Innehållsförteckning för 2512 från Marie Claire Lifestyle

As a flower obsessive, it’s heading into my favourite time of year. Where I live, the gardens come back to life – camellias, tulips, blossoms, colour everywhere. You can smell it before you see it. Consider this issue as your seasonal refresh. A moodboard of lighter, brighter, bolder ideas to welcome the new season in style. On the cover, we step inside the Brisbane home of Lucy Henry-Hicks, CEO of fashion brand Dissh. It’s calm, chic and totally spectacular – just like the woman herself. “I’ve learnt not to rush,” she tells marie claire Lifestyle. “Spaces need to evolve with you.” And you can feel that in every corner of her home. Read more from page 36. As always, we’re taking you around the world. There’s the English eccentricity of…

When an unrecognised New York number flashed up on Virginia Bates’ phone one evening last year, she ignored it. The caller persisted. “It was Naomi [Campbell],” says the 82-year-old style icon. “She was having a panic about her V&A show [‘Naomi in Fashion’] and wanted me to help style a space that was meant to be a dressing room in a hotel suite. I used things from my archive: props from John Galliano’s shows, gowns, Claridge’s door keys, Louis Vuitton luggage. I threw things around the floor and across furniture – it was meant to look like she had just left after getting ready in a hurry. It worked so well because the rest of the show was pristine and this was beautiful chaos.” This description could also be used…

When Italian-born fashion and luxury communications executive, Giulia Felicani, moved to Paris, she ditched the typical expat route to the Left Bank. Instead, along with her French husband Hughes and their young son Theodore, she found a grand light-filled Haussmannian apartment in the 8th arrondissement. Located only steps from the elegant Parc Monceau, it’s where Belle Époque grandeur meets modern luxury. “I knew I didn’t want the ‘typical’ Parisian experience,” says Felicani with a smile. “Many Italians gravitate to the Left Bank, but I was drawn to something different. We wanted a home with character, history and light.” Although the space they found had dimmed with time, the beautiful bones were there: fin-de-siècle details, soaring ceilings, generous proportions. So with the help of architect Charlotte Petit of Argia Architecture, the…

After years living between Paris and Brussels, Mexican potter Perla Valtierra returned home. Having studied at the National Autonomous University of Mexico, then the Belgian art school La Cambre, she’s always been fascinated by travel, crafts and ceramics in particular. It was in Japan, thanks to a research grant, that “everything became clear. It changed my perception of my practice,” she says, referring to how she embraced the Japanese art of kintsugi, which honours the beauty of imperfection through the repair of broken ceramics. It’s a revelation that defines her style and anchors her in the utilitarian object she reveres. “I love handling the objects I create; I develop rituals with each one.” Since her “return to her roots”, the Chihuahua native has been working with artisans in her two…

Layer different textures to create depth. Think bouclé against marble, linen on lacquer, wood with velvet Mix eras with intention. A Georgian mirror above a minimalist console. A 1970s Murano lamp on a brutalist coffee table. The result is more interesting to the eye Let one piece be the star. A dramatic chandelier, a statement chair, an oversized artwork – choose one focal point and let it breathe Look for pieces with a story: handwoven rugs, hand-turned wooden stools, ceramics with the maker’s thumbprint still visible. Imperfections help things feel fresh Invest in art you love. Forget what’s trending. Whether it’s a blue-chip sculpture or a flea market sketch, your art should reflect your eye A single hue – through a cushion, sofa or lampshade – can help tie a room…

WE ARE DUET Inside the beautifully chaotic world of interior designers Dominique Brammah and Shannon Shlom If We Are Duet were a room, it would never look the same twice. One day it might be wrapped in Svenskt Tenn’s cloverleaf wallpaper; the next, stripped back to a tonal zen den, softened by a cotton waffle throw on the sofa. And that’s the whole point. Sydney-based designers Dominique Brammah and Shannon Shlom, co-founders of boutique interiors studio We Are Duet, don’t do one-size-fits-all. They shape-shift. Their work is layered, eclectic and always deeply personal – designed to reflect the people who live in it. “Creative harmony, for us, feels like a beautifully chaotic dance,” they explain. “All the cogs in a wheel turning – each with its own beat, but moving…

For Anne and Pierre, Corsica is synonymous with sandcastles, swimming and laughter. As children, they would go there every year with their families, so the Isle of Beauty was the obvious choice when they were looking for their own holiday house. They wanted it to be “typically Mediterranean and easy to live in, to bring children and friends together”. The couple found their happiness in a private estate, facing the Gulf of Porto-Vecchio. Admittedly, the 1960s building needed to be completely renovated, but the view was breathtaking, and the 2000 square-metre plot, planted with rosemary, fig trees and bougainvillea, had direct access to the beach. Corsican architect Gilles Terrazzoni renovated the house, stripping it down completely, redoing the roof and replacing the window frames with lacquered aluminum bay windows that…

If there’s one event not to miss during Milan Design Week, it’s the unveiling of the new Casaornella – the marvellous Milanese home and showroom of Maria Vittoria Paggini. Each year, the eclectic, self-taught interior designer gives her apartment a full makeover to mark the occasion. This year’s theme, Mediterranea – Andamento Lento, is a tribute to a slower pace of life, perhaps a necessary response to the whirlwind of the post-pandemic years, which have coincided with Paggini’s meteoric rise and firm establishment on the design scene. “Although I’m the first to say that life needs to be lived to the fullest, I also believe that moments of rest are just as important – if not more so,” says Paggini, drawing inspiration from the rich coastal cultures that line the…

DEBORAH SAMS Co-founder of Bassike Most treasured piece in your own home? Hans Wegner Flag Halyard chair. DREAM COLLABORATION? A textile Mark Rothko print would be a dream to design with. Best city for design inspiration? Tokyo. The design rules you love to break? The rules of traditional gendered dressing. Blurring the lines between menswear and womenswear – especially through oversized, deconstructed tailoring – allows for a more expressive and fluid approach. FAVOURITE PIECE OF FURNITURE? B&B Italia’s Tufty-Time sofa. One daily ritual that fuels your creativity? It’s a miniseries: I start my day with a 20-minute mediation, 10 minutes of breathwork and then I jump into the ocean. FAVOURITE DESIGN ERA OR MOVEMENT? The ’90s will always be my ultimate reference point. It was a decade that encompassed everything:…

Lucy Henry-Hicks doesn’t do loud. She does layers. Texture over trend. Form over fuss. Her Brisbane home – a serene, sculptural escape designed with Tigmi Trading’s in-house interiors team – is an extension of that ethos. No loud colour bursts, no maximalist moments. Just quiet luxury, sharp lines and a palette so calming you’ll want to lie down and stay awhile. “Warm, layered, textured,” is how she describes it. As the CEO of fashion brand Dissh, Henry-Hicks is no stranger to aesthetics. But home was never meant to be a showroom, it was designed as a retreat. “We live inner-city, so it was really important that the house feel like a sanctuary,” she says. “A lot of thought went into the architectural landscape design and how we could use nature…

Edwina Bartholomew and her husband Neil Varcoe weren’t actively searching for a country escape when they found Warramba, a sandstone shearer’s cottage from the 1890s nestled deep in NSW’s Capertee Valley, but they were looking for space. “We were both craving some time out of the city,” Bartholomew explains. “Neil grew up in [nearby] Lithgow, and I’d just spent three years travelling around the country with Sunrise. I really missed being in the country.” As it happened, their home found them on a quiet New Year’s Eve in 2015, while they were scrolling through real estate listings. “Neil knew the area well, which made it feel like fate,” she says. “We were so lucky to find the home we now call Warramba.” Originally, the plan was a simple renovation –…

Stepping into Bailey Meredith’s apartment feels a bit like exhaling. With its soft textures, subtle colour shifts and a sense of calm, it’s essence settles into your bones. “Warm, tranquil and understated,” is how Meredith, co-founder of cult-favourite luxury towelling brand Baina, describes the overall mood of her space. And we agree. Located in the inner-Sydney suburb of Kensington, the apartment is a reflection of Meredith’s personal evolution and the slow-living ethos her brand espouses. “When we moved from New Zealand to Australia, we brought with us the pieces that held meaning,” she says. “Objects with history, things we’d lived with … our timber coffee table, ceramics collected on trips, our books. Those items acted as anchors in a new place.” Now, those pieces live alongside newer additions, creating what…

After years of slick city living in Sydney (and London before that), Annelise Jensen and her husband, Ollie, did what many urbanites only dream of: packed up their two children, Elke and Henry, and traded traffic for tranquillity, making Bowral in the Southern Highlands of New South Wales their new home. “What drew me to the area was its stunning natural beauty, open spaces and slower, less frenetic pace of life,” Jensen tells marie claire Lifestyle. “We were craving a lifestyle with more balance, less stress and a deeper connection to nature, especially for the kids. The rolling green fields, fresh air and strong sense of community made it feel like the right place to put down roots. The vibrant food and wine scene, the influx of young families and…

The interiors that have always stayed with me are, more often than not, those that feel confident. They unashamedly exist in their unique authenticity and beauty. The best rooms are those that don’t seek your approval; they are quietly confident in their own strength and existence, drawing you to spend time within the promise of their walls. It’s no different to spending time with a confident friend or being within a majestic landscape; you immediately feel happy, at home and inspired. I think a room should always aim to provide this at some level. No greater confidence can be offered than the timelessness and elegance of the outside world. To be constantly reminded of the shapes, patterns or cyclical movement provided by nature is a strong and grounding foundation from…