anxiety, admitted to is available at
New York, I learnt so much about avoiding health appointments, such as comfortablein
the conditions that impact women, GP check-ups or pap smears, as a result. myskin.com.au

marieclaire.com.au | 139
B E AUT Y

FROM LEFT Miranda

Kerr posed for marie
claire in 2019, while
pregnant with son
Myles; and Kerr
welcomed her fourth
child in February 2024.

how gentle and effective it is and it

doesn’t leave any residue on your skin.
There are pineapple enzymes in there
to deeply clean your complexion
without stripping it, so you’ll notice
that your skin feels clean but not dry.
T H E R E A S O N I S TA R T E D KO R A
as a certified organic brand was
because my mum had spleen cancer.
We had to really look at everything we
were doing from a 360-degree approach.
When you’re pregnant, [experts] say
we should be aware of what we’re
B E AU T Y M U S E putting on our skin. But I don’t feel like

Miranda
we [should only] be concerned when
pregnant, [especially as] our skin
is the largest organ in our body.

KERR I F YO U WA N T TO LIV E A M O R E
O RG A NI C LI FE S T Y LE , it’s really
important to read and educate yourself
on the ingredients in everything you’re
The supermodel-turned-
W H E N YO U H AV E YO U R OWN using because many products can claim
entrepreneur shares how to be natural when they only have one
CO M PA NY, there’s not really time off.
For my fourth baby, Pierre, I took some
she juggles four boys and natural ingredient. Or they might claim
a beauty business

PHOTOGRAPHY BY EDWARD URRUTIA; NINO MUÑOZ FOR MARIE CLAIRE AUSTRALIA; COURTESY OF KORA ORGANICS.
time off in front of the camera but to be clean, but that’s just their own
I’m back in full swing now. The work definition of clean.
commitments I have [take a bit of] A S CLICH É A S IT M IGHT S O UN D,
juggling. Luckily I can work from home feeling good does come from being
and I manage that as best I can, but comfortable in your own skin and
I still want to make sure that I’m there 2 just shining your light [from] your
for the baby and the breastfeeding. heart. And everyone has that light
Pierre is such a little ray of sunshine. within them. It’s really about feeling
I ’M U P B E T W E E N 4 . 3 0 A N D 1 comfortable with who you are
5. 3 0A M , which gives me a little time as a person and expressing
to do my exercise routine. Depending 3 wholeheartedly all of the wonderful
on how I’m feeling, I might do a bit things you have to offer this world.
of yoga, or a 20-minute workout.
I’ve been practising Kundalini yoga ALL BY KORA ORGANICS
for a very long time. There’s an app 1 Plant Stem Cell Retinol
called The Sculpt Society, which lets Alternative Moisturizer, $92.
2 Plant Stem Cell Retinol
you do a quick 10- or 20-minute Alternative Serum, $104.
workout. It’s a great way to move 3 Noni Glow Body Oil, $88.
4 Active Algae Calming
your body. They have postpartum Cleansing Balm, $62.
and prenatal programs too.
AS TOLD TO SALLY HUNWICK.

MY NIG HT-TI M E RO U TIN E is to

4
have a quick bath with Pierre. But
usually I don’t get a chance to remove
my makeup, so after I get him and the
boys to bed, I use my cleansing balm
to remove my makeup. It is incredible
 BELOW, FROM LEFT, HERMÈS Matte Lipstick in Beige Doblis, $125;
CHANEL Le Vernis nail colour in Charmer, $48. RIGHT, GUCCI Glow
Highlighter Powder in Warm Bronze and (far right) Frosted Lilac,
$98 each; GUERLAIN Météorites Pearl Powder in Rose, $113.

BALMAIN S/S 2024

Kit update
Stock up on some
limited-edition
luxuries this season,
with a statement
matte lipstick, skin
highlighter, or a
fresh polish that
will keep giving
all year long.

PEP TO IT
the Naturally found in the skin,
peptides help to support
collagen production, which
PHOTOGRAPHY BY EDWARD URRUTIA; IMAXTREE/SNAPPER IMAGES. WORDS BY SALLY HUNWICK.

keeps your complexion

bouncy and glowing.
Strength training Peptides are also great for
MANDA Hair Luxury Oil, $79.99. adding hydration, supporting
New to our shores, this Scandinavian the skin barrier, smoothing
hair oil is dosed with blueberry extract out texture and helping to
and acacia concinna fruit extract to
nourish and protect hair follicles, while protect skin against things
argan and coconut oils deeply hydrate. such as pollution and
O&M PS Balm Heat Protection, $55.95. airconditioning. Here’s two
Ammonia-free with plant-based proteins new peptide-dosed products:
HOTHOUSE FLOR ALS to help strengthen strands, this balm
works to protect locks against NO7 Future Renew Serum,
NARCISO RODRIGUEZ All of Me EDP, 90ml, $215.
heat damage, while camelina and $67.99. A lightweight, fast-
With geranium bourbon (a note more often found
macadamia oils get hair soft and shiny. absorbing serum that quickly
in men’s scents), rose centifolia and sandalwood,
makes skin feel bright and
this is a bold new EDP that commands attention.
hydrated thanks to cutting-edge
YSL Libre Flowers & Flames EDP, 90ml, $302. peptide technology.
A blend of desert lily and coco palm tree flower,
this is a warm and sensuous new iteration SKIN REGIMEN Tripeptide Cream,
of the much-loved original. $140. This B-Corp certified
JIMMY CHOO I Want Choo Le Parfum, 100ml, cream boasts antioxidant-rich
$241. A sultry blend of pear, jasmine and ingredients, as well as palmitoyl
patchouli tempered with sandalwood and tripeptide-5 to help smooth
amber, this fragrance is built for the night. wrinkles and lines.

marieclaire.com.au | 141
B E AUT Y

FixBIOME founder
Jasmine Chilcott.
RIGHT The brand’s
Gut Half Course,
$289.99.

TA RG E T M A R K E T
Our customer is twofold. The complete
FixBIOME gut health course is designed
for people with existing gut issues. That
might look like bloating, irregular bowel
movements, food intolerances, skin
issues, weight issues or low energy
and mood. The Gut Fix [capsules],
which form part of the system, can
be used alone by anyone looking to
enhance overall gut health. Gut Fix
supports daily digestive function and
provides the intestinal cells and lining
with what it needs to turn over, which
happens every few days.

TAILO R E D A PPROACH
Standard tablet manufacturing
practices are set up for absorption
into the blood. But with the gut,
we want the supplement to stay
in there and stand up against things
like stomach acid. So we designed
our supplements specifically for this.

AS TOLD TO FRANCESCA HARTLEY. PHOTOGRAPHY COURTESY OF FIXBIOME. * FIXBIOME IS A SUPPORTER OF THE GUT FOUNDATION.
LE AR NING CURV E
At one point early on, an entire product
run had half the capsules burst. This
was due to active ingredients that were
THE FOUNDER TH E IN S PIR ATI O N too strong and dissolved the capsules.
FixBIOME came from my personal Learning to manage a supply chain

JASMINE struggle with gut health, which impacted

everything from my skin and hair to
energy and mood. Despite having
with so many ingredients and strict
requirements on the type of quality
we expect has also been challenging.

Chilcott access to expert advice (my family’s

background is in medicine) I faced
many misdiagnoses and tried lots of
treatments that simply didn’t work.
PIN CH - M E M O M E NT
Our system has sold out five times since
its launch, and we are the only product
Solution-based supplement I set out to learn why and [then see] how in the market with ingredients endorsed
brand FixBIOME prides itself I could use what I had learnt to create by The Gut Foundation*, Australia’s
on having an education-first something different. I was essentially leading authority on gut health.
platform and a natural just trying to solve my own problem.
approach to gut health N E W FINDING S
CO R E VA LU E S One perk I’ve enjoyed is being at the
Our community remains at the heart forefront of research. We’re learning
of our brand and is why we do what we the gut’s connections to mental health,
do. FixBIOME started as an education skin and major diseases, and it only
platform, hoping to empower individuals continues to grow stronger. Early
with top research and raise awareness research revealed the gut could be
of gut health. We developed the playing a role in the development of
FixBIOME system with doctors, endometriosis. This is something we’ve
naturopaths and formulation experts also observed with our own customers,
based on new research on natural who are experiencing period-related
ingredients for gut health. We strive concerns and gut issues. I hope to
to make a difference. explore this relationship further.

142 | marieclaire.com.au
B E AUT Y

SKIN RESET
WHETHER YOUR SKIN IS FLUSHED
AND AGGRAVATED OR BREAKING
OUT, THESE PRODUCTS WILL HELP
TO CALM THINGS DOWN.
AT
KIT Cold Therapy
RE
Facial Treatment, $42.
Dosed with centella
T

SW E ET
asiatica, tri-mushroom
and squalane, this
cooling mask from
Kit: will help to ease
stressed-out skin.

MESOESTETIC
Blemiderm Resurfacing
Gel, $129.
Designed for night-

GLOW
time use, this punchy
formula of AHA, BHA
and PHA will help to
resurface and smooth
skin, unclog pores and
prevent future spots.

&
TELL
Our top picks of the DOSED WITH
latest products, by beauty MANUKA HONEY
AND FRUIT ENZYMES,
director Sally Hunwick THIS CLEANSER
EXFOLIATES, CLEANS
AND HELPS TO
QUAD CUES MAINTAIN A HEALTHY
I love a palette for PH LEVEL, LEAVING
multipurposing. A quad SKIN FEELING FRESH
eyeshadow palette – like this AND BOUNCY.
beauty from YSL – gives so
many options, from cool
BONUS: I CAN
mono colours on lids to ALSO USE IT AS A
graduated shading. While a TREATMENT MASK TO
quad complexion palette – GET SKIN GLOWING
like this one from Givenchy IN MINUTES.
– blurs imperfections,
RAAIE Golden Nectar
mattifies and adds radiance. Manuka Honey
Enzyme Cleanser, $97.
ABOVE, YSL Mini Clutch
eyeshadow in Over Orange,
$124; GIVENCHY Prisme Libre
Pressed Powder in N01, $95.
GLOSSY GLOSSES
With high-shine payoff and
multidimensional colour, these new
ROH The Scalp gloss offerings give lips a beautiful
Renew Serum, $42.95. gleam, whatever your preference.
PHOTOGRAPHY BY EDWARD URRUTIA.

Doughnut glaze: Glass-like: GIORGIO

ROOT CAUSE

KYLIE COSMETICS ARMANI Prisma

IDEAL FOR AN IRRITATED OR DRY SCALP, Supple Kiss Lip Glass Gloss, $62.
THIS SERUM WILL HELP TO SUPPORT THE Glaze, $31. With Deeply hydrating
plenty of hydration, thanks to its oil-in-
SCALP’S MICROBIOME AND REVITALISE this featherweight gloss formula and
THE LOOK OF HAIR. I APPLY IT TO MY PART vegan formula easily squalane, these
smooths over lips seven shades deliver
LINES AND STRANDS AND LOVE THE FACT and offers a gel-like supreme shine, and
I CAN USE IT ON DAMP OR DRY HAIR. glaze in six shades. glisten in the light.

144 | marieclaire.com.au
 ON SA L E NOW
YOURS
for
$39.99

FROM SUMMER SALADS TO HEARTY

CURRIES AND FESTIVE DESSERTS,
SEASONS FEATURES MORE THAN
60 SEASONAL RECIPES FROM
TASMANIAN CHEF STEVE CUMPER.

Available at aremediabooks.com.au and where all good books are sold.

 LIFESTYLE F O O D , T R AV E L A N D I N T E R I O R S I N S P I R AT I O N

E S TAT E O F M I N D
Richard Christiansen’s Flamingo Estate
has introduced an earthy, honest luxury
to Los Angeles (and the world); plus,
we serve up amazing mains from
Alice Zaslavsky’s Salad for Days.
MATTHIEU SALVAING.

Hand-painted wall
tiles gleam above
the Italian terrazzo
floor in the Flamingo
Estate kitchen.
 Garden
SECRETS

Richard Christiansen’s Flamingo Estate has given Los Angeles a new appreciation of
farm-inspired bath, body and pantry produce. Now the Australian is giving gardening
advice that’s actually about harvesting more joy from life. By Sally Hunwick
 L I F ES T YL E

Richard Christiansen
at home. LEFT
These rattan chairs
were also made for
Yves Saint Laurent’s
Moroccan villa.

t first people refuse to believe

that a strange new thing can be
done. Then they begin to hope it
can be done. Then they see it can
be done – then it is done and all
the world wonders why it was
not done centuries ago.”
When Frances Hodgson Burnett penned
The Secret Garden in 1911, she could well
have been writing about Californian
wholeness brand Flamingo Estate, created
by Richard Christiansen at his mystical
hilltop home in Los Angeles.
Christiansen, an Australian country
boy turned LA darling, was in Sydney in
November to talk about his new book,
Flamingo Estate: the Guide to Becoming
Alive. It’s a visual feast of the heavenly
three-hectare lot he shares with partner
Aaron Harvey and two dogs. The book
depicts a paradise of gardens, orchards,
Spanish architecture, blush tones, beehives
and serene bathtubs, coupled with stories
from Christiansen’s “friends and heroes”
that are as much about life lessons as they
are about the garden estate.
“All the lessons in this book are from
the garden,” says Christiansen, who grew
up on a sugarcane farm at Duranbah,
New South Wales. “The garden is such a
huge teacher for business, for life, for love
and for everything. And you know, there’s
such a simplicity to that. Just keep going,
keep growing in your own way.” Furnishings were
sourced from all over;
Each chapter in the book features a this table is from an
conversation between Christiansen and Italian market.
one other person. “Some of them are good OPPOSITE PAGE De
Gournay wallpaper
friends, some of them are people who are lines the workshop,
fans of the brand,” says Christiansen. They aka “the Goat Shed”.
include Martha Stewart, Jane Goodall,

marieclaire.com.au | 149
 Before it became a hub
that utilises produce from
110 local farmers and
growers, Flamingo Estate
was a porn-movie studio for
65 years. RIGHT The dense
gardens, which bustle right
to the edge of the pool and
house, inspire much of the
estate’s produce (far right).

Ellen Degeneres, Jane Fonda, Mecca’s

Jo Horgan, David de Rothschild,
Chrissy Teigen and John Legend.
“It started with Martha,” explains
Christiansen. “I was writing a working
chapter about wisteria [and how it]
grows and it grows; you can never stop
it. I was like, ‘Who do I know who just
never stops working like this?’ And I
thought, ‘Oh, it’s Martha.’ So I called
Martha. I asked, ‘Can we talk about
work?’ It set up a chain reaction.”
The book has many lessons,
regardless of whether or not you have a
green thumb. “It all starts with plants
and what they can teach us,” says
Christiansen. “It’s simple: nature tells
us what to do. We just need to listen.”
A chapter about pruning roses with
designer Kelly Wearstler is at once a
gardening lesson and a metaphor for
life. “You’ve got to get the scissors out
and get rid of everything that’s not
serving you,” says Christiansen. “Every
person, every distraction, every bad
friend, every excuse.”
For a chapter about getting “I NEVER INTENDED
through a hard winter, he called on FOR IT TO BECOME A on here, nothing,” says Christiansen.
friends Chrissy Teigen and John “We’re just doing things the old-
Legend, who have weathered media
BUSINESS. I JUST STARTED fashioned way, the way my grandpa
storms; the chapter with Jo Horgan MAKING THE THINGS maybe made something. I never
is about not being afraid to fail. I WANTED TO USE” intended for it to become a business.
“The thing that connects all these I just started making the things that I
people in the book is that they’re business for 20 years; it was all I did. wanted to use and, I guess, because
in the driver’s seat of their life,” says I was married to my job,” explains I loved them and I was honest about
Christiansen. “It’s addictive when the former advertising guru. “Covid them, other people loved them too.”
you’re around them. I came out of all crumbled that business, decimated it. Flamingo Estate is now sold across
those conversations feeling so electric.” This thing I had spent my whole life the globe, including at Mecca in
Christiansen too has an infectious building disappeared in a heartbeat.” Australia – and Oprah says the tomato,
energy, and a passion to create. How Lockdown, he says, gave his brand rosemary and sage candle trio is one
else do you account for the success of the freedom to form organically, and of her favourite things. Perhaps the
Flamingo Estate, which grew from a “stopped me from looking left and excitement surrounding its wares is
decision by Christiansen to create right over my shoulder ... I’ve learnt that they bring a little bit of nature
a soap that wouldn’t kill his roses? that from the garden: the flower into our personal worlds.
“I’m very tall; it’s very hard for me doesn’t look left or right to see which “We spend so much time pushing
to find a bathtub I fit into so I built a flower is blooming better. You just nature away,” says Christiansen. “We’re
bathhouse,” he says. “Every day I take search towards the sun.” looking at it through the little screen
a long, hot bath and the water from As well as its wildly popular fruit on our phone. The act of going for
the bathhouse runs directly into the and veggie boxes, Flamingo Estate is a walk in nature, looking at a tree,
garden. My roses were dying from the known for its organic soaps, candles getting your feet and hands in the
body wash I was using and I thought, (the biggest-seller is scented with roma soil – it’s like medicine.”
‘Why would I put that on my body?’ So tomatoes), olive oil, persimmon vinegar Maybe that’s why Flamingo Estate
I started making soap just so my roses and honey. It’s a wholeness brand that strikes such a chord. Or, as Hodgson
wouldn’t die – it’s still the same soap.” harks back to another time and creates Burnett so aptly put it: “If you look the
Covid gave Christiansen his worst everything using traditional means. right way, you can see that the whole
days as well as his best. “I had a big “There’s nothing innovative going world is a garden.”

150 | marieclaire.com.au
 L I F ES T YL E

GET the LO OK
Help yourself with some honest yet
exquisite luxury from Flamingo Estate

This David Hockey screen is

one of a dozen works in the
house by the artist, matched
only by Christiansen’s love
of Australian Ken Done:
“The house is like a Ken
Done museum.”
PHOTOGRAPHY BY DREW ESCRIVA; JON VON PAMER; ADRIAN GAUT; HUGH DAVISON.

All products by Flamingo Estate, available at Mecca.

1 Euphoria Body Lotion, $116. 2 Scented
candle in Clarity, $100. 3 The Guide to
Becoming Alive (Hardie Grant, $75), by Richard
Christiansen. 4 Euphoria Body Oil, $106.
5 Garden Essentials Soap Set, $166.
 SALAD

FOREVER
If you’ve hit the wall with cucumber salads (we’re blaming you, TikTok), Alice Zaslavsky’s
book Salad for Days will open a fresh new world of taste – yep, including cucumbers
 L I F ES T YL E

S I LV E R B E E T &
BROCCOLI TU MBLE
W ITH HER BY
AV O C A D O D R E S S I N G
SERVES 4 – 6
1 broccoli head
1 small fennel bulb, about 200g,
fronds reserved
½ bunch silverbeet, leaves only
2 tbsp extra virgin olive oil
300g green grapes, halved
2 tbsp pepitas (pumpkin seeds),
toasted

H E R B Y AV O C A D O D R E S S I N G
2 spring onions (scallions), green parts
only, white parts finely sliced and
reserved
½ cup coarsely chopped dill
½ cup coarsely chopped parsley leaves
60ml extra virgin olive oil
1-2 garlic cloves
2 tbsp apple cider vinegar
1 ripe avocado (a creamier variety like
Hass)
1 tbsp tahini G R I LLE D PE AC H SA L A D
1 tsp dijon mustard W I T H B U R R ATA A N D
Zest and juice of 1 lemon GREEN PEPPERCOR NS
1 tsp salt flakes SERVES 4 – 6
½ tsp freshly cracked black pepper

1 Boil 500ml of water. Trim and

peel the broccoli stem, then slice it 6-8 firm, ripe freestone peaches stone. Brush cut halves with a little
thinly along with the florets, following 1 tbsp extra virgin olive oil, plus extra of the olive oil. Place baking paper
the shape of the broccoli. Do the same for finishing on top of foil, then lie them foil-side
with the fennel bulb. 2-3 burrata balls, about 120g each, down on the hot grill and put
2 Pop broccoli and fennel into drained peaches cut-side down on top
a heatproof colander and pour ¼ cup loosely packed mint leaves of the baking paper.
boiling water over the top. 2 tbsp finely sliced chives 3 Cook for 5-10 minutes until
3 Roll up silverbeet leaves and peaches have burnished evenly
thinly shred with your sharp knife. GREEN PEPPERCORN and softened slightly, then turn
Rub leaves with olive oil along with VINAIGRETTE over to just warm through.
a pinch of salt flakes to macerate. 1 garlic clove, bruised 4 Meanwhile, to make the vinaigrette,
4 To make the herby avocado 1 tsp green peppercorns, chopped put all ingredients in a small bowl
dressing, place all ingredients in 2 tsp white wine vinegar and whisk until emulsified. Taste
a food processor and blitz to a thin 1 tsp honey and season with salt and pepper.
paste. Taste and season with more 1 tsp Dijon mustard 5 Place peaches cut-side up on a
salt and pepper if needed. ¼ tsp salt flakes serving platter, leaving gaps for
5 Toss drained vegetables, rubbed the burrata. Remove garlic clove
silverbeet and grapes together in 1 Heat a barbecue grill plate or heavy- from vinaigrette and pour dressing
a serving dish, then drizzle generously based griddle pan over medium heat. over the peaches while they are
with the dressing (feel free to leave Have pieces of baking paper and foil still hot.
any leftovers in a jug on the table). handy (this will help keep the peaches 6 Blob in the burrata, scatter with
6 Finish with a sprinkle of pepitas, intact, without leaving half the best mint leaves and finely sliced chives
reserved spring onion whites and burnished bits on the grill). and dress with salt and pepper and
reserved fennel fronds. 2 Cut peaches in half and remove a final flourish of olive oil.

marieclaire.com.au | 153
 C UCU M B E R C O R K S C R EWS W ITH G O C HUJA NG D R E S S I NG
SERVES 4

8 Lebanese cucumbers (about 800g) TO SERVE Repeat with remaining cucumbers.

1 tsp salt flakes 2 tbsp toasted sesame seeds 2 Sprinkle with salt flakes and toss to
3 spring onions (scallions), thinly sliced 2 tbsp fried shallots coat. Set aside to cure, then strain off
1 long green chilli, thinly sliced liquid after 10 minutes.
1 punnet red shiso microherb leaves 1 To corkscrew the cucumbers, lie two 3 For the dressing, in a large bowl
PHOTOGRAPHY BY ROCHELLE EAGLE.

(or shiso leaves if you can’t get micros) chopsticks side by side with a cucumber whisk gochujang paste, mirin, soy
between them (the chopsticks stop the sauce, sesame oil and grated ginger.
SPICY GOCHUJANG DRESSING knife cutting all the way through). Chuck cucumbers in with the dressing
2 tbsp gochujang paste With your knife turned to 45 degrees, and gently toss to coat. Transfer
2 tbsp mirin cut straight down, slicing every 5mm. spirals and dressing to a serving
1 tbsp soy sauce Flip the cucumber over and cut platter and toss with spring onion,
1 tbsp sesame oil straight down at 90 degrees, matching chilli and herbs. Scatter with toasted
1 tbsp finely grated ginger up the ends of the diagonal cuts. sesame seeds and fried shallots.

154 | marieclaire.com.au
 L I F ES T YL E

C A L A M A R I A N D S H E L L PA S TA S A L A D
SERVES 4 – 6

350g fresh calamari, sliced into 5mm rings 2 Put the rest of the unpicked parsley
½ cup small capers, rinsed and drained bunch (stalks and all), garlic cloves,
200g sugar plum cherry tomatoes, lemon zest and juice, olive oil and salt
quartered into a blender. Blitz to a verdant green
200g small shell pasta paste and transfer to a mixing bowl.
3 When the water is boiling, add calamari
PG DRESSING and cook for 30 seconds, then scoop out,
1 bunch parsley tap to drain and dump into the PG
10 cloves garlic, peeled dressing, along with capers and tomatoes.
Zest and juice of 1 lemon 4 Wait until water comes back to the boil,
1 cup extra virgin olive oil, plus extra throw in pasta shells and cook for
for splashing 2 minutes less than suggested on packet.
1 tsp salt flakes Drain and rinse, then toss onto a tray
Lemon wedges, to serve with a splash of olive oil and spread out
in one layer to cool down quickly and
1 Bring a large saucepan of well-salted dry out a bit. Swoosh off the tray and into
water to the boil. Meanwhile, make the PG dressing, along with reserved parsley This is an edited
PG dressing. Pick half a packed cup of leaves, and toss everything together. extract from Salad
for Days, by Alice
smaller parsley leaves and set aside for Tumble onto a platter and serve with Zaslavsky (Murdoch
the garnish. lemon wedges and freshly cracked pepper. Books, $45).
 Art-deco vibes
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156 | marieclaire.com.au
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 She’s been called the voice
of her generation – not
just for her singing career,
but also for her staunch
activism. In honour of the
Eurythmics’ frontwoman’s
70th birthday in December,
we pay tribute to a living
legend. By Alley Pascoe
 LI F E S TORY

Scottish vocalist and

an English musician
walk into a Wagga long-ish brown hair, and he was a
Wagga hotel room. guitarist with a music stall selling
This isn’t the start second-hand Jamaican records at
of a dirty joke, it’s the origin story of Camden Market. In the tiny bedsit
Eurythmics. It was 1980 and Brit rock where Lennox lived, Stewart heard her
band The Tourists were headed Down sing for the first time. She performed
Under to tour Australia. When their a song she’d written on a harmonium.
connecting flight from Bangkok was In that moment, they became a couple.
unable to land in Sydney because of “It was like, ‘Holy shit. What are you
a strike, the plane was diverted to doing as a waitress? You’re an artist,’”
Wagga Wagga, where passengers were remembered Stewart.

I
put up in a hotel. The band members
didn’t know it at the time, but the ndeed she was. Lennox, who was
detour would change the course born on Christmas Day in 1954
of their lives forever. in Aberdeen, Scotland, showed
Holed up in their room, musical talent at a very early
then-couple Annie Lennox (the age. Her parents – cook Dorothy
aforementioned Scot singer) and Farquharson and welder Thomas
Dave Stewart (the band’s guitarist) Allison Lennox – first noticed this
started playing around with a portable talent while she was playing a toy
mini-synthesiser, making “weird, piano at age three. Lennox began
experimental electronic music”. The singing in a local choir at six, started
sounds stirred something within piano lessons at seven and took up the
the pair, and cemented their desire flute at 11. She played in symphony
to become a duo. Meanwhile, in orchestras and military bands and
another hotel room, the band’s main participated in the Aberdeen Music
songwriter, Peter “Peet” Coombes, was Festival each year. In high school,
hiding a heroin addiction and riding she attended Dalcroze eurhythmics
a three-day drinking bender. Things classes, learning about flow and
came to a head – as they always do rhythm, and her parents continued to
– and The Tourists split. In the ashes encourage her artistry. It all paid off
of one band, another was ignited. when Lennox won a scholarship to the
The band Eurythmics were born. prestigious Royal Academy of Music
Five years earlier, Lennox met in London to study classical flute,
Stewart in a health food restaurant piano and harpsichord.
in London where she was working Such an opportunity is something
as a waitress. She was a hippie with working-class kids dream of. But the
reality wasn’t a fairytale. Lennox had
to work as a waitress, barmaid and
shop assistant to get by in London.
She felt out of place surrounded by the
wealth and privilege at the academy.

OPPOSITE PAGE Annie

Lennox in 1985, aged 30.
THIS PAGE, ABOVE The
Tourists (Lennox, Peet
Coombes, Jim Toomey, Dave
Stewart and Eddie Chin).
RIGHT Lennox and Stewart
strike a pose together as
Eurythmics in 1988.
L I FE S TORY

“LOSING A CHILD
WAS SO TRAUMATIC
AND LIFE-CHANGING
THAT MY WHOLE
PERCEPTION CHANGED
IN A NANOSECOND”

After three years, she was so

disenchanted, she left the school
before graduating.
The whole experience made
Lennox doubt her talent and her
standing among her contemporaries.
Enter Dave Stewart, who reminded
Lennox of the artist she is. Soon
enough, the rest of the world
would know it too.

T
he word “eurhythmics”
is derived from Greek
and means “good flow”.
Musically, Lennox and
Stewart were in a good
flow, but romantically they had run
their course. The couple “broke up”
in the early days of Eurythmics (the
French spelling of the Greek word),
but they used that term loosely, as CLOCKWISE FROM
Stewart later explained: “Our idea ABOVE Lennox and David
of a breakup was Annie living upstairs Bowie performing “Under
Pressure” in 1992; with
and me downstairs. We were still husband Mitch Besser in
meeting for tea.” 2017; and with former
For tea, and for music. They South African president
Nelson Mandela and
released their first Eurythmics album, fellow performer
the pop-synth delight In the Garden, in Angélique Kidjo (near left)
1981. The debut featured a number of at a 2003 AIDS concert.
impressive collaborations – including
one with Blondie drummer Clem
Burke – but it didn’t get much airtime, are made of this. Who am I to The same year, she gave birth to her
so Lennox and Stewart decided to tour disagree? I travel the world and first child, Daniel, who was stillborn.
the record as a duo with accompanying the seven seas. Everybody’s looking “It was so traumatic and so life-
electronic backing tracks. They took for something.” changing that my whole perception
out a loan to make another album and It’s fitting that the song that changed in a nanosecond. The loss
released three singles, but success, catapulted Eurythmics to stardom, was immense,” she later revealed.
and record sales, still eluded them. also reflected Lennox’s search for Another loss occurred in 1990
The grind started to take a toll, and meaning in life. The ’80s anthem when Eurythmics unceremoniously
Lennox was ready to pack it in and was ranked at number 365 on Rolling disbanded. There was no
leave London for Scotland. Stone’s 500 Greatest Songs of All Time announcement, no carefully worded
Then came “Sweet Dreams (Are (2004) list, and was inducted into the press release. Rather, Lennox and
Made of This)”. The titular track of the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2020. Stewart simply stopped making music
band’s second album was released as a Eurythmics followed their sweet together. For several years, they had
single at the start of 1983. It was a hit. “Sweet Dreams” success with “Would minimal contact with one another.
The song reached number two on the I Lie to You” and “Sisters Are Doin’ While embarking on her solo
UK singles charts and then number It for Themselves” with music icon career, Lennox had two daughters,
one on the US Billboard Hot 100 six Aretha Franklin in 1985. The songs Lola in 1990 and Tali in 1993. In
months later. In the “Sweet Dreams” and the shows continued. It was a between, she released her debut
music video, Lennox sports a bright grind of a different kind for Lennox, solo album, Diva, in 1992. The
orange buzz-cut hairstyle and a man’s who was no stranger to hard work. “state-of-the-art soul pop” album
suit and tie. The androgynous look After releasing seven albums was a commercial and critical success
would become her trademark, and in eight years, tensions rose and and won Best British Album at the
the BBC would declare that she pressure weighed. A rift formed 1993 Brit Awards.
“broke the mould for female pop stars”. between Lennox and Stewart, who A few years later, Lennox followed
Moreover, Eurythmics would was branching out and writing songs up Diva with Medusa, an album
become a worldwide sensation for other stars. Meanwhile, Lennox consisting entirely of covers originally
with one of the catchiest karaoke got married to Israeli film and record recorded by male artists, such as Bob
choruses of all time: “Sweet dreams producer Uri Fruchtmann in 1988. Marley, Neil Young and Paul Simon.
 Lennox performing at the
2022 Rock & Roll Hall of
Fame Induction Ceremony,
where Eurythmics were
inductees. RIGHT Lennox
won an Oscar in 2004 for her
song “Into the West”, from
the film The Lord of the
Rings: Return of the King.

Proving that sisters really are doing it

for themselves, the album went double Lennox at the 2024 Green
platinum in the UK and US. Carpet Fashion Awards in
Despite writing a feminist anthem Hollywood. ABOVE LEFT
Lennox with her daughters,
and giving the male songs on Medusa Lola (left) and Tali, at Dolce
a feminine touch, Lennox admits & Gabbana’s 20th anniversary
she’s had a turbulent relationship menswear party in 2010.
with feminism. Even when she wrote
“Sisters Are Doin’ It for Themselves”,
she wasn’t comfortable identifying people from all cultures, and we have
as a feminist. At the time, she felt as connected because of music,” she said.
though her interest in makeup and “MUSIC BRINGS US “Music brings us together: it is the
“soft spot” for men relegated her to TOGETHER: IT IS THE healing balm; it is the connecting
outside the gender-equality movement. HEALING BALM; IT IS force between us all.”
It took her years to fully THE CONNECTING During her career, Lennox has
understand that feminism needs to FORCE BETWEEN US ALL” healed and connected a hell of a lot
be intersectional – it’s not just about of people. Having sold more than
breaking glass ceilings and girl bosses, 80 million records worldwide, she
but also about rights to safety and Madonna and Céline Dion to lend has also been named one of the 100
education. With this realisation, she their voices to the activist track “Sing”. greatest singers of all time by Rolling
founded The Circle, an international The campaign raised money for the Stone. The Official Charts Company
women’s rights organisation, to draw Treatment Action Campaign that recognised her as the most successful
attention to gender-based violence sought to make anti-retroviral drugs female British artist in UK music
and gender inequalities. for HIV available in South Africa. history and, in 2015, the British
Lennox’s activism didn’t start or Through her work in this space, Academy of Songwriters, Composers
stop there. After Lennox and Stewart Lennox (who divorced Fruchtmann and Authors made her its first
reunited in the wake of Peet Coombes’ in 2000, after 12 years of marriage) female fellow.
death in 1997, Eurythmics rebranded met Dr Mitch Besser, the man behind Perhaps her greatest honour
and released the album Peace in the mothers2mothers charity, came in 2022, when Eurythmics
1999 on the Greenpeace vessel which focuses on preventing HIV entered America’s Rock & Roll Hall
Rainbow Warrior II. The title and transmission in pregnancy. The pair of Fame. It was a milestone moment
promotion reflected the duo’s concern married in 2012 and they continue for Lennox, who reflected with Stewart
at the state of the environment and to advocate for HIV patients. on the occasion. “We both feel like
ongoing global conflict. A world tour, In 2013, Lennox’s music and some kind of circle has been completed.
the Peacetour, followed, with profits activism earned her a Music Industry It’s a strange thing. I hadn’t expected to
donated to both Greenpeace and Trusts Award in London. In a video feel that way. But things made sense in
Amnesty International. tribute at the event, superstar Elton a weird kind of way,” she told Rolling
There was plenty to be concerned John said, “It’s so well deserved and not Stone that year. “Our journey has been
about. In 2003, Eurythmics played only for your extraordinary contribution really one of decades and decades.
a charity concert in Cape Town, South to music and songwriting but also for Things have happened personally,
Africa, where Lennox was directly your outstanding and tireless work musically, and in the world throughout
confronted by how HIV/AIDS was as an HIV and AIDS activist and these decades that you could never
impacting women and children. supporter of women’s rights.” have anticipated.”
GETTY IMAGES.

Motivated to make a difference, Lennox says the work she does A full circle, a strange feeling,
she started the SING Campaign is an honour. “I’ve had the privilege a sweet dream. Annie Lennox’s life
and approached artists such as of being a musician where I work with is made of this.

marieclaire.com.au | 161
LA S T WO RD

B A C K C H AT

MELANIE BRACEWELL
The New Zealand comedian and actor opens up about the strangest job
she’s had, fashion crimes and her most self-indulgent purchase

WHO ARE YOU MOST COMMONLY job was to weigh people. I was good at a crowd pleaser like “Mr. Brightside”
MISTAKEN FOR? math, so I was able to determine quickly by The Killers or “Gimme! Gimme!
[Former NZ prime minister] Jacinda how much people had lost that week, Gimme!” by ABBA.
Ardern. I did impersonations of her [but] it was an odd job. WHAT’S YOUR MOST USED APP?
during lockdown, so that probably QUALITY YOU VALUE MOST IN PEOPLE? I finally deleted Twitter [now called X], so
didn’t help. Also, because I’m tall, The ability to have a laugh at yourself. thankfully that’s no longer my most used
people assume I’m a Silver Fern [a My friends and I are always ripping into app. Now it’s Pinterest. I’m trying to get
member of NZ’s national netball team]. each other. away from social media, so Pinterest
I had one guy at the supermarket tell WHAT HAS BEEN YOUR MOST gives me those endorphins of looking at
me yesterday, “You would have played SELF-INDULGENT PURCHASE? things, but it’s slightly less toxic.
netball back in your day.” And I was A robot vacuum. My partner, Shaun, WHAT DOES YOUR TIKTOK
like, “What do you mean, ‘Back in and I recently moved into a new place ALGORITHM LOOK LIKE?
my day?’ I’m still in my day!” and he wants to turn it into a smart It’s so weird. I get a lot of comedy stuff
WHAT PODCAST ARE YOU CURRENTLY home. However, it’s gotten to the point but then occasionally I get sucked into
LISTENING TO? where when we are finished brushing a cold-case crime from 30 years ago.
No Such Thing As A Fish is a great one. our teeth the light will turn off. It’s WHAT’S THE BIGGEST FASHION CRIME
I also love So True with Caleb Hearon. getting too much, even for me. YOU’VE EVER COMMITTED?
He has this way of telling stories that WHAT’S A TOPIC YOU WISH PEOPLE I’m really bad at understanding the level
makes me just double over laughing. WOULD TALK MORE ABOUT? of dress required for certain events.
WHAT IS THE SOUNDTRACK TO Random facts. I either overdo it or underdo it. I got
PHOTOGRAPHY BY EMMA HOLLAND; GETTY IMAGES. AS TOLD TO HARRIET SIM.

YOUR LIFE RIGHT NOW? AND A TOPIC YOU WISH PEOPLE invited to Melbourne Fashion Week
Anything Chappell Roan. There are WOULD TALK LESS ABOUT? once, and I thought that because I was
no skip songs. Trump. just watching I could dress very casually.
YOUR MOST OVER-USED WORD? NAME A TV SHOW THAT WASN’T MFW did a montage video of people
Right now it’s the word rigmarole. WELL RECEIVED BUT YOU LOVED at the shows and they included me
WHICH FICTIONAL CHARACTER DO There was a show [released in 2022] wearing jeans and a nice top. I looked
YOU MOST RESONATE WITH? called Players, which followed an ridiculous.
I’m a bit of a Lisa Simpson with eSports team of online video gamers. WHAT IS THE BEST THING SOMEONE
elements of Bart. There are these top gamers who are YOU LOVE HAS EVER DONE FOR YOU?
WHAT SIMPLE PLEASURE BRINGS making millions of dollars, and seeing One time I got home from a holiday
YOU THE MOST HAPPINESS? these nerds live these lavish lifestyles and my partner had ordered a paint-by-
I want to sound all cool and say, – driving around in Ferraris – was numbers. For three days we painted and
“That first sip of a morning coffee,” fascinating and funny. Sadly, it got drank wine. It was so special and better
but in reality it’s playing video games. cancelled after one season. than anything I could ever think of.
They allow me to turn off my brain and WHAT SONG ALWAYS GETS YOU
focus on destroying a turret instead. ON THE DANCE FLOOR? Melanie Bracewell’s A little Treat will
WHAT WAS YOUR FIRST JOB? I don’t want to be the main character tour nationally from February to May.
I worked at WeightWatchers and my on the dance floor, so I’ll often wait for Visit livenation.com.au for more details.

162 | marieclaire.com.au
Come on,
switch off.