Review: Cartier, ‘the Jeweller of Kings’, has Come to the National Gallery of Victoria in a Dazzling New Exhibition

Cartier's legendary 'Tutti Frutti' necklace, a riot of carved emeralds, rubies and sapphires, that captured the French house's bold interwar imagination in 1936  and a new modern elegance. Cartier Collection. Photograph: Vincet Wulveryck. Cover picture of Hermes AW26 by Max Farago,

By Sasha Grishin

Harper's Bazaar editor and Parisian

socialite, Daisy Fellowes, wearing

the 'Tutti Frutti' Hindou necklace

in its original form, in 1937.

Photograph: Cecil Beaton

Founded in Paris 179 years ago, Cartier has fostered a legendary reputation as the creator of luxury goods for royalty, the aristocracy, film stars, and the generally wealthy. The English king Edward VII famously referred to Cartier as “the jeweller of kings and the king of jewellers”.

The glittering magnificence of the Cartier style through the ages has been brought together in a major exhibition by London’s Victoria and Albert Museum, now being presented at the National Gallery of Victoria.

An Instant Hit 

Curated over almost a decade by the Victoria and Albert Museum’s Helen Molesworth, the Cartier show opened in London last year for a seven-month season and promptly sold out.

With almost 350 items on display, it was celebrated by many as one of the best shows of 2025. However, one criticism was the exhibition was too cramped, and the inevitable small scale of most of the objects resulted in a crowd crush within darkened spaces.

King Edward VII famously referred to Cartier as “the jeweller of kings and the king of jewellers”

Director of the Cartier Collection, 

Pascale Lepeu, at the new exhibition

Melbourne, at the NGV International.

The NGV iteration of the exhibition, with almost 400 items, presents a number of alterations to the checklist of exhibits, such as the inclusion of necklaces and bodice ornaments owned by Australian opera singer Dame Nellie Melba. Melba was an early client of the brand, with Pierre Cartier among her fans.

More significantly, the NGV has collaborated with internationally renowned designers to reimagine the exhibition, following in a tradition it has established for itself over several years.

The gallery has collaborated with Studio Sabine Marcelis and CLOUD, two multidisciplinary design practices based in Rotterdam, in The Netherlands.

Marcelis evokes the Cartier colour palette in her design, while CLOUD has built on the Cartier geometric forms to create light-filled architectural structures that are involved in a creative dialogue with the jewellery.

It was Alfred’s three sons who made Cartier into a powerhouse of fashion design, with offices in Paris, London, New York and St Petersburg

Alfred Cartier (second from right) with his three sons

Pierre, Louis and Jacques, 1922. Cartier Collection

Photograph: Vincent Wulveryck.

A Thumbnail Sketch of the Cartier Style

The thumbnail sketch of the development of the Cartier style is mandatory for understanding the exhibition. 

Louis-François Cartier founded the firm in Paris in 1847, and in 1874 passed it to his son Alfred. 

It was Alfred’s three sons – Louis, Pierre and Jacques – who internationalised the brand and made it into a powerhouse of fashion design, with offices in Paris, London, New York and St Petersburg.

Louis embraced orientalist Art Deco designs and colourful “Tutti Frutti” jewel combinations. 

He also pioneered wristwatch designs and exploited platinum as a structural base for elaborate diamond and gemstone settings in the jewellery.

Cartier continues to resonate with its audiences by tapping into ancient cultures and traditions, making them modern and relevant

Splendid Cartier Paris necklace from 1947.

Cartier Collection. Photograph: Nils Hermann.

Pierre extended operations to New York, while Jacques developed operations in New Bond Street in London.

It is difficult to define the Cartier design, yet relatively simple to recognise it when you encounter it.

Writing in the NGV Cartier catalogue, Vivienne Becker, a prolific London-based jewellery historian, arrives at a convincing characterisation. She writes that the style:

is underpinned by culture, by an ever-evolving quest to infuse jewellery design with originality, artistic integrity and cultural richness.

As one makes their way around the exhibition, there is constant encounter with styles from the past – including Egyptian, Chinese, Japanese, Iranian and Islamic elements – informing the use of diamonds and other precious materials. 

The tiaras have been worn by celebrities, from Clementine Churchill at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II to the singer Rihanna

A scintillating tiara, made by Cartier 

Londonin 1937. Cartier Collection.

Photograph: Vincent Wulveryck

A Who's-Who List of Clients

Cartier also has its repertoire of signature motifs, such as the iconic Panthère, which may appear as a panther clip brooch, or snakes and crocodiles that can take the forms of necklaces and bracelets.

As jewellers and watchmakers, Cartier was known as the “watchmaker of shapes” – exploiting squares, rectangles and octagons, rather than the traditional circle.

While celebrating a supreme elegance, most of the items on display have the power to surprise, such as a spectacular scarab brooch, or a 1933 brooch with a giant floating amethyst set against sapphires, diamonds and platinum.

A highlight of the exhibition is the display of more than 20 stunning tiaras. These are symbols of royalty and glamour, with connotations of celestial halos, laurel wreaths and garlands.

These tiaras have been worn by a who’s who of celebrities. For instance, one scroll tiara (1902) was worn by Clementine Churchill at the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II in 1953, and again in 2016 by the singer Rihanna, on the cover of W magazine.

Household names who have worn the Cartier jewellery in this exhibition include Elizabeth Taylor, Grace Kelly and Dame Nellie Melba

Wallis Simpson, the Duchess of Windsor,

in Cartier jewels, 1939. Conde Nast

Photograph: Cecil Beaton Archive

There is also the Sun tiara of 1907, with a 32-carat cognac-yellow diamond at its core, and the Art Deco diamond and platinum Halo tiara of 1934, which was inspired by ancient Egypt and owned by Begum Aga Khan III.

Household names who have worn the Cartier jewellery present in this exhibition include Elizabeth Taylor, Grace Kelly, Rihanna, Princess Margaret, The Duchess of Windsor, Dame Nellie Melba, the Maharaja of Patiala, Begum Aga Khan III and American heiress Barbara Hutton. These will prove a selfie magnet for many visitors.

While this is not the first major Cartier exhibition in Australia (there was a big show in Canberra in 2018), it is the largest, containing almost 300 items never previously seen in Australia. It is also the most innovative in its display.

Cartier continues to resonate with its audiences by going beyond mere displays of ostentatious wealth; it taps into ancient cultures and traditions, making them modern and relevant to contemporary audiences.

Cartier is showing at the National Gallery of Victoria until October 4th 2026.

The Odyssey is Set in a Fantasy World ~ But the Ancient Greeks Mapped it onto What They Knew

The Greeks didn’t locate their deep past in far-off fantasy lands, instead, these stories happened in places all around them. So what about the journey of Odysseus? Photograph: The Odyssey film by Christopher Nolan/Universal Pictures. 

By Greta Hawes and R. Scott Smith

The ancient Greeks would have enjoyed current controversies about the “historical accuracy” of Christopher Nolan’s new adaptation of The Odyssey. The Greeks loved arguing about the “truth” of Homer’s stories. They weren’t precious about their myths. Greek storytellers could – and did – criticise them. They competed to make people see old stories in new ways.

For the ancient Greeks, their deep past – the time of gods and monsters – was a paradox. On the one hand, it was full of fantastic happenings. On the other, those events mainly took place in familiar locations around the Mediterranean and featured heroes who were the ancestors of people living in the present.

We have been mapping the real-world locations tied to Greek myths. The Greeks didn’t locate their deep past in far-off fantasy lands. Instead, these stories happened in places all around them. So what about the journey of Odysseus?

Traversing the Beyond

Homer’s epic The Odyssey, probably composed around 800 BCE, follows Odysseus’ journey home from Troy to Ithaca. Much of the voyage takes place in “The Beyond”: a storyworld with its own logic, full of eerie, strange and monstrous creatures.

Although Homer placed this part of the story in a fantasy world, it didn’t have to stay there. As the Greeks spread throughout the Mediterranean, they started wondering: could Odysseus have travelled here?

Although the myth of the Trojan war freely invents some aspects of the topography, the Greeks agreed Troy was located on the Dardanelles, in modern-day northwestern Turkey. They identified various landmarks there with events in the epics. When Heinrich Schliemann excavated a Bronze-Age citadel in the region, he claimed this was Homer’s Troy.

Homer calls Odysseus’ island homeland off the western coast of mainland Greece Ithaca. An island in the right area still goes by that name today, although Homer’s description does not exactly match it.

Odysseus gets as far as Cape Malea (modern Maleas), off southern mainland Greece, before he is hit by a storm. That storm drives him into “the Beyond”.

Homer’s description of what happens next can’t be plotted on a map. Nothing is familiar; directions like north and south are meaningless.

Recreating the journey

Homer’s epics reflect the geo-politics of his time. Around 800 BCE, hundreds of city-states across the Greek mainland were jostling for prestige. The idea local heroes had once gotten together to conquer Troy was very attractive.

From the 5th century BCE we find ancient geographers debating where exactly Odysseus voyaged. Their texts – some only surviving in fragments – are the best evidence we have for how ancient communities laid claim to the fabulous places described by Homer.

Some ancient geographers were sceptical that the Beyond was in the Mediterranean and pointed instead to the Atlantic.

Eratosthenes commented cynically:

you’ll find where Odysseus wandered when you find the cobbler who sewed up the bag of winds [that Aiolos gave to Odysseus].

In other words: you won’t.

But the attraction of identifying Homer’s fantastic locations with real places was too strong.

There were competing claims. In Homer’s account, Odysseus encounters lotus-eaters drugged by the “honey sweet” fruit of the lotus flower. Ancient geographers located their home in several regions of north Africa. Meninx, a large island off modern Tunisia, was a popular candidate: Strabo cites as proof its altar of Odysseus and trees with sweet fruit called lotus.

Artemidoros placed the lotus-eaters further west. He argued they were nomads in what is now Morocco who survived in waterless deserts by chewing a juicy root.

The MANTO project has been mapping where the Ancient Greeks thought their myths took place. This map shows key locations in The Odyssey through the Mediterranean. Anika Campbell

From the early 7th century BCE, the ancient Greeks had begun to migrate to Sicily and southern Italy. When these migrants claimed their new homelands were the places Homer described, they gave their new homes very old – and prestigious – pasts.

When Greeks founded modern Naples, they called it “Parthenope”, for one of the Sirens said to be buried on a nearby headland.

Ancient artists painted the Sirens as part-woman, part-chicken. Today the islands are known as Li Galli (The Chickens).

Circe, the goddess who transformed Odysseus’ men into animals by giving them a potion, was said to have lived on a headland south of Rome, still called Monte Circeo today.

Homer says Odysseus buried one of his crew on Circe’s island after he fell off a roof. Ancient Greeks identified this tomb on Monte Circeo. Moly, the drug Odysseus used to counter her magic, was still picked nearby.

Some said Odysseus entered the underworld via an oracle of the dead at Cumae: the surrounding area is highly volcanic, which fit with stories about vaporous rivers in the underworld.

When Heinrich Schliemann excavated a Bronze-Age citadel in Hisarlik he claimed this was Homer’s Troy. Universal Studios

Scylla and Charybdis, a multi-headed monster and a whirlpool, were placed in the Strait of Messina between Sicily and the tip of Calabria, which had exceptionally dangerous tides.

And people pointed out large rocks off the coast of Sicily the Cyclops had hurled at Odysseus’ ship as it escaped as proof it happened there.

These kinds of claims show the Greeks making fantastic landscapes seem familiar, while highlighting the strangeness of the real world with its psychotropic plants, volcanoes and ancient relics.

Innovative interpretations of the Odyssey are nothing new. The Greeks would have enjoyed our continued grappling with the “truth” of this story.

Remembering the Quiet Genius of Actor Sam Neill

When we view Sam Neill's body of work, we can see his characters always have a significant level of intellect and astuteness. Photograph: the actor in 2011 by Matt Carr/Getty. 

By Daryl Sparkes

I remember watching an interview with actor Sam Neill, saying: “Good screen acting hints at secrets. At other lives underneath the veneer.” At the time, I wondered what were these secrets Neill was referring to.I just had to look at the vast body of Neill’s work, the characters he played, and how he played them to answer that question.

Claiming him as Australian

The actor was born Nigel John Dermot Neill in 1947 in Northern Ireland before moving to New Zealand as a child. In the time-honoured tradition of Australia claiming New Zealand talent as our own, it was when he made the move across the pond that he first found fame and the launching pad for his international career.

A law school dropout, he soon found acting to be his calling while at university, acting in a number of plays before moving to New Zealand television and his first starring role in the action thriller feature Sleeping Dogs (1977).

This film got him noticed in Australia where he picked up a small role in television series The Sullivans before landing his first major motion picture – My Brilliant Career (1979), opposite another emerging talent of the Australian screen, Judy Davis.

He made a plethora of less widely known films like Just Out of Reach (1979) and Attack Force Z (1982), while also appearing in television shows such as Young Ramsey.

His international break out film was, unusually, playing the son of Satan in the quite schlocky Omen III: The Final Conflict (1981).

But the film was commercially successful, and the role opened up many doors for Neill who spent the rest of his professional career criss-crossing continents and acting in films and television series in the United States, the United Kingdom, Europe and his original home, New Zealand.

As often happens with our Australian talent, they have to be recognised overseas before we recognise them back home.

So back in Australia we came to embrace Neill in landmark films such as playing Micheal Chamberlain opposite Meryl Streep in Evil Angels (1988) and opposite a young Nicole Kidman in Dead Calm (1989).

At this time, he met with producer Cubby Broccoli to be considered as the replacement for Roger Moore in the James Bond series, but unfortunately lost out to Timothy Dalton.

Neill may have been the greatest Bond we never had.

The actor who didn’t show he was acting

Perhaps the role he is best remembered for is as the star of the original Jurassic Park (1993) and sequels Jurassic Park III (2001) and Jurassic World Dominion (2022), where he played renowned palaeontologist Alan Grant.

This role is a great example of how refined his acting talents were.

At the beginning of Jurassic Park, Grant is quite aloof and cold to those around him, and visibly uncomfortable around the park owner’s grandchildren. As the drama unfolds, Grant gradually shifts to becoming the children’s protective mentor risking his life for them.

Neill doesn’t do this through dramatic speeches or over-the-top visual displays. Instead he gives us a performance of subtle shifts in the character’s behaviour.

Neill’s ability at nuance made his roles so believable and authentic.

When we view his body of work, we can see Neill’s characters always have a significant level of intellect and astuteness. He was often cast in roles of men of intelligence, quiet authority or class. Neill was the reasonable, decent man everyone looked at for stability and strength when disaster fell, and all others were losing their heads.

He had this understated quality to many of his roles. Not being the overt method actor like many of his generation, he chose restraint and reason, embellishing his characters with a feeling of genuine realism.

Neill was able to relate emotion through slight facial expressions or minute vocal inflections. He could be equally delighted, menacing or upset with just a glance.

The quality of the man

Neill took many risks with the roles he took on. His versatility and range meant he could be equally good in a historical drama (Sirens, 1994) as he was in a comedy (Death in Brunswick, 1990) or even horror (In the Mouth of Madness, 1994) and sci-fi (Event Horizon, 1997).

It shows the quality of the man that Neill was as willing to appear in blockbusters as he was in small, independent films, to help and coach the next generation of filmmakers.

In ironic casting, the Sam Neill who dropped out of law school to become an actor played his final role as a lawyer, in the acclaimed three seasons of the Australian courtroom series The Twelve (2022–25).

In 2023, Neill said “I’m not afraid to die, but it would annoy me”.

For him it may have been annoying. Those who admired him will be meeting this moment with profound sadness and gratitude for the exceptional work he leaves behind.

Neill uncovered the secrets in the lives of all of his characters, presented them to us in his own inimitable style and made even the most ordinary moments feel quietly extraordinary.

Catwalk: The Art of the Fashion Show Reveals a Spectacular 125 Years of Runway History

The life-size, 35-metre-tall rocket ship at Karl Lagerfeld's Chanel show that formed the backdrop to the Autumn/Winter 2017collection at the Grand Palais. Cover picture of Yuima Nakazato Haute Couture AW26/27 in Paris by Andrea Heinsohn for DAM.

By Mal James

Fashion shows can often feel exclusive, reserved for the very rich, the very famous or the very well-connected. This perception has been aided by depictions of the catwalk in film and TV, think The Devil Wears Prada, Zoolander, Absolutely Fabulous, which simply confirm the widely held view of fashion as synonymous with artifice and superficiality.

Yet, while the catwalk is undoubtedly a stage for pomp and social peacocking, it is also a serious business. It can make or break a collection’s success, and launch designers and models into the fashion stratosphere. Catwalk: The Art of the Fashion Show at the V&A in Dundee unveils this reality, offering an access-all-areas glimpse into the intricate world of fashion, revealing great complexity beyond the perceived superficiality.

This exhibition is superbly co-curated by the museum’s Kirsty Hassard and Svetlana Panova, along with Jochen Eisenbrand and Katharina Krawcyzck of the Vitra Design Museum in Germany, where the show originated. It chronicles fashion’s 125-year catwalk journey, exploring its rich history and enduring cultural significance.

It was an Englishman, Charles Frederick Worth, who pioneered the catwalk in mid 19th-century Paris, where he revolutionised fashion presentations by using live models instead of static mannequins. Runway shows allowed models to showcase complete outfits and provided wealthy clients with a more immersive view of Worth’s designs.

By the early 1900s, these fashion parades held in Parisian ballrooms started to evolve into more theatrical events. This trend continued into the 1920s, when shows grew increasingly spectacular and decadent, with Gabrielle Chanel famously presenting models descending the mirrored staircase in her iconic atelier at 31 rue Cambon, Paris.

Fashion and history

On loan from the Balenciaga archive, and seen for the first time in the UK, there is an exquisite array of outfits presented on miniature wire mannequins. This display describes how, in 1945, as Paris emerged from Nazi occupation, the city faced a shortage of materials, making conventional fashion shows impossible. Titled “théâtre de la mode”, this ingenious solution presented haute couture at micro scale to buyers, press and clients, allowing Paris to reclaim its status as the fashion capital of the world.

The exhibition shows how post second world war, catwalk shows expanded in scale, ambition and location, with designers keen to make a lasting impression. André Courrèges and Paco Rabanne were pioneers in the 1960s, while from the 1980s onwards, Thierry Mugler and Jean Paul Gaultier helped to modernise presentations, connecting them with pop culture and mass audiences.

The emergence of the “supermodels” in the late 1980s and 1990s helped to turn catwalks into cultural phenomena. Groundbreaking shows, such as Versace’s spring/summer 1991, where models who were stars in their own right walked to George Michael’s Freedom, highlighted a dynamic synergy between fashion and pop culture.

By the late 20th century, designers including Alexander McQueen were creating unforgettable fashion moments, such as the No. 13 collection (spring/summer 1999), where model Shalom Harlow wore a white dress that was sprayed by two robots.

Notably, the exhibit dedicated to Hussein Chalayan showcases his contribution towards the transformation of fashion shows into more artistic and cerebral experiences. His 2000 After Words collection, featuring wearable furniture, challenged traditional norms and paved the way for more artistic presentations.

Spectacle, innovation, commerce

There is plenty of fashion spectacle throughout, the exhibition excelling with a curated selection of iconic pieces from the likes of Viktor & Rolf, Maison Martin Margiela, Vivienne Westwood, Loewe, Chanel, Prada, Louis Vuitton, Yohji Yamamoto and Iris van Herpen – the range is dazzling.

I was captivated by the voluminous but solemn blue Balenciaga velvet dress from the spring/summer 2020 collection by Georgian designer Demna Gvasalia. Evoking a Victorian silhouette, yet with no decoration and a tailored bodice, it reflects fashion’s historical roots in contrast with unfussy modern design.

The powerful silhouette and electric blue tone bring a seriousness to an otherwise radical or performative aesthetic. Positioned in the exhibition, it reminds us how modernity is always tethered to historical influences.

The exhibition showcases how catwalks have become crucial for brand marketing, merging art, commerce and entertainment, while engaging global audiences through digital channels. It includes invitations and artwork from key designers, along with miniature models of Chanel’s 2014 Supermarket and 2017 Space Rocket shows, offering insights into the intricate yet monumental scale of catwalk productions.

The curators have seamlessly integrated Scotland’s contribution to catwalk history too, charting the influence of fabrics like tweed and tartan, and featuring photographs from Glasgow’s Empire Exhibition in 1938, possibly Scotland’s earliest fashion show. There are also fascinating images from Dior’s inaugural Scottish shows in 1955 in Glasgow and at Gleneagles, echoed almost 70 years later with a 2024 Dior show (under designer Maria Grazia Chuiri) where models walked the exquisite topiaried gardens of Drummond Castle in Perthshire.

The exhibition includes the coveted label Le Kilt, featuring an outfit from the 2024 show, created in collaboration with Dior, further highlighting the the fashion house’s Scotland connection. Prominent Scottish designers are also featured, such as Christopher Kane, Charles Jeffrey and the poignant inclusion of an outfit by the late Pam Hogg who died last November.

The exhibition highlights how catwalks can mirror societal changes and evolving beauty standards. I was thrilled to see the inclusion of Rick Owens’ Spring/Summer 2016 presentation, where a 40-strong group of female “steppers” stomped down the runway in poses and expressions that defied typical beauty expectations.

The show caters to diverse audiences and ages, featuring dynamic catwalk and backstage photography by British photographer Robert Fairer, who has captured the energy and spirit of the fashion industry since the early 1990s. Engaging and interactive exhibits also let audiences in on the inner workings of fashion shows, including hairstyling and make-up.

Fun selfie opportunities allow visitors to engage with fashion’s more flamboyant side which make you feel like part of the exhibition, rather than merely an observer. This excellent V&A show truly challenges and expands our perception of the catwalk, leading audiences towards a lasting and deeper respect for the art of fashion and its important and enduring influence.

The Catwalk: The Art of the Fashion Show is now on at the V&A Dundee until January 2027.

Mal James, Personal Chair of Fashion Design, University of Edinburgh, Edinburgh College of Art, University of Edinburgh

What’s on Your Holiday Reading List? We Asked Six Dedicated Readers

Holiday books are about page-turners as well as catching up on those that have been left on the bedside table during the year. Cover picture of Robert Redford on the beach in Malibu by Annie Leibovitz. 

By Jo Case

When I think about holiday reading, I think about relaxing with an easy page-turner … but I also think about finally having the headspace for the more complex, challenging books that have haunted my bedside table during the busy year.

Summer reading is often characterised as paperback romance or detective fiction. And it is that. But it’s also anything your tired, finally well-rested brain wants to apply itself to in the sunnier months: on a beach, by a pool or splayed on a couch under an air conditioner.

We asked six avid readers what they plan to read this holiday – and their answers reflected all of the above and more. I’ve already stolen a few ideas to add to my own hopeful pile. (So far, it includes Susie Boyt’s much-raved-about novel Loved and Missed, a biography of her father Lucian Freud, Dominic Amerena’s literary satire, I Want Everything … and Anna Karenina.)

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The Summer Book and Belgian crime

What better time to revisit The Summer Book, by Tove Jansson? It helps that there is a film adaptation on the way (starring Glenn Close), though I wonder how this bittersweet, funny and pitch perfect story of a girl, her grandmother and her father spending a summer on a tiny island in the Gulf of Finland can be rendered in filmic form.

Talking of adaptation, the latest TV adaptation of the chief inspector Maigret detective novels has recently dropped – and that encourages me to read more of the short novels by the Belgian writer, Georges Simenon. I read half a dozen Maigret novels last summer, but that’s fine – there are 75 books in the series. Good times.

David McCooey is professor of writing and literature, Deakin University.

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Page-turning rural noir

As a former managing editor of television and video for ABC News, Tim Ayliffe has always had a keen eye for the hot button issues of the day. That’s reflected in his John Bailey series of tense political thrillers. But Dark Desert Road promises to be something different.

Here, Ayliffe heads west into the New South Wales Riverina and the territory of the rural noir. His usual burnt-out journalist in the eye of the storm is replaced by a burnt-out cop. Kit McCarthy hasn’t seen her twin sister Billie in years. This is quite understandable as Billie seems to have got herself involved in a survivalist cult hell bent on blowing things, and people, up. So now she needs help.

That’s the premise – and it promises to be just the right kind of energetic page-turner for a lazy holiday read.

Sue Turnbull is honorary professor of communication and media studies, University of Wollongong – and a crime fiction expert.

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Patricia Lockwood

Last summer I read Patricia Lockwood’s No One is Talking About This, a novel that’s up-to-the-minute smart about contemporary life on social media until halfway through when it takes you by the throat and leaves you gasping.

I went quickly to her 2017 memoir, Priestdaddy, where she recounts life as the child of a married Catholic priest. More lately, I read her viral poem, Rape Joke, a remarkable reshaping of thought and talk around women’s experiences of rape. You have to love a writer who can come up with (in a London Review of Books column):

Perhaps for the bug reason, she could only ever picture Kafka lying on his back. Perhaps because of his surviving photos, she had the idea that he medically could not blink.

This summer, I hope to read her new post-COVID novel, Will There Ever Be Another You, hoping for more writing that identifies and breaks our taboos – like the best jokes do.

Kevin Brophy is emeritus professor of creative writing at University of Melbourne.

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Novels about academia

To some, summertime means spontaneity. To me, an adorer of a syllabus if there ever was one, it means a carefully curated reading list. This year, the plan is to spend as much time as possible reading novels about the idiosyncrasies and hypocrisies of academia.

I’ll start by revisiting three classics – Mary McCarthy’s The Groves of Academe, Vladimir Nabokov’s inimitable Pnin, David Lodge’s Changing Places – before I move on to books I haven’t read before.

At the top of my list is Alison Lurie’s The War Between the Tates, a portrait of infidelity and pomposity at Corinth University (a fictional reimagining of Cornell). Next are two darkly comic novels from the nineties: Javier Marías’ Oxford novel All Souls and Ishmael Reed’s Japanese by Spring. Then, I intend to round out the summer with My Education by Susan Choi (shortlisted for this year’s Booker for Flashlight) and Elif Batuman’s The Idiot.

If there’s any summer left at the end of all this, I’ll devote it to rereading some old favourites: JM Coetzee’s Disgrace, Philip Roth’s The Human Stain, and Zadie Smith’s On Beauty.

Joseph Steinberg is Forrest Foundation postdoctoral fellow, English & Literary Studies, The University of Western Australia.

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Book & film: The Virgin Suicides

Every summer, I return to the same perfect pairing: Jeffrey Eugenides’s elegiac novel The Virgin Suicides and Sofia Coppola’s fever-dream adaptation. The story – a meditation on loss and longing – follows the tragic fates of the Lisbon sisters (Cecilia, Lux, Bonnie, Mary and Therese) who are withdrawn from school by their stifling mother and imprisoned at home – before eventually dying by suicide.

Set in 1970s Michigan, in the heart of the Rust Belt, the story brushes against some big themes: the horror of the mundane, the decay of memory, the failure of the American Dream. But the novel’s thematic complexity is not as powerful as its aesthetic imagination. I revisit the girls’ world obsessively because its hazy, dreamlike quality captures, with unnerving accuracy, how it felt to be a teenage girl. Simply put, the summer was long and languorous, and the house was always too small.

Eugenides’s novel, like Coppola’s film, skilfully blends the magic and misery of adolescence: the sacred rituals and secret pacts, the constant scrutiny and creeping sense of entrapment. Like adolescence, summer too is defined by its inevitable ending.

Kate Cantrell is a senior lecturer in writing, editing, and publishing at the University of Southern Queensland.

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Australian romantic comedies

A couple of years ago, I nominated Abra Pressler’s Love and Other Scores as my beach book and noted that it was part of an increased investment from major Australian publishers in local romantic comedies. As someone who both writes and studies romance fiction, I’m delighted that this trend has continued.

There has been a spate of excellent Australian rom-coms released this year: Steph Vizard’s A Smart Girl’s Guide to Second Chances, Patrick Lenton’s In Spite of You, Emma Mugglestone’s In the Long Run, Darcy Green’s After the Siren, Karina May’s That Island Feeling, and Holly Brunnbauer’s What did I Miss?, just to name a few.

My beach read this summer is also a local rom-com: Brooke Crawford’s Better Than the Real Thing. This is a story about a Melbourne teacher in the midst of a series of life crises who unexpectedly finds a reclusive rock star’s childhood diary. When he offers to pay her a lot of money to travel in London and return it to him – how can she refuse?

Paris Haute Couture: Forged by Fire, Shaped by Sea, Yuima Nakazato Reimagines Fashion's Future

In Paris, Japanese couturier Yuima Nakazato celebrated his tenth anniversary showing on the Paris haute couture calendar with an evocative collection titled Inferno. Photographs and cover picture by Andrea Heinsohn for DAM

Yuima Nakazato challenges the conventions of haute couture by placing innovation and environmental consciousness at the heart of his work. Celebrating ten years on the official Paris Haute Couture Week calendar, the Japanese designer returned with a collection exploring the dialogue between ancient tradition and future technology. Inspired by the volcanic landscapes and immense oceans of the Canary Islands, he ruminates on transformation, resilience and the fragile balance between humanity and the natural world. Story by Jeanne-Marie Cilento. Photography by Andrea Heinsohn

The glimmering 'Inferno' hues of Yuima Nakazato's

show in the cavernous Salle Noire in Paris.

ON a scorching Paris summer morning, the journey into Yuima Nakazato’s Autumn/Winter 2026 Haute Couture presentation began with a physical and symbolic descent. 

Leaving behind the intense heat and bright summer light above the streets of the French capital, DAM entered the darkness of the Salle Noire at the Maison des Métallos, a dramatic transition that felt like stepping into the 'inferno' at the heart of the collection.

The underground black-box space, with its raw and immersive atmosphere, has long been associated with designers seeking a more experimental relationship between fashion, architecture and performance. Its intimate darkness has provided the setting for memorable Paris presentations, including those of Junya Watanabe, whose conceptual approach has often embraced the contrast between industrial surroundings and meticulous craftsmanship.

Within this dimly-lit, shadowed environment, Yuima Nakazato unveiled Sea of Fire Inferno, a collection marking the decade since the Japanese designer first joined the official Paris Haute Couture Week, seasons spent challenging the boundaries between couture, contemporary art, technology and sustainability.

Yuima Nakazato shows how couture is a living art form, capable of responding to environmental challenges, technological change and humanity’s relationship with the natural world

Sculptural neck and head pieces are a 

signature of the designer's hand work.

DAM has covered Nakazato’s journey throughout this remarkable ten years, documenting the evolution of a designer who has consistently expanded the language of couture. 

Since his debut as an official guest designer in 2016, he has remained the only Japanese Maison presenting on the official Haute Couture Week calendar, creating a body of work that exists between fashion, sculpture, theatre and scientific innovation.

The origins of the latest collection began far from Paris, on the volcanic landscapes of the Canary Islands. Facing the Atlantic Ocean from cliffs of black lava rock, Nakazato encountered a landscape shaped by opposing forces, ancient eruptions beneath the sea, immense waves crashing against the coastline, and a constant dialogue between creation and destruction.

“Fire brings light and warmth, broadening the possibilities of life, yet also burns whole lands, possessing the power to decimate life itself,” Nakazato explains. “Water, the source of life, a precious resource in danger of reaching its limits, also brings uncontrollable disasters, growing ever more intense in the modern age.”

“Fire and water are fundamentally opposed, yet they transform beneath the light of the sun and the moon, I came to see them as two inseparable, complementary forces within a single whole”

The dialogue between destruction

and creation underpinned the ideas

behind the designer's collection.

For the designer, these forces were not simply symbols of conflict. They represented a deeper relationship between opposing energies, a duality that became the foundation of the collection. “Fire and water are fundamentally opposed,” Nakazato reflects. 

“Yet, just as they seem to transform beneath the light of the sun and the moon, I came to see them as two inseparable, complementary forces within a single whole.”

That philosophy shaped every element of the new designs. Rather than presenting nature as a visual reference alone, Nakazato translated its contradictions into garments that explored transformation, movement and the shifting boundaries between strength and vulnerability.

Central to the collection was monogi, the traditional costume-changing technique used in Noh and Kyogen theatre. Unlike a conventional costume change hidden from the audience, monogi makes transformation visible, turning the act of change itself into part of the performance. It can represent the passage of time, a change in identity or the emergence of another state of being. Nakazato used this process during the show, dressing models and adding accessories hanging on the stage. 

Central to the collection is monogi, the traditional costume-changing technique used in Noh and Kyogen theatre. 

Yuima Nakazato using the monogi technique.

showing the transformation of the garments.

The couturier adopted this centuries-old theatrical principle as a foundation for the collection. Five performers wore garments based on the construction principles of the kimono, allowing the pieces to transform visibly before the audience. 

The movement from deep blue to intense red became a physical expression of the transition between water and fire, between calm and chaos, preservation and destruction.

The influence of the kimono was fundamental to Nakazato’s approach. Rather than simply referencing traditional Japanese dress aesthetically, he explored its underlying philosophy of adaptability and storytelling. “The Japanese kimono is constructed entirely from rectangles, yet it can assume countless forms depending on how it is worn,” he explains. “Its patterns also carry meaning, stories, and prayers.”

This understanding of clothing as a vessel for memory and narrative has remained central to Nakazato’s practice. This season, garments became more than exceptional examples of craftsmanship; they became expressions of history, cultural symbolism and human transformation.

Discarded garments are transformed into new materials, fasteners created from upcycled clothing make sustainability integral to every component 

Nakazato's handmade ceramic "armour' (above)

is a motif he has explored in his recent work.

Yuima Nakazato continues his 'fragile armour' series, further exploring the relationship between protection and vulnerability. Typically, armour represents defence and conflict, yet Nakazato questions whether true strength must always appear rigid or impenetrable.

“Traditionally, armour exists to protect the human body while symbolizing conflict,” he says. “By creating armour from fragile ceramic, I seek to redefine what armor can represent.”

The result was a reinterpretation of resilience, one where fragility itself becomes a source of strength. Alongside these philosophical explorations, the collection demonstrated the technical innovation that has become central to the Yuima Nakazato Maison. 

Continuing his collaboration with Epson through Dry Fiber Technology, the designer explored methods of transforming discarded garments into new materials. A further partnership with YKK resulted in fasteners created from upcycled clothing, extending the sustainability conversation into every component of the garment.

Photographs captured of the ocean surrounding Tenerife, were digitally transformed, the blue waters reimagined as flames through advanced textile printing technology 

Photographs taken by the designer of the ocean

are digitally transformed to create new designs.

Technology became another form of storytelling. Photographs captured by Nakazato of the ocean surrounding Tenerife were digitally transformed, with the blue waters reimagined as flames through advanced textile printing technology. The process mirrored the collection’s central idea: that different elements can evolve into something entirely new.

After ten years on the official Paris Haute Couture calendar, Yuima Nakazato continues to occupy a singular position within contemporary couture. While many traditional maisons often look to heritage as their foundation, Nakazato has built his identity through experimentation, proving that craftsmanship and technology, cultural tradition and innovation, can exist not in opposition but in conversation.

Inferno is not simply an anniversary collection; it was a statement of intent. It demonstrated that couture remains a living art form, capable of responding to environmental challenges, technological change and humanity’s evolving relationship with the natural world.

Yuima Nakazato remains one of couture’s most original voices, a designer who continues to redefine the possibilities of the discipline while honouring its savoire faire tradition

Yuima Nakazato is a designer who redefines

the parametres of both fashion and couture, 

Nakazato graduated from the Fashion Department of the Royal Academy of Fine Arts Antwerp in 2008 before establishing his international career through an interdisciplinary approach to design. 

Since showing in Paris in 2016, he has moved beyond fashion into opera, ballet and contemporary art, creating costumes for productions including those with the Boston Ballet and the Geneva National Theatre. His work was celebrated in his first solo exhibition, Yuima Nakazato: Beyond Couture, presented at the Cité de la Dentelle et de la Mode in 2024.

Building on his Paris debut, Yuima Nakazato has become one of couture’s most original voices, a designer who continues to redefine the possibilities of the discipline while honouring its savoir-faire traditions. Through the new collection, he reminded the fashion world that couture is not only about creating beauty, but about questioning, transforming and imagining what comes next. 

See more highlights from Yuima Nakazato's Haute Couture AW26/27 Collection in Paris

Paris Haute Couture: Paradise Lost, Couture Found, Celia Kritharioti’s Frozen Eden Amid a Heatwave

Falling faux snow enraptures a model on the runway at Celia Kritharioti's haute couture show in Paris. Photograph (above) and cover picture by Brittany Scott for DAM

During one of Paris’s hottest Haute Couture Weeks, Celia Kritharioti presented Frozen Eden, creating a sharp contrast between the city’s summer heat and the collection’s icy visual world. Jennifer Lopez arrived with her sister, and were enthralled along with other guests, as the show unfolded with its exploration of purity and temptation. Story by Jeanne-Marie Cilento. Photography by Brittany Scott 

A crystalline crown and gown  

represented the Frozen Eden

theme.

PARIS was already sweltering early on a July morning, when Celia Kritharioti invited guests into an entirely different world. Her Autumn/Winter 2026-2027 collection called, Frozen Eden, transformed the intimate venue of the Galerie Vendome into a crystalline winter landscape where snow-covered trees, glittering icicles and frosted pathways set the stage for designs inspired by the moment innocence gives way to temptation.

The spectacle began before the first look appeared, as Jennifer Lopez arrived with her sister Lynda Lopez, drawing a wave of photographers that delayed the opening of the show. 

Joining her in the front row were U.S. Ambassador to Greece Kimberly Guilfoyle, Fai Khadra, Leonie Hanne and Greek shipping magnate Nikos Tsakos, reflecting the designer’s global reach and the international appeal of a house that continues to place Greek couture on the French capital's stage.

Drawing on the biblical Garden of Eden, the Greek couturière imagined a world frozen in the instant after the forbidden fruit had been taken. It was a poetic concept, explored through the interplay of seduction, concealment and revelation. 

White and silver dominated the opening looks, with crystal embroidery sparkling like frozen tears across delicate tulles and fluid gowns. Models emerged with snow-dusted hair, frosted eyelashes and jewel-encrusted faces, reinforcing the dreamlike atmosphere.

Drawing on the biblical Garden of Eden, the Greek couturière imagined a world frozen in the instant after the forbidden fruit had been taken.

An elegant long, black cape flowed

over a floor-length white gown. 

Texture became one of the collection's greatest strengths. Rich black velvet provided dramatic contrast to whisper-light lace and sheer fabrics, while feathers, shimmering fringe and intricate crystal embellishments introduced movement despite the icy narrative. 

Metallic appliqué and sculptural embroidery reflected the light with every step, giving many garments the appearance of being carved from ice rather than sewn by hand.

Among the standout pieces was a dramatic serpent-inspired gown, its sinuous silhouette providing a visual reminder of temptation within the frozen paradise. 

Equally memorable were elegant column dresses embroidered with thousands of crystals and sweeping capes that balanced theatricality with refined couture craftsmanship.

Kritharioti has never subscribed to the obsession with understated luxury. Instead, she embraces glamour with conviction, celebrating embellishment, femininity and occasion dressing. That confidence was evident throughout Frozen Eden, where every look felt unapologetically cinematic without descending into costume.

The production itself occasionally became part of the performance. Artificial snow covering the runway proved so deep that several models lost their shoes mid-walk, adding an unexpected moment of drama before the finale delivered a gentle snowfall over the entire cast.

was a poetic concept, explored through the interplay of purity and seduction, concealment and revelation 

Hair was lightly dusted with artificial

snow with frost-white lashes and 

sculptural silver tears on the cheeks.

The beauty direction proved integral to the collection's storytelling. Hair was lightly dusted with the artificial snow, while the makeup transformed models into ethereal figures suspended in a frozen landscape. Frost-white lashes radiated outward like delicate ice crystals, and sculptural silver tears traced down cheeks, lending the faces an otherworldly quality. 

Tiny crystal embellishments caught the light with every movement, echoing the sparkle of the embroidery and reinforcing the illusion that each woman had stepped directly from Kritharioti's imagined winter paradise. 

Conceived by legendary makeup artist Val Garland with hair by Eugene Souleiman, the look was theatrical yet exquisitely controlled, complementing rather than competing with the couture.

As the oldest couture house in Greece, founded in 1906, Celia Kritharioti continues to honour traditional craftsmanship while presenting collections that resonate with an international clientele. Her new collection reaffirmed the enduring appeal of fantasy, meticulous handwork and unapologetic glamour. In a season defined by conceptual minimalism, Kritharioti reminded Paris that couture still has the power to transport its audience into another world.

See more highlights from the Celia Kritharioti haute couture AW26/27 collection in Paris