Innholdsfortegnelse for March 2025 i Marie Claire Australia

Back in 2001, when I was beginning my career in magazines, I fell in love with Bridget Jones’s Diary. I never imagined, all these years later, that I’d be working on a cover shoot with its star, Renée Zellweger, for marie claire. If you’re patient, life will take you places you never dreamed possible – just ask Bridget. This month, we’re celebrating the fourth iteration of this much-loved novel series by Helen Fielding, Mad About the Boy. Bridget’s life is one we can all relate to: messy, sticky, uncomfortable and full of the unexpected. She falls down (often literally) time and again, and gets back up. In a world where women are trained to chase after perfection, she’s having none of it. And this ability to embrace imperfection – intentional…

Hot cocoa Brown is the new black, but if you can’t contemplate an all-tan outfit, choose pops of caramel, mocha and cinnamon in your accessories of choice. Animal prints are still big, but swap out last year’s leopard print for this season’s snakeskin. Ladies choice Lift the everyday in rich textures – from sheers to opulent suiting – and wear with timeless jewellery in your metallic of choice. Take inspiration from the Jackie Kennedy-inspired ladies who lunch, and top it all off with diamonds and pearls. Extra extra Quiet luxury is so last year. Now, designers – from Louis Vuitton to Stella McCartney – are injecting pure joy into their collections via embellishments such as fringing, sequins and lace, as well as buckles and bows.…

“Combine different shades of earth tones, from tan to burgundy, to keep things interesting. Tie it together with gold accessories.”- Naomi Smith “An oversized shirt worn out over a short skirt in complementary neutrals make a perfect work-day ’ fit.”- Izzy Rook “Mix a range of textures in the one look. Think leather and faux leather with glomesh or chainmail.” - Jordan Boorman “Beige doesn’t have to mean boring. Try it in an A-line shape, break it up with a pattern, then top it off with some on-trend mesh flats.” - Naomi Smith…

MY PHONE DRAGS ME BACK TO THE PRESENT moment. A local number, not anyone I know. Expecting the worst, I answer. It’s the police officer we’ve just been with. He asks me to return to the station so that he can give me back some of the digital equipment they had confiscated from my father. I glance at the clock on the kitchen microwave: 5.25pm. I can’t help feeling that he’s holding something back. And that can’t be good. I try to turn the time to my advantage. As casually as I can, I ask if I couldn’t pick everything up the next day, given how late it is. But no, my instinct was right. He tells me he has something he needs to show me, something that concerns me…

THE FIRST MURDER THAT TRUE-CRIME fan Kourtney Nichole ever posted about on TikTok was of a woman who drowned her elderly mother in the bathtub, cut up her body into eight pieces, and then hid the parts in various places, including a storage unit and in landfill. Later, it would be revealed that the woman, Christine Varness, had told her mother, Lois Huysman, she had been sexually abused by one of her stepfathers. Huysman admitted to knowing about the abuse but blamed her daughter for it, causing Varness to fly into a fit of deadly rage. The crime, which happened nearly 35 years ago, in September 1990, is both terrible and terribly sad. For Nichole, even more so – because the murderer is her grandmother. “I didn’t find out until…

HADESTOWN In the mood for a hellishly good time? The Grammy and Tony award-winning musical Hadestown invites you on an unforgettable musical journey to the underworld. A reimagining of two Greek myths — that of Orpheus and Eurydice, and that of King Hades and Queen Persephone — the electric Broadway production (above) is a gripping story of romance, sacrifice and suffering set in post-apocalyptic America. Showing in Sydney at the Theatre Royal from February and Her Majesty’s Theatre in Melbourne from May. Visit hadestown.com.au. THE BOOK OF X Praised by Roxane Gay as “viciously laying bare what it means to be a woman in the world”, Sarah Rose Etter’s hotly anticipated new read tells the tale of a girl born with her stomach twisted in the shape of a knot.…

best under $20 SKIN It’s the gloopy petroleum hydration we know and love, paired with face-grade retinol (for even tone) and hyaluronic acid (for even more hydration). BODY Enriched with oat extract, avocado oil and squalane, this creamy soap makes for a supple skin long after you’ve towelled off. HAIR Best applied on damp hair, this rich cream formula works to reverse strand damage and give locks that smooth, frizz-free finish. EYES A sweep of this buttery shadow across lids will amp up sultry depth. LIPS Full of lanolin and plumping hyaluronic acid, this lip oil’s glossy, just-bitten finish does all the talking. HAIR Reduce brassiness and perfect your tone with each wash. What’s more, it’s sulfate free. SKIN A bathroom staple, this non-rinse cleanser removes makeup and debris with…

I spent some of my most formative years in London. I had nights out there that surprised and delighted me in all sorts of ways. The evenings I remember most are those that wove to unexpected places: an exclusive club in Hackney where I had to dodge dumpsters and deliver a secret knock to enter, a private home in Mayfair that blew my mind, an unexpected drink with an A-lister at Claridge’s. They all float in my memory with a satisfying glow. These feelings are brought to life in olfactory terms with Jimmy Choo’s latest I Want Choo Le Parfum, inspired by the excitement of London. The third iteration from the brand’s cult-loved collection, this white floral and woody fragrance has glistening top notes of pear and gardenia, a creamy…

ZEN MOMENTS Vyrao has released a new scent that homes in on one of our most cherished Australian exports, sandalwood. Designed to boost connectedness and awaken our senses, this natural scent layers the sandalwood base with pink pepper, saffron, cumin, nutmeg and wet red clay to boost your concentration and calm the mind. I have been adding to my pulse points to help keep me grounded throughout the day – and I don’t need to forgo other scents because it can make a lovely base to layer. ICON UPDATE Anyone who swipes on a Dior Lip Glow will immediately understand its appeal. Super-hydrating with each of the 20 shades imparting a healthy glow to lips, these iconic balms have had a renovation. With a formulation update that includes 97 per…

BRING THE FUN Remember when you promised to catch up more with your friends this year? Now’s the time to make good on those vows, and Sydney’s Good Luck restaurant is up to the task. VIBE Cool underground Hong-Kong eatery meets classic Aussie suburban Chinese restaurant. The clash of Murano-glass chandeliers, seafood fish tanks and cat-themed artwork somehow works. EAT A fusion of Chinese, Italian and Asian flavours. The setting might be casual but the food and drinks menu is serious. MUST-TRY The gooey miracle of fried eggs whipped tofu and crispy chilli is a must-try. PERFECT FOR Friend groups looking for a high-energy big night out. LOCATION The basement of 11 Bridge Street, Sydney. See merivale.com/venues/good-luck for more details. A soft touch Getting the balance right with a pared-back interior…

Your favourite Coco Crush pieces have been upscaled with precious rubies in Coco Chanel’s favourite colour: red. TRENDSETTING “When I was little, I would spend hours in our garden in the small village I grew up in [in the South of France],” recalls Maison Balzac founder Elise Pioch Balzac, whose clever creations add a twist to the everyday table. “I was so immersed in nature that all the insects, small animals, fish and molluscs became familiar to me. They were my little friends. This is why you see snails, butterflies, flies, prawns – but also fig leaves and flowers and hands.” The stirring memories of those childhood days have inspired the Jardin collection and Maison Balzac’s first-ever cutlery set. Classic Roger Vivier new season two-tone shades complete a ladylike look.…

1 The appeal of the boxy blazer is that it can literally go with anything. Team with blue jeans for an instantly casual vibe but make it modern with a buttoned-up white cotton shirt and a black tie. 2 Keep things corporate in maximalist pinstripe paired with masculine brogues. 3 A midi-length skirt and a light, ladylike blouse offer a feminine take on this masculine trend. Swap out heels for socks and lace-ups. 4 Take your cues from Anthony Vaccarello at Saint Laurent by adding a leather bomber jacket over a traditional three-piece suit once temperatures drop. 5 Play with proportions by mixing in whimsical crop tops or floaty sheers under suiting, all while maintaining a monotone hue. 6 If you purchase one thing this season, make it an oversized…

Sadie and Anthony In 1999, two strangers boarded a ferry in Alaska and launched a global love affair THE FIRST THING I NOTICED ABOUT ANTHONY was his shorts. In Alabama, which is where I’m from, we call them mountaineering shorts, although I later learnt Australians called them “stubbies”. He was Australian, which I concluded after overhearing his thick accent. He seemed fun, light-hearted and interesting. We didn’t speak the first time we met. We were strangers who locked eyes across the deck of a ferry headed up the Alaskan coast. I was 29 and on board the boat that day to pay a visit to my friend in the town of Ketchikan. The journey took over a day, so I spent much of the trip catching Anthony’s eye. Despite exchanging…

I COULDN’T TELL YOU WHERE I WAS THE FIRST time I set eyes on Meghann Stephenson’s artwork. What I can tell you is the way it made me feel. Like a delicate lace glove that masks an ugly flesh wound or vintage car propelling down a winding canyon, Stephenson’s work teeters on the edge of beauty and destruction. For this reason, my first encounter with her work made me feel as if I too were on the verge of coming undone, but also that the root of this feeling wasn’t one of madness or misery, but simply part of the collective experience of being a woman. From a pair of vintage cocktail coupes balanced on a table’s edge to a string of pearls falling from a manicured hand, the tension…

THE MOTTO “Walk your Worth” has been the L'Oréal Paris battle cry for women for decades. [For me, it means] really looking at your life and identifying your own self-worth, and that goes beyond hair, makeup and skincare. [It’s about] your job, your relationships… TO DO Le Défilé L’Oréal Paris 2024 runway show [now in its seventh year] is always so fun because it amplifies that mantra for women. It’s always a positive thing for me. I think that’s why I've been with L'Oréal for 20 years. THE DNA of who they are is the DNA of who I am: empowering women to recognise that they're more than what they can ever imagine. The work that I’ve done in my foundation and my activism and philanthropy always lines up perfectly. ACTOR AISHWARYA…

With an unorthodox look and rough-and-ready lifestyle, 21-year-old Lucinda Chambers probably seemed like an unlikely candidate for a job at British Vogue. At that time – the early 1980s – many of the magazine’s staff came from some of the country’s most illustrious families and typically wore cashmere dresses or Chanel. However, what Chambers lacked in contacts and designer clothes, she made up for in personality, energy and raw talent. A year after taking a role in the Vogue petty cash office, she became secretary to the editor, Beatrix Miller. Four years on, she was Grace Coddington’s protégé in the fashion department, before starting a seven-year stint at Elle. It was a role that prepared her for a return to British Vogue as fashion director in 1997, a position she…

The maison’s real genius lies in its continuous reinvention of its instantly recognisable motifs Long before “IYKYK” entered the lexicon – and became the unofficial catchphrase of quiet luxury – the truly discerning had already mastered a secret language of style. Sitting streetside at Café Ruc on the corner of Rue Saint-Honoré, a knowing smile passes between those who recognise the subtle elegance of a brunette with bee-stung lips sauntering by, a fabric flower with petals unfurling delicately on the lapel of her cashmere coat. The trained eye knows it’s not just any flower, it’s a camellia – a symbol of elegance that has been intrinsically tied to Chanel since 1913. It’s the same silent nod shared between fashion devotees when one wears a woollen blazer crafted from the maison’s…

THE OUTERWEAR Pair bomber jackets or cropped hoodies in bright hues with the unexpected: leather skirts, wide-leg pants and heels. Top it all off with a bag and glasses that reflect a sense of fun. THE CLASH For an edgier angle, think officewear meets the track. A crisp striped shirt with short-shorts or a long skirt with a sports jersey are where it’s at, paired with the most ladylike of shoes.…

I’VE BEEN THINKING ABOUT this a lot over the course of the trial of Dominique Pelicot and his fellow accused: what would a woman do to an unconscious man if she thought no-one would find out? Because we know now what men would do. And not just some men. Many men. So many men in fact, they had a nickname for them during the trial, Monsieur Tout Le Monde – Mr Everyman. Because the men who joined Pelicot in the dock were bakers, they were journalists, they were prison officers, they were accountants, they were young, they were old, they were single, they were married, they were fathers to daughters. But they all had one thing in common, a desire to dominate, to defile, to control, to penetrate, to humiliate.…

GISÈ LE PELICOT HAS CREATED a seismic shift in the narrative around family domestic violence. The nature of the case being so shocking has increased conversations about the roles men play in perpetrating violence – because we all know that statistically it’s predominantly male perpetrators – and also the role they need to play in standing up as allies for ending violence. We must dismantle the normalisation of male violence against women and empower women to continue to come forward and share their stories. We have so much to learn by listening to the voices of women like Gisèle who are impacted, the women who have the courage and resilience to share their stories. If a woman is brave enough to share her experience, believe her – it will empower…

ON A BRIGHT WINTER’S DAY IN January – Martin Luther King Jr. Day, to be exact – the former reality-TV star, convicted felon, sexual predator and multi-billionaire Donald Trump was sworn in as president of the United States, again. It was an absurd and sinister display of pomp and ceremony. His third wife, Melania, wore a strategically wide-brimmed hat that rebuffed her husband’s attempt to kiss her on the cheek (genius); and the returning president was flanked on the dais by the leaders of the world’s most powerful tech companies: Mark Zuckerberg, Elon Musk, Jeff Bezos, and Sundar Pichai. Outgoing US president Joe Biden had warned of an incumbent tech-billionaire oligarchy once the transfer of power was complete, and now that it’s here, it’s even more sinister – and nerdy…

IT PAYS TO LISTEN. JUST ASK MCGRATH Foundation CEO Holly Masters. Since she began her role in 2017, Masters has heard the stories of thousands of women going through cancer. She’s told that when women are diagnosed with breast cancer, there’s typically only two places where they can really fall apart: alone in the shower, the running water concealing the sound of their devastation, or with a McGrath Cancer Care nurse. It’s a heartbreaking picture – but one that women around Australia come face-to-face with every day. As the official outfitter for the Australian Open for the fifth consecutive year, Ralph Lauren partnered with marie claire to host a special evening in celebration of the Pink Pony initiative, the company’s global initiative in the fight against cancer. Inside the brand’s…

A SMALL PROBLEM ARISES EVERY TIME A NEW Bridget Jones film starts production: no-one seems to know who the real Bridget is. Is it the Oscar-winning actor Renée Zellweger, who has portrayed the adored Brit on screen for four films in 20-something years, or is it the award-winning author Helen Fielding, who created the character for a newspaper column in the early ’90s? “Bridget and Renée have merged into the same person for me,” Fielding tells marie claire, “but when Renée and I meet, it’s quite funny and confusing because we both think the other is Bridget. But neither of us is Bridget.” Everyone is Bridget, and no-one is Bridget – and that’s the genius of Bridget. When the chain-smoking, charming and hopelessly romantic 32-year-old publishing assistant first appeared as…

INTERNATIONAL AWARD Kérastase New Elixir Ultime Oil Long a cult favourite, this hair-smoother from Kérastase is designed to tame everything from frizz to flyaways and to lift dullness. With its distinctive (read addictive) freesia and sandalwood scent, this must-try product has been updated with new packing that boasts a 95 per cent recycled plastic refill and 30 per cent recycled glass bottle, meaning there is even more to love. Dosed with French camellia oil and argan oil to nourish and add softness and elasticity to hair, this clever oil can be used in multiple ways. Try it as a hydrating pre-cleanser, to add shine after blow-drying, or to give a dose of gloss between washes. FORMULATION AWARD CaudalÍe Resveratrol-Lift Range Using the antioxidant power of resveratrol blended with hyaluronic acid…

MY JOURNEY WITH ENDOMETRIOSIS STARTED IN puberty. When I first got my period, I experienced awfully painful bleeds. Back then, the typical response from GPs was to go on the pill to help with the pain, so that’s what I did. I was on the pill for seven years until I was 18. Then things started to go wrong. I was in incredible pain and ended up being hospitalised with a burst cyst on my ovary. They weren’t quite sure why this was happening to someone so young. In the end, I was diagnosed with PCOS, or polycystic ovary syndrome (which was incorrect), and told to go off the pill. Things didn’t improve. Three months later I was in hospital again with two cysts. The pain was nothing like I’d…

FROM SERUMS TO CREAMS, PEPTIDES ARE popping up on ingredient lists with increasing frequency. Made naturally in the skin, they are the building blocks for a healthy and resilient complexion. But how do they work as an ingredient in our skincare? And are they really worth all the hype they’re getting right now? We ask Daniel Isaacs, chief product officer and founding partner of Medik8, a brand that puts peptides at the cornerstone of many of its formulations, to give us everything we need to know about this buzz ingredient. PEPTIDES EXPLAINED The communicators in the skin, peptides are the dermal equivalent of the motivation coach. “Peptides are small chains of amino acids that act as building blocks for proteins like collagen and elastin in our skin,” says Isaacs. “Think…

Every July, my Instagram becomes a “Euro Summer” content subscription service that I did not sign up for. I scroll past posts, tap through stories thinking, without a hint of sarcasm, “Those poor things”. The last time I was in Europe, I went to Sicily in the height of summer. My friend got blisters on the soles of her feet from walking barefoot on hot sand (she lost an espadrille to an unfortunately timed wave). So when all the people in my phone want me to look at these photos, I think they are stunning, of course, but at what cost? Is it worth the second-degree burns, the long days spent shoving through crowds under a blazing and relentless sun, dressed in an outfit that looked cute this morning but…

FEBRUARY 19–MARCH 20 PISCES Early March has you questioning where your resources flow. From your emotional energy to cold hard cash, you’re done with uneven exchanges. Mercury and Venus retrograde into your sign later, perfect for plotting your next moves around these fresh priorities. The new moon on March 29 sends a signal to confirm you’re on the right track, possibly through a lucrative job offer, professional praise or a relationship where effort flows both ways. On March 14, the lunar eclipse brings a golden opportunity to exercise your new-found confidence and turn complacency into an electric connection. POWER DAYS March 20, 27, 30 MARCH 21–APRIL 19 ARIES Neptune’s making a once-in-a-lifetime cameo in your sign, turning your world into a metaphysical masterclass. You’ll be trading mindless scrolling for mindfulness…

WHETHER SHE MEANT TO OR NOT, DAME JULIE Andrews is synonymous with wholesome. It’s her personal brand. That outward image, however, belies a personal life that’s anything but picture perfect – especially her upbringing. “A lot of people, because of their association with wonderful films like Mary Poppins and The Sound Of Music, think that I’m this very squeaky clean, upper-class lady that came from such a family,” Andrews told America’s NPR in 2022. “And it’s so far from the truth.” Born Julia Wells in Surrey, England, in 1935, Andrews describes her background as “really Dickensian in so many ways”. Her parents divorced when she was young, and her mother, Barbara Morris, a pianist, went on to marry Ted Andrews, a vaudevillian, relocating the family to a “slum” area of…

“Your happiness doesn’t increase with every kilogram you lose – at least not in the long-term” What’s the book that made you cry? Not a book but an article by Waleed Aly about his mother-in-law dying. His writing is so clear but beautiful. Which fictional character do you most resonate with? Sex and The City’s Carrie Bradshaw, and I know that’s derogatory! What’s the biggest misconception people have about you? Misconceptions are none of my business. I’m blissfully unaware. Who are you most commonly mistaken for? Em from Love Island. I met her and she said that for years she was told she “looks like Froomes”. Where and when are you most happy? In the ocean when it’s crisp, clear and has waves to swim over and under. What has been…