5 best travel deals of the week: fares from $826 Singapore-Melbourne return
One of this year's biggest blockbuster art exhibitions, French Impressionism, has just kicked off at the National Gallery of Victoria, with more than 100 artworks by masters such as Claude Monet, Pierre-Auguste Renoir, Edgar Degas, Camille Pissarro and Edouard Manet.
WHEN: Until October 5; ngv.vic.gov.au
COMING UP
From family-friendly food markets during the day to entertaining fire shows and pyrotechnics at night, Winter in the City will bring 15 days of fun and festivities to Canberra. A festival highlight is truffle hunts - followed by gourmet meals - at two of Australia's finest truffieres: Beltana Farm and The Truffle Farm.
WHEN: July 5-19; act.gov.au
LATER
Planning a trip to the Queensland capital? Line up your dates with Brisbane Festival, when the city comes alive with cultural events, live performances and riverside fireworks.
WHEN: September 5-27; brisbanefestival.com.au
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Sydney Morning Herald
06-08-2025
- Sydney Morning Herald
The verdict is in on Mecca's new flagship store, and it's a winner
It's clearer than the skin of a K-pop star that Mecca founder Jo Horgan wants her new flagship store in Bourke Street Mall to become a leading Melbourne tourist destination, but is it up there with the National Gallery of Victoria or more in line with the infamous 'Yellow Peril ' sculpture? At the crowded store preview for beauty lovers, influencers and media, the elbows were out and the extensions were in as people raced to experience hair treatments, fragrance consultations, skin analysis and the cafeteria before the side doors open to the public on Friday (the front doors should be operational by November). Three years ago, if I had been standing in the mall opposite Myer, I would have been in the David Jones menswear store instead of drowning in a sea of women who have conquered contouring and fake eyelash application. The former home of suits and designer Y-fronts has been lavishly transformed into a literal Mecca for women. This may be a woman's world but here is the well-moisturised man's view. If you're worried about my qualifications, I've been writing about beauty since I went to France in 2009 to see how Chanel No.5 is made and have been obsessed with skincare since Olay was Oil of Ulan. The look: At 4000 square metres, it's big. The CJ Olive Young flagship in Seoul, Korea, is a larger beauty destination at a reported 4628 square metres, but stores are like pimples: bigger isn't always better. For most Melburnians, it should be enough that the footprint is more than twice the size of Sydney's Mecca flagship on George Street. This should have them smiling before seeing the extensive range of skincare, spanning from $27 lip balms by Zoe Foster Blake's brand, Go-To, to the $864 Augustinus Bader moisturisers. Loading 'I've never ever seen a store like it,' says UK hair colourist Josh Wood, who has worked with Kylie Minogue and David Beckham. Wood has opened his first salon outside the UK in the building. 'I've been looking at the plans for two years but when I walked through the doors, I was completely blown away. It's the future of beauty.' There's a sense of discovery as you wander from brow bars with Hollywood mirror lighting to Charlotte Tilbury foundations taking root beneath a golden palm tree. The cavernous space is artfully divided by texture, colour and curtains across three floors.
The Age
06-08-2025
- The Age
The verdict is in on Mecca's new flagship store, and it's a winner
It's clearer than the skin of a K-pop star that Mecca founder Jo Horgan wants her new flagship store in Bourke Street Mall to become a leading Melbourne tourist destination, but is it up there with the National Gallery of Victoria or more in line with the infamous 'Yellow Peril ' sculpture? At the crowded store preview for beauty lovers, influencers and media, the elbows were out and the extensions were in as people raced to experience hair treatments, fragrance consultations, skin analysis and the cafeteria before the side doors open to the public on Friday (the front doors should be operational by November). Three years ago, if I had been standing in the mall opposite Myer, I would have been in the David Jones menswear store instead of drowning in a sea of women who have conquered contouring and fake eyelash application. The former home of suits and designer Y-fronts has been lavishly transformed into a literal Mecca for women. This may be a woman's world but here is the well-moisturised man's view. If you're worried about my qualifications, I've been writing about beauty since I went to France in 2009 to see how Chanel No.5 is made and have been obsessed with skincare since Olay was Oil of Ulan. The look: At 4000 square metres, it's big. The CJ Olive Young flagship in Seoul, Korea, is a larger beauty destination at a reported 4628 square metres, but stores are like pimples: bigger isn't always better. For most Melburnians, it should be enough that the footprint is more than twice the size of Sydney's Mecca flagship on George Street. This should have them smiling before seeing the extensive range of skincare, spanning from $27 lip balms by Zoe Foster Blake's brand, Go-To, to the $864 Augustinus Bader moisturisers. Loading 'I've never ever seen a store like it,' says UK hair colourist Josh Wood, who has worked with Kylie Minogue and David Beckham. Wood has opened his first salon outside the UK in the building. 'I've been looking at the plans for two years but when I walked through the doors, I was completely blown away. It's the future of beauty.' There's a sense of discovery as you wander from brow bars with Hollywood mirror lighting to Charlotte Tilbury foundations taking root beneath a golden palm tree. The cavernous space is artfully divided by texture, colour and curtains across three floors.
Sydney Morning Herald
29-07-2025
- Sydney Morning Herald
Brisbane poaches arts visionary to shape festival's future
Brisbane Festival has appointed Ebony Bott as its new artistic director, replacing the outgoing Louise Bezzina. Bott has worked for two decades at major cultural institutions including Adelaide Festival Centre and Arts Centre Melbourne, and comes to the Brisbane Festival from her current role as head of contemporary performance at the Sydney Opera House. There she programmed major productions including Amadeus starring Michael Sheen, hip-hop dance phenomenon Message in a Bottle, set to the music of Sting, and the Netflix-filmed world premiere of Hannah Gadsby's Body of Work. The sixth artistic director in the festival's history, Bott said she was drawn to the 'civic ritual' of Brisbane Festival. 'It has a pulse that's distinctly local, and a platform that resonates far beyond. Loading 'For me, the most powerful festivals grow from the identity of their city, not simply land upon it.' Brisbane Festival chair Anna Reynolds said Bott was unafraid to ask big questions. 'She understands the moment Brisbane is in – a city on the cusp of positioning itself on the global stage – and brings both the boldness and the rigour to shape a festival that speaks to this.'
