The last thing I bought and loved was a huge order of beeswax candles by Tony Assness. He’s an Australian set designer and theatrical maestro whom I’ve known for at least 30 years, but his side business is making these beeswax candles. He sculpts them himself using 3D moulds, and they’re really extraordinary – quite modern in their aesthetic.

The last music I downloaded was “About Damn Time” by Lizzo. I am known as the musical troglodyte in our family, but my husband Baz [Luhrmann] and his assistant introduced me to Lizzo, and I’ve become an aficionado. Everyone in the house jokes that I only play Elton John, Dua Lipa and Lizzo on repeat. 

I’m an idiot for not coming to the Gold Coast 10 years ago – it’s just itself

The place that means a lot to me is Paris. I am half-French on my mother’s side, I grew up bilingual and we travelled to France from Sydney quite regularly as children. So it’s a special place where I go to recharge, to connect back to something inside myself, and to be in this sort of visual bath.

In my fridge you’ll always find Ruinart champagne and good smoked salmon; I could survive on those, maybe with an occasional glass of water and the odd rocket salad. Also parmesan cheese, sourdough and a crisper drawer full of vegetables. We tend to buy regularly in smaller quantities, and shop locally as much as possible.

An object I would never part with is my engagement ring, which has quite a romantic story to it. When Baz and I were in Mexico for Romeo + Juliet, we met a young man who came from a dynasty that had created the railways in Mexico; he wanted to work on the movie and travel to Australia to see the editing process, but he didn’t have any money. So Baz bartered with him for a piece of his family’s jewellery. The ring is a paisley shape that was made in Paris in the late ’50s, bought by the man’s grandfather. When Baz proposed, I was massively ungrateful because it wasn’t what I imagined; the ’90s were the time of the single-stone, Tiffany Claw setting, and it just seemed really over the top. But now I absolutely adore it.

The one artist whose work I would collect if I could is Manet. One of my favourite paintings is A Bar at the Folies-Bergère; I feel a connection to the barmaid at the centre of it, who has a look in her eye that I find haunting. 

Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus made me realise how fresh, vibrant and modern images from the past could be

The beauty staple I’m never without is sunscreen, from an Australian brand called Rationale. I love the tinted serum and the Superfluid, which are both SPF50, because they are really easy to apply, very natural, and give your skin a nice glow. I also always wear Sycomore from Les Exclusifs de Chanel, because I love the smell of vetiver. Chanel Les Exclusifs Sycomore, £169 for 75ml. Rationale tinted serum, A$176 (about £98) for 30ml; Rationale Beautiful Skin Superfluid, about £57 for 30ml 

My favourite room in my house is the living room, which leads out to the balcony that overlooks the ocean. The house is uncomplicated and tiny, built right on the beach in the late ’40s, before everyone was trying to get to the road. It has a small front yard, then a sand dune that rises up and an elevated footpath, then the beach. Sitting on the balcony is the perfect place to watch people, walking up and down with their dogs, talking, loving, riding bikes.

The work of art that changed everything for me was seeing Botticelli’s The Birth of Venus in the Uffizi Gallery at 15. It made me realise how fresh, vibrant and modern images from the past could be, and therefore not to assume historical references were doomed to be old and musty. 

The best bit of advice I ever received was from my dad, who said that throughout his life he had more often regretted saying no to things than saying yes. I am now practising saying yes to a lot more. I’ve had my own mental-health struggles but now, at 57, I’m feeling great, and mentally strong. 

Elvis is available now on Blu-ray, DVD and digital download

This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Jessica Beresford

For his AW20 show, part of new-gen talent incubator Fashion East, Nash cast a group of dancers in place of models: they twisted, twirled and slid around in slick, transformable sportswear and made everyone sit up in their seats to watch. For his follow-up collection Flipside, for SS21, Nash filmed himself and a handful of dancers running and swaying along a cliff face. A year later, at London Fashion Week, he orchestrated a scene in which models changed out of their clothes while waiting for the bus.

Saul Nash recycled nylon cap, £110, htown.co.uk

Saul Nash jersey cotton pullover, £295, flannels.com

The dynamism of his presentations makes sense given that, as well as being a fashion designer, Nash is a dancer and choreographer. The clothes he creates highlight both the versatility of his luxury sportswear and allow him to speak in the visual language with which he’s most familiar.

Discovering the work of Zowie Broach, who co-founded British fashion brand Boudicca in 1997, spurred Nash to do a master’s in fashion design at the Royal College of Art. “I was inspired by her show at the Royal Opera House where she used a ballerina to almost paint the ground,” says Nash. “That was an early insight for me into how performance and fashion could come together.” Nash is also influenced by the late designer Issey Miyake, who “carved the way for performance. There are so many people who have broken down doors for me to exist”.

Saul Nash recycled polyester crew jacket, £550, selfridges.com

Saul Nash recycled nylon-mix trousers, £350, selfridges.com

Nash could very well be a young Miyake. Both initially set out to be dancers, staged performances in lieu of traditional runway shows and made movement central to their designs. “I almost saw the garments as dance,” says Nash. “I saw the cutting and designing as choreographing the way that they would move.” 

Each season, Nash tries to find more innovative materials so he can eventually phase out the use of the fossil fuel-derived fabrics that are so common in sportswear. He uses organic cotton, recycled polyester and has started experimenting with how wool can work for activewear, through the Woolmark prize as well as a collaboration with traceable knitwear brand Sheep Inc. “There is so much about wool that I didn’t realise was incredible for sports, such as its moisture-wicking properties. And the yarn I’ve found had a high tensity, so it was really stretchy and meant that I could then get rid of elastane in the tops I was using.”

The collaboration, launching this month, includes polos and shorts that are knitted seamlessly so they are “smoother and more comfortable to wear, and uniquely suited for garments that are meant to be worn in movement”, says Sheep Inc co-founder Edzard van der Wyck. “It’s also one of the most sustainable manufacturing methods due to the zero-waste production process.”

While Nash’s brand started out with the sole purpose of exploring movement and dance, his most recent collections have examined other avenues. For Twist, his collection for AW21, Nash made a film in which two men are shoving each other – a precursor to a brawl – before embracing in a tender kiss. Directed by his partner, Fx Goby, it was a comment on his own experience of coming out as gay. 

“There’s always that line with sexuality, where you assume people are one way, but they might actually surprise you,” says Nash. “At the time I grew up, there were a lot of stereotypes around myself and the kind of people I grew up around. I wanted to show that there are lots of layers to men – it’s not always the tough guy that you’re representing,” says Nash. “I think it’s important to show a spectrum of men and to show that they all have different sensitivities, that they’re not all the same.”

For AW22, he explored the beliefs and rituals of his Guyanese and Caribbean heritage. “In the house, there would always be talk about superstition, like don’t comb your hair and throw it in the bin because the birds will peck at it – you’ve got to flush it down the toilet,” says Nash. An abstract green and blue pattern on a sweatshirt and pants represents the Guyanese flag, and the figure of a mermaid, printed on technical tracksuits, evokes folklore told in Caribbean, African and Latin-American cultures. His runway show was also accompanied by a short film set in Gee Barber in London. “That’s a ritual for a lot of the men that I grew up around,” says Nash of the barbershop. “For me, that’s a transformative place. You go and then you come out as a different person.”

This story originally appeared on: Financial Times - Author:Jessica Beresford