OPINION

We Locked in the acclaimed, experimental, sustainability-minded chef Josh Niland for a cover shoot with photographer Jason Loucas a while ago, as I knew he’d be a perfect fit for T Australia — not to mention the beautiful menswear styled by Patrick Zaczkiewicz. The fact that he was awarded a very deserved third chef’s hat for his Sydney restaurant Saint Peter just a couple of days before the interview was the kind of happy coincidence you can’t plan. But as you’ll learn in the revealing profile by Nina Rousseau on page 58, it was no surprise.

Niland has been driving himself to excel — and upending the odds — since he was young and stricken with a rare form of cancer. In the interview, he shares how he’d take the long train ride into Sydney from regional New South Wales to sit alone in restaurants sampling dishes he dreamed of one day emulating — and bettering.

That spirit of daring to dream informs this, our Yes issue. How to capture that at a time when many are feeling anxious about global politics and the cost of living at home? Nina Hendy spotlights a diverse group who are pursuing — as six per cent of Australians now are — side hustles. Sometimes patronisingly called “hobby careers”, these are, more accurately, consuming entrepreneurial passions. The subjects on page 74 are forging new paths not just for themselves but also for society, launching variously an inclusive swimwear range, a contemporary art gallery dedicated to art from across the Asia-Pacific and a beauty range to benefit those with low vision. 

Our regular columnist, Lance Richardson, takes the “yes” baton and runs with it on page 44, arguing that the improv theatre principle of “yes, and” — in which an actor unquestioningly accepts and then builds on whatever scenario their fellow actor conjures up — can open the door to magic and opportunity in our real lives. Saying “no” is a perfectly rational self-protective instinct, he writes, but after a while it can develop into a reflex that limits us as people.

One musician who never met a “no” he liked is LL Cool J, a true rap pioneer who became the first signing to the legendary Def Jam records when he was just 16, at the dawn of hip-hop, following a period of doggedly pushing his demo on anyone who’d listen. In the years since his breakout musical success, he became a bankable TV star, appearing in “NCIS: Los Angeles” for 15 years. Now, at age 56, he has a new album, produced by fellow luminary Q-Tip of A Tribe Called Quest. Get inspired on page 68.

The playwright and climate activist David Finnigan, profiled on page 30, similarly refused to take “no” for an answer as he looked to stage his increasingly urgent plays addressing the climate crisis. One work was seen as so politically untouchable that no theatre would go near it at first, prompting Finnigan to work its message into a dance party, a walking tour of Parliament House and an album of dance floor “bangers”. In our interview, he talks about his latest one-man show, “Deep History”, which all started with his personal “yes” to his father, a climate scientist, who asked Finnigan to help him write up a paper on six turning points in human history and what they taught us as a species. That particular “yes”, an act of love from a son to a father who was sick with a spinal infection at the time, was the genesis of this new work. What will you say “yes” to today?

Welcome to T Australia’s first Style issue.

Naturally, we have fashion for days. Fans of timeless silhouettes and refined tailoring should turn immediately to page 38 to get their kitten heel on. For those whose tastes run more to the fantastical and the romantic, Levon Baird photographed a (very high-end) dress-up box of fringed and feathered dresses and tactile coats on location in a former milking shed in the Blue Mountains (page 62).

Victoria Pearson profiles the rising Australian designers who unapologetically bring their personal backstories and aesthetics — be it a lifelong familiarity with the rag trade or a love of the Great Aussie Flanno — to bear on their collections (page 78). File under names to know.

We check in with Victoria Beckham in light of the recent upswing in her eponymous label’s fortunes (page 28). And we meet some of the growing cohort of men who proudly wear Miu Miu despite its official status as womenswear (page 46). As one of the brand’s male fans describes, “It is dope to be the guy that’s in the jacket that the average person is like, ‘Oh, that’s Carhartt’, but you know that it’s the one big size from the store of the coolest women’s brand in the world.” You might not know, but they know, and isn’t that the essence of personal style?

It can’t be put in a box, but style can definitely come in one. Case in point: this issue’s watches and jewellery pull-out rounds up the latest pieces that, among other things, conjure a summer breeze at the touch of a button and glow in the dark. No kidding.

Just as style’s dictionary definition covers both appearance and manner, the word can mean both aesthetics and a way of living (I’m carefully avoiding the term “lifestyle”, which has been overused to the point that it’s a weird hybrid of the two). Our columnist Lance Richardson ponders the ethical implications of our collective stylistic choices in the face of the worsening climate crisis (page 44). He writes that he finds himself increasingly buying from op-shops and being more restrained in all areas of his life, down to the places he travels to, and how often.

An especially stubborn factor in the climate situation is food waste — an issue not helped by our absurdly strict beauty standards for ingredients. Kara Hurry profiles the chefs, growers and produce suppliers who are making lemonade from these lemons — or, in the case of the Sydney chef Alex Prichard, limoncello from citrus judged too imperfectly formed to sell. Mona’s executive chef, Vince Trim, advocates for sustainable menus that use other overlooked foodstuffs like deer, an invasive species, and long-spined sea urchin, which is currently ravaging Tasmanian waters.

Sometimes style is a polish that reflects intense thought to improve something. Other times, there’s plenty of thought involved in doing very little, to preserve something that was beautiful already. On page 90 you’ll explore a grand old home in Puglia, Italy, abandoned for half a century, where the amazing heritage elements have been left respectfully in tact throughout a renovation, just as its new owner, the eldest son of the Etro fashion family, likes them. There’s something very Italian about that.

On page 22, our food and drinks writer, Fred Siggins, answers a question on everyone’s lips: why is every second bar to open at the moment Italian? Turns out it has something to do with hospitality, and a lot to do with style.