Lifestyle Desires — Australian living

A woman sits alone at a warmly lit bar with a glass of wine

What solo-maxxing says about the price of being coupled

Solo-maxxing is turning dating costs into a relationships question, with $200 date nights making single life feel less like failure.

Dee Marlow· 8 min read

A woman holds supplements and a glass of water during a morning health routine

wellbeing

The care gap wellness influencers know how to sell

A clapperboard held against a dark film-set background

culture

What YouTube’s Gen Z directors are doing to Hollywood now

Amber-lit restaurant dining room with tables set beside tall windows

food-drink

What Melbourne’s best-designed restaurants are really selling now

After the noise, Jordan Gogos sounds clearer

Jordan Gogos after Australian Fashion Week looks less like a retreat than a pivot, with Parádeisos at UNSW turning scraps, colour and refusal into a longer argument about Australian style.

Backstage fashion portrait that fits a story about an outsider runway feeling more alive.

Why Australian fashion’s outsider runway feels more alive

Woman practising yoga beneath Sydney's Martin Place archways

Alo lands in Sydney, and the matching set follows

A grand staircase and red carpet inside a formal venue, evoking gala spectacle and social choreography.

What happens when the billionaires become the dress code

Online shopping on a phone screen beside folded clothing, illustrating the speed of copycat fashion storefronts.

Shopify ghost stores are swallowing Australian fashion

Cozy living room with art and layered furniture, chosen to reflect Australia's move beyond plain white walls

Australia is over its white-wall hangover

Dulux Colour Awards 2026 winners point to a warmer Australian home, where colour works as structure rather than a weekend paint whim.

When the guesthouse becomes the showroom

a relaxed bedroom with layered bedding, books and soft linen textures

The half-made bed has entered its soft-power era

Converted Sydney corner shop with retained street-facing facade and contemporary living space behind

Why Sydney keeps falling back in love with the corner shop

Sunset view from a plane window above the clouds, evoking the aspirational mood of a bargain holiday

When the bargain holiday stops feeling clever

Families and travellers on a Bali beach, the ordinary holiday at the centre of Australia's status argument

The holiday you sneer at is telling on you

Vintage camera resting on a folded travel map, a visual case for swapping apps for dedicated travel tools

The trip gets better when your phone gets boring

Travel documents and planning materials before a trip

The 2026 travel paperwork to check before you book

Travel toiletries and beauty essentials spread out before packing.

What the bathroom floor knows before a trip

A room at Castello di Reschio looking onto the Umbrian landscape.

When a beautiful hotel follows you home

What solo-maxxing says about the price of being coupled

Solo-maxxing is turning dating costs into a relationships question, with $200 date nights making single life feel less like failure.

Students gathered around a table in discussion

What young Australians are asking sex ed to finally admit

A couple in conversation over wine at a cafe table

Dating in white spaces can cost more than love

A couple walking through a city at night, the kind of ordinary date that now comes with a visible price tag.

What free petrol says about dating now

A mother and child share a quiet moment at home, held close in black and white.

The bill comes due when you become the cycle-breaker

What YouTube’s Gen Z directors are doing to Hollywood now

YouTube directors behind Backrooms and Obsession are turning internet horror into Hollywood’s new taste test, and the old gatekeeping story looks shakier.

Sydney Harbour glowing at night during festival season, with the Opera House, Harbour Bridge and CBD lit across the water

When Vivid’s drones faltered, Sydney kept staring

An older painter at work in the studio, a more grounded image for a story about the suffering-artist myth.

Why the suffering artist myth still flatters us

Streaming apps displayed across a television screen in a dark living room

The TV bundle came back in app icons

What Melbourne’s best-designed restaurants are really selling now

A can of La Campagnola tomatoes on a kitchen counter with soft lighting.

Why tinned tomatoes still decide how dinner tastes

Rows of agave on a sun-bleached Queensland farm, where Australian distillers are betting the plant can anchor a local spirits future.

The prickly plant changing Australia's pour

A chilled glass of horchata with cinnamon sticks, echoing the cold creamy café drink at the centre of the story

Horchata slips into the café script

Exterior of a Guzman y Gomez restaurant, used as the hero image for coverage of the chain's US exit.

Guzman y Gomez could conquer Australia. America was another story.

A warmly lit Italian restaurant table set for dinner in Melbourne.

Melbourne's new Italian rooms want you to stay

Woman seated on floor against a wall, conveying housing insecurity and distress.

What the rental crisis is doing to women who need to leave now

Australia's rental crisis is changing what it means to leave a violent home, forcing women to weigh safety against rents, paperwork and nowhere to land.

A young man lies on a bed reaching for his phone near a window — the suspended animation of adulthood in a childhood room.

Late 20s and living at home: the cost no one's counting

Woman working in a rural field, echoing Rachel Ward's shift from glamour to farm labour.

Rachel Ward found purpose where glamour ran out

Power lines and regional landscape on South Australia's Yorke Peninsula

The sea-change dream starts to flicker

Open farm country outside a small Australian town, a stand-in for the scale around Robinvale.

In Robinvale, half the town disappears when the census arrives

The care gap wellness influencers know how to sell

Wellness influencers sell certainty when healthcare feels rushed, turning cortisol, collagen and sleep anxiety into daily rituals.

A woman waking beside a smartphone, caught between sleep and the morning’s data.

The sleep score is judging us before breakfast

Pregnant woman seated in a clinic, hands resting on her belly during a health conversation

Gestational diabetes risk has a language problem

Close-up of injectable cosmetic preparations and medical packaging, representing the blurring line between medical treatment and beauty routine in the injection age

What happens when a needle stops feeling like medicine

Collagen supplement bottle with capsules and dried flowers on a dark surface.

Why collagen supplements still sound more certain than they are

Interior of Mecca's Bourke Street flagship in Melbourne with consultation counters and multi-level beauty displays.

Why Mecca thinks beauty still needs a room

A woman holds a small hand mirror indoors, echoing the self-scrutiny behind the GLP-1 look.

What Wegovy is doing to beauty standards

The chatbot beauty standard was always going to end up in a surgeon’s office

The beauty mega-merger that just fell apart

Beauty products arranged in warm light to illustrate the Marc Jacobs Beauty relaunch feature.

The lipstick drawer remembers Marc Jacobs Beauty

A mother and daughter sharing a quiet conversation at the kitchen table

What teaching a daughter to get rich really sounds like

Jannese Torres is building a million-dollar portfolio for her daughter — and rewriting the family script about who gets to have the grown-up money conversations.

Bright Melbourne-style living room interior, echoing the domestic space renters are now better equipped to ask more of.

What Victoria’s rental reset changes for renters

A worker at a desk in a workplace setting.

What disclosing a disability at work costs, and what it shouldn't

Payroll and superannuation paperwork on a desk

The super rise you notice late, and the payday shift behind it

The Lifestyle Desires brief

Style, food, travel and wellbeing — weekly in your inbox.

What solo-maxxing says about the price of being coupled

The care gap wellness influencers know how to sell

What YouTube’s Gen Z directors are doing to Hollywood now

What Melbourne’s best-designed restaurants are really selling now

After the noise, Jordan Gogos sounds clearer

Why Australian fashion’s outsider runway feels more alive

Alo lands in Sydney, and the matching set follows

What happens when the billionaires become the dress code

Shopify ghost stores are swallowing Australian fashion

Australia is over its white-wall hangover

When the guesthouse becomes the showroom

The half-made bed has entered its soft-power era

Why Sydney keeps falling back in love with the corner shop

When the bargain holiday stops feeling clever

The holiday you sneer at is telling on you

The trip gets better when your phone gets boring

The 2026 travel paperwork to check before you book

What the bathroom floor knows before a trip

When a beautiful hotel follows you home

What solo-maxxing says about the price of being coupled

What young Australians are asking sex ed to finally admit

Dating in white spaces can cost more than love

What free petrol says about dating now

The bill comes due when you become the cycle-breaker

What YouTube’s Gen Z directors are doing to Hollywood now

When Vivid’s drones faltered, Sydney kept staring

Why the suffering artist myth still flatters us

The TV bundle came back in app icons

What Melbourne’s best-designed restaurants are really selling now

Why tinned tomatoes still decide how dinner tastes

The prickly plant changing Australia's pour

Horchata slips into the café script

Guzman y Gomez could conquer Australia. America was another story.

Melbourne's new Italian rooms want you to stay

What the rental crisis is doing to women who need to leave now

Late 20s and living at home: the cost no one's counting

Rachel Ward found purpose where glamour ran out

The sea-change dream starts to flicker

In Robinvale, half the town disappears when the census arrives

The care gap wellness influencers know how to sell

The sleep score is judging us before breakfast

Gestational diabetes risk has a language problem

What happens when a needle stops feeling like medicine

Why collagen supplements still sound more certain than they are

Why Mecca thinks beauty still needs a room

What Wegovy is doing to beauty standards

The chatbot beauty standard was always going to end up in a surgeon’s office

The beauty mega-merger that just fell apart

The lipstick drawer remembers Marc Jacobs Beauty

What teaching a daughter to get rich really sounds like

What Victoria’s rental reset changes for renters

What disclosing a disability at work costs, and what it shouldn't

The super rise you notice late, and the payday shift behind it

What the Saturday auction sounded like after investors stepped back

What solo-maxxing says about the price of being coupled

The care gap wellness influencers know how to sell

What YouTube’s Gen Z directors are doing to Hollywood now

What Melbourne’s best-designed restaurants are really selling now

The sleep score is judging us before breakfast

Australia is over its white-wall hangover

What young Australians are asking sex ed to finally admit

What free petrol says about dating now

The half-made bed has entered its soft-power era

The Lifestyle Desires brief