GQ Australia

editor’s letter

Idon’t know about you, but every morning when I wake up, I have to fight the urge to pick up my phone and check the various ways the world is ending. Fires, floods, plagues – it’s all happening. By the time this issue is out, the US election will have shaken the geopolitical order once again, the world’s hopes of recovery are pinned on a vaccine that’s still far from certain, and here in Australia, we’ll be heading into another bushfire season. I’m not trying to sound depressing. Because the truth is, there’s so much bad news around at the moment, you couldn’t possibly worry about it all. You literally don’t have time for it. So this issue, we’re all about staying positive. Take Daniel Ricciardo. Our cover star is not simply…

contributors

Emma Proudfoot PRODUCER GQ: What does a typical day for a GQ and Vogue producer look like? Emma Proudfoot: A lot of emails and calls! Depending on the shoots I’m working on, my days vary massively. I’m either in the office working with stylists and co-ordinating crew, locations, talent and managing budgets, or I’m running around on set. GQ: Spotting locations for shoots is your bread and butter. How do you know you’ve found the right spot? EP: I’m constantly filing potential shoot locations in my head (and on my camera roll) whenever I go somewhere new that inspires me. It helps to have a big reference bank rather than starting fresh every time. GQ: What new challenges has shooting during a pandemic presented? EP: A silver lining is that with no international or regional travel we’ve…

personal space

Timothy Moore has been thinking about the office. Not the TV show (though maybe that too; we’ve all been stuck indoors), but Sibling Architecture’s Melbourne and Sydney studios, which have been sitting dormant since March. “How do you incorporate staff into the culture of the office,” he wonders aloud, “while we’re all working from home?” He’s not the only one asking such questions. Team managers everywhere have been forced to become experts in hosting everything from farewell parties to baby showers over video calls. But Moore’s concern is emblematic of the philosophical questions that motivate Sibling, the architecture practice he co-directs with four friends: Amelia Borg, Nicholas Braun, Jane Caught and Qianyi Lim. “What does it mean to ‘challenge the norm’ in architecture? How can we bring people together in different…

a trio of triennial highlights

THE FASHION DESIGNER If you didn’t know Richard Quinn before 2018, the presence of Queen Elizabeth II at his AW18 show earned the young British designer global headlines galore. For the Triennial, a provocative look from Quinn’s AW20 collection will be on display. Inspired by London’s ‘pearlies’ – 19th-century street vendors who would adorn themselves in pearls – the ‘Look 2, Ensemble’ is crusted with diamantés, buttons, bugle beads and faux pearls. ‘GOD SAVE THE QUINN’ is embroidered along the hemline. We hope Her Majesty’s sense of humour is still intact. THE STREET ARTIST He goes only by ‘JR’ and he’s one of the art world’s most enigmatic and political forces. For the Triennial, the Frenchman has created a multi-part artwork that spotlights the ecological decline of Australia’s Darling River system, which, if…

switch it up

In March this year, as the world descended into an unknown state of pandemic-induced paralysis, electronics and video game company Nintendo launched Animal Crossing: New Horizons, the latest edition of its popular Animal Crossing franchise. Unable to hang with friends IRL, the game – a ‘social simulation’ where players act out their days in island communities of their own creation – gave us the opportunity to socialise vicariously. By July, Nintendo had sold over 22 million copies, which helped nudge the company’s quarterly profits towards the $1.4bn mark – an increase of more than 540 per cent on the previous year. But to play the game, you need the gear. And unlike its competitors (games launched by PlayStation and Xbox are often console-agnostic), New Horizons is a Nintendo exclusive. The hybrid…

hollywood’s not dead

BABYTEETH How are you supposed to live, when you know your life could end tomorrow? Babyteeth isn’t the first coming-of-age drama to address this quandary, but the performance of Australian actor Eliza Scanlen, who plays the terminally ill teenager Milla, puts forth the most invigorating, life-affirming case we’ve seen so far. She shaves her head, falls fearlessly in love with a shifty drug dealer named Moses (played by Toby Wallace) and shoplifts cheap lipstick like she’s got nothing to lose. Because, well, she doesn’t. Directed by Shannon Murphy and set in suburban Australia, this achingly beautiful film will leave you feeling alive. Now streaming on Amazon Prime Video. DA 5 BLOODS We didn’t know it at the time, but Da 5 Bloods would be one of Chadwick Boseman’s last films. Directed by Spike…