Last Updated on 06/09/2024 by Arun jain
Letter 369
Is Brisbane poised to catch up with Sydney and Melbourne?
Brisbane has always been Australia’s number 3 city behind Sydney and Melbourne in both population and international fame. But last week it beat out two others as international fashion icon Jean Paul Gaultier’s top choice.
The French designer chose Brisbane as the only Australian city to host his autobiographical theatre/cabaret cross-couture production, “Fashion Freak Show”. Told through a theatrical smorgasbord of song, dance, burlesque, acrobatics and runway, the show documents Mr. Gaultier’s life and creations.
Although his clothes and suits have been featured in art exhibitions in Australia and worn by Australian cultural heavyweights such as singer Kylie Minogue and actress Nicole Kidman, Mr Gaultier has never before staged a couture runway show or theater production in Australia. “Fashion Freak Show” debuted last week and Will run till September 15 As part of the Brisbane Festival.
For Brisbane, it’s another step as it prepares to host one of its biggest events in 2032: the Summer Olympics.
Alain Charles-Edwards, a demographer and associate professor at the University of Queensland, said even if many Australians did not see the city on par with Sydney or Melbourne, Brisbane’s cultural and demographic growth suggested otherwise.
Over the past 50 years, Brisbane’s population has Grown twice as fast Like Sydney or Melbourne. Mu Last countGreater Brisbane had over 2.5 million residents.
Ms Charles-Edwards said growth gave Brisbane a critical mass that anchored it in the big-city region, meaning it had enough pockets of creative talent and subcultures to make an impact culturally. Although not yet a global city, she said, Brisbane was “on the comp” and culturally already behaving like one.
But its reputation in Australia has been hard to change.
The state of Queensland is traditionally seen as the conservative capital of Australia, known for industries such as mining and agriculture. But over the past two decades, the state has seen steady change, both politically and demographically, particularly in Greater Brisbane and in places like the Gold Coast, Sunshine Coast and Cairns.
Brisbane, the capital of Queensland, is not the only Australian city trying to rebrand itself. This year, the South Australian Tourism Commission issued a statement requesting that the media no longer refer to the state capital Adelaide as “Radelaide” or “The City of Churches”. Instead, he asked people to focus on his wine industry or outdoor experiences.
Ms Charles-Edwards said Brisbane needed to be taken seriously by the rest of Australia to be in the same league as Sydney or Melbourne.
For Gary McQueen, the international producer of Fashion Freak Show, Brisbane already holds sway.
When asked if it was there to rival Sydney and Melbourne as an Australian cultural powerhouse, the answer was a resounding yes, with emphatic clarity.
“Australian manufacturers are going through a somewhat conservative phase,” Mr McQueen said. “They are happier importing another ‘evil’ product than doing something outrageous like Jean Paul Gaultier’s ‘Fashion Freak Show’.”
But Brisbane, he countered, was different. It didn’t matter if the show’s costumes arrived 24 hours before the show due to transportation issues or if the show opened on the hottest day of the year. Mr McQueen said the Brisbane Festival team members were world-class in their approach and always willing to think outside the box.
“The very secret of Jean Paul and his genius is that he doesn’t know there’s a box to think in,” he said, praising both the designer and the Brisbane festival.
Louise Bezzina, the festival’s artistic director, was the woman responsible for securing the show. She called the “bright and shiny” product a perfect fit for her “bright and shiny” city.
“It’s a bold move to go with something so sexy when government officials are sitting next to you,” Ms. Bezina said, laughing. “But nobody said to me, ‘What were you thinking?'”
On the contrary, she has received thanks from all around, she said.
As Brisbane prepares for the 2032 Games, the city is dealing with the planning, infrastructure and promotion required for such an event. That’s why, Ms. Bezzina said, when big-ticket international acts like the Gaultier Ensemble come to town, it feels like the city gives it its all.
Here’s how she found herself on opening night wearing a cone bra, in honor of a Gaultier creation worn by Madonna on tour in 1990.
In recent decades, international, interstate and interstate migration has created a more diverse population in Queensland, said demographer Ms. Charles-Edwards said. Politically, it has resulted in big cities swinging towards the Greens. Economically, that means increased activity and sharp increases in housing prices. (By June, it happened More expensive to buy a house in Brisbane than Melbourne).
And culturally, it has given Brisbane national and international status.
But Ms Charles-Edwards said the changes could not simply be attributed to an influx of “cool people coming from Melbourne”.
“I think there’s an inner maturity,” she said. “Brisbane is ready to launch on the world stage.”
Damian Vasta, who grew up in Brisbane and now runs a mobile payments tech startup there, felt the same way about his hometown, but said it still lacked some key elements to Sydney and Melbourne’s similarities, particularly sporting and cultural. Surrounding infrastructure. events
“You want people to say ‘Brisbane is great because we went to this cinema, we went to this theatre, we went to this stadium, and then we went to this great restaurant’,” he said. “Melbourne is the benchmark for how they’ve blended event attendance with their culture.”
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