Introducing Oyster’s MBFWA 2016 Squad

Photo: James J. Robinson

A paid partnership with Mercedes Benz Fashion Week Australia. This content series originally appeared on Oyster Magazine. 

MBFWA 2016 is almost upon us, and while the good people of Carriageworks dust off the red carpet, and sequins, flowers and diamonds sell out across Sydney, a team of talented heroes gathers in the background. This year, in partnership with Mercedes-Benz, we’ll be sending five little legends along to fashion week to bring you their most treasured moments and most precious memories from each day.

Check out the full article on Oyster Magazine.

A Night at the Opera

Photo: Jedd Cooney

A paid partnership with Opera Australia. 

If you’d asked us what we knew about the opera last week we 100% would’ve said something about Julia Roberts’ sparkling eyes. And while our first opera experience did resemble some striking similarities to classic rom-com Pretty Woman, we now have some much more educated things to say about the art form. Last night we rolled into Sydney Opera House for a performance of Italian opera La Bohème. That’s French for the bohemia btw, so you know this isn’t going to be any stuffy old story. Now we’re feeling pretty worldly after our one and only opera experience, so we’re going to provide you with some tips and tricks for your next night on the town. Here goes…

Internet Art Experts Talk Activism and Body Positivity

Photo: Gadir Rajab

A paid partnership with G-Star RAW. 

In this world of Netflix-binges that are interrupted by the occasional need to eat, sleep, work and see your friends, it’s easy to forget the healing power of a good old fashioned chat. The gift of the gab is something we recently rediscovered when four of Sydney’s coolest creative ladies came by our office to talk about the importance of inclusion, making things with friends and keeping it raw — which they define as being honest, vulnerable, minimal and unapologetic.

Fast Food with Chloe Wise

This article originally appeared in Oyster Magazine issue #110.
Photo: Logan Jackson
Artwork: Chloe Wise

If there’s one thing in life guaranteed to make you forget your troubles, it’s a Friday night trip to Pizza Hut for the all‐you‐can‐eat buffet. I can still hear the bowls of neon‐coloured jelly, half‐melted ice cream, and too‐hard mini marshmallows calling from the more joyful recesses of my youth.

Artist Chloe Wise’s childhood trips to the Hut were, arguably, slightly more sophisticated. Despite the gastronomical delights of a fast food smorgasbord that would surely distract most other children, Wise and her mother would take time between mouthfuls to make art.

“We’d go to Pizza Hut and we’d be drawing on the napkin together,” she says. “Like, portraits of each other.”

Kelela Mizanekristos on the Intersections of Identity, Gender, Sexuality and Ethnicity

This article originally appeared in Oyster Magazine issue #108.
Photo: Rene Vaile

Answering the question ‘Where do you come from?’ isn’t easy. It’s so loaded with implications about identity, home and culture that even asking the question feels straight-up rude, and when we do start unpacking our origins we often end up in limbo, feeling like ‘not a girl, not yet a woman’–era Britney pondering life on a cliff edge. If anyone’s familiar with navigating these spaces it’s Kelela, an artist, a woman and a second-generation Ethiopian raised in Gaithersburg, Maryland. Growing up between worlds left her with a natural inclination for connecting people, and it’s these in-betweens that define her music: vulnerable R&B inflections and heartfelt lyrics hang above tricky production and screwy beats. In this composite space Kelela once again acts as a careful liaison, helping us to understand the different parts of her musical and personal identity.