Australia’s size 16 supermodel Robyn Lawley has posed for a saucy topless shoot proving just how sexy curves can be.
Robyn, 24, is featured in the November issue of men’s mag GQ Australia looking every bit the international superstar.
“I’ve got big hips and a big body,” Robyn tells the publication. “I’m double, triple the size of other models and I embrace that, I own it.”
The magazine has also won the approval of feminists for its words about Robyn’s size: “Label Robyn Lawley a plus-size model if you want. Or, why not go with our preferred adjective – hot.”
The sexy images were shot by Pierre Toussaint for *GQ* Australia.
The sexy images were shot by Pierre Toussaint for GQ Australia.
Robyn is proud of the shoot, posting these images on her Facebook page.
Robyn shows off her enviable curves in the magazine.
It’s not hard to see why Robyn is one of the most successful plus-size models.
Robyn her own swimwear range for Bond-Eye earlier this year.
Styling Crown Princess Mary of Denmark was a dream come true for The Weekly’s fashion editor Mattie Cronan. She reveals what it was like to work with some of Australia’s top designers and dress the Crown Princess for the cover of The Weekly’s 80th birthday issue.
Being asked to style and work on a cover is an exciting task. We only have 12 covers a year, which leaves no margin for error. Choosing the right photographer, finding the best location and getting the clothes just right is one big puzzle that needs to be fitted together precisely. So to be asked by The Weekly’s editor to style the cover for 80th birthday issue was such an honour, and then to find out I would be dressing Crown Princess Mary, in Amalienborg Palace in Copenhagen. Wow. To say I was excited is an understatement. This my biggest career achievement to date, it was such a huge task.
Crown Princess Mary had suggested that since this was a birthday celebration for The Weekly, she would love to wear Australian fashion. We were thrilled. I got to work speaking directly to the designers in strict confidence to set the wheels in motion. With so many talented local designers it was very hard to narrow it down to a very select few. In the end we chose labels that represent Australia on a world stage and also those that suit the Crown Princess’ own personal style. My personal aim was to capture timeless images.
I approached each designer individually. Some made custom gowns, while others provided gowns and dresses from their very latest collections that had most recently been shown at Mercedes Benz Fashion Week and were not in store yet. I trawled the internet looking at trends locally and internationally and worked on a couple of colour palettes, one quite bold and another that was golden and soft and that in the end worked perfectly within the palace walls. I had several meetings with the Editor-in-Chief, our Deputy Editor, Creative and Photographic editors and of course our photographer. It was such a seamless job to work on we were all well prepared and had a strong vision from the start and the images far exceeded our expectations.
Our first shot of the day was a custom Carla Zampatti gown. I met with Carla and we discussed colour options: red, yellow, navy. Carla is one of The Weekly’s constant go-to designers and even though as a general rule bright colours work best on the magazine cover, the one fabric that she and I were continually drawn back to was the most gorgeous softest pale pink brocade. Carla decided on a customised variation on her off the shoulder Tuxedo hem dress. It skimmed the ankle at the front and had an exaggerated train at the back. The textured fabric was stunning against the Crown Princess’s luminous skin, she looked so regal as she sat in a gorgeous gilded chair in a room full of extraordinary tapestries.
The second look we shot was by Toni Maticevski. The Crown Princess clearly loved wearing this gown and beamed while she wore it out in the grounds of the palace garden. Prior to the shoot I had met with Toni’s Sydney-based PR. We had a secret meeting in a café called Bambini — so from then on we referred to our plans as “Operation Bambini”. Toni provided some truly stunning bespoke gowns, all of which were fantastic, but it was the Monaco gown that stole the Crown Princess’ heart.
Before lunch we moved into the dining room with Crown Princess Mary wearing a Jayson Brunsdon skirt. Jayson has already made a few pieces for the Crown Princess, she is often seen wearing some of his designs all over the world. So Jayson was of course keen to create something unique for this special shoot. The designer was working with some incredible brocades and we thought about the various silhouettes that would work for the shoot.
We started with this gorgeous oversized floral brocade in a metallic Blue and silver on a black background; Jayson and I were both loving the new ankle length skirts around at the moment, so he sketched up a suggestion that I loved immediately. It was modern style that worked perfectly in the series. The end result was a dramatic image, set against a work of art by a contemporary Danish artist providing a striking clash of colour and print.
After lunch we moved into the Grand Ballroom where we had expected to shoot our cover options. First up was Alex Perry. The Alex Perry dress came down to the wire, Alex had made two custom gowns for our shoot after Judith Cook, The Weekly’s Style Director and I had a fun meeting with him in his East Sydney studio. Alex sits in a room filled with inspiring fabrics, mannequins and gorgeous new season samples. Corkboards line his office walls and are covered with sketches from his newest collections. We talked colour, fabrics and we were all so excited to be working on this very exciting and top secret project. Yellow was our first choice, Alex had thought it would be best to have the colour dyed to our specific colour choice, as it would be too hard to get something ordered internationally in time.
So Alex got to work, he sketched and pinned tulle and lace on to mannequin in front of us to show us what he had in mind. Judith and I both left very excited about what he was about to create. As I left for Denmark some weeks later Alex was still awaiting one of the fabrics to come back so he could whip up his gown fit for a Princess; luckily it arrived in time for his team to drop everything and create a truly stunning gown which our Deputy Editor Juliet Rieden hand delivered to me when she arrived in Copenhagen the day before the shoot. It was such a special moment, as Crown Princess Mary stood in Grand Ballroom wearing the gown with the exquisite tiara and earrings she had worn on her wedding day to Crown Prince Frederik nearly 10 years before.
Our final look of the day was by Aurelio Costarella. Aurelio had provided a few gorgeous gowns. One of which had been recently shown at Mercedes Benz Fashion week as part of a stunning installation to celebrate his 30 years in the business. The Hestia gown is golden hued with streams of soft diaphanous silk tulle, it had not yet been worn and had been saved for the right occasion to present itself. The soft layered dress lent itself to the relaxed and barefoot cover picture which was actually the very last shot of the day.
The Crown Princess looked radiant and elegant sitting crossed legged as the gorgeous European afternoon light steamed into the grand ballroom. As soon as these images came back into the office Editor-In-Chief Helen McCabe had no doubt this would be our cover. It is the Crown Princess as we have never seen before.
Barb Cook was just 14 years old when her mother was dragged off to an asylum because she had autism. For the next 25 years, Barb tried keep her own symptoms hidden from medical professionals until she was finally diagnosed with Asperger’s at 40. Here, she writes about her journey from terror to acceptance and relief.
Watching my mother’s sleeping body strapped to a hospital bed, carried downstairs and put into an ambulance, was like watching a silent movie in slow motion. My mind tried to make sense of the situation. Why were they taking her away?
My father was convinced she was “mental” and had signed her into a psychiatric institution.
My mother had always been different. She was socially awkward, had no friends, and didn’t like to be touched or hugged.
Years later, comments my father made about her unfeminine ways would finally make sense to me.
Barb with her mother in the 1980s.
After three days we were allowed to visit. A 1980s UK psychiatric ward is not something any 14-year-old should experience. It was incredibly frightening and sad.
Mum was happy to see us. “I have done everything they asked of me, and I can come home now!” she exclaimed.
I’ll never forget her face when they refused. Her mistake was a huge meltdown. She was dragged away, drugged, and her true spirit was gone forever.
Over the next 15 years, she was permanently drugged as they tried to find a combination that worked. One such combination made her psychotic and she jumped from the roof. She became lost in her own world after 18 sessions of shock therapy.
Eventually, her life ended tragically when they gave her a toxic combination of medication.
She was finally gone from the tormented world of institutions, and I grew up with an enormous fear of mental health organisations and professionals, and that I could also have schizophrenia, manic depression and paranoia (as they misdiagnosed my mother).
Throughout my life, I struggled to fit in. Social situations overwhelmed me, and making eye contact was painful. I was labelled as stuck-up, but the reality was that I just had no idea how to carry a conversation.
I didn’t understand the world, and the fear of being locked away constantly made me fearful.
In the mid-1990s, I met Paul, who is now my partner. He understood me (and vice versa). Years later, an advertisement about Tourette’s made me wonder whether there was something different about us.
Modern technology meant that it was now much easier to search for such things, and I soon realised Paul had a form of autism, and a lot of the symptoms were ringing bells with me.
The word autism had previously brought to mind images of a non-verbal person flapping hands and rocking in the corner, shut off from the world.
I never realised that the Autism Spectrum could be so diverse. Days of researching the internet, reading books from the library, and even watching a movie calledMozart and the Whaleabout a couple with Asperger’s, was an emotional rollercoaster for both of us.
Paul collapsed in the middle of cooking dinner one night. His legs went weak from the sheer enormity of it all. In some ways it was like going through the five stages of grief: disbelief, grief, anger, despair and acceptance.
We both went to see a psychologist. Paul was quickly diagnosed with Asperger’s Syndrome, however I was initially misdiagnosed with Bipolar Disorder.
My fears were ignited; I was going to end up in an institution for the rest of my life. I left the office in despair. I didn’t know then that women and girls with autism or Asperger’s are often misdiagnosed with bipolar or a personality disorder.
As time went on Paul flourished, finally able to understand himself, but I felt doomed. I could not make the connection to my misdiagnosis of bipolar.
Six months later, we saw a new GP. She quickly confirmed I did not have bipolar. She watch the odd interactions between Paul and I (finishing each other’s sentences, and talking over the top of each other), and sent me to a psychiatrist.
I was videoed, filled out questionnaires, wrote an essay about my childhood, and completed reading and tracking tests which showed I had a learning difficulty despite having an IQ over 150. My final diagnosis was Asperger’s and ADHD.
At the time of testing, it was explained that my Asperger’s was “different”, however now a female profile of Asperger’s is emerging. A new diagnostic tool designed by Professor Tony Attwood will better improve the diagnostic process, sparing girls and women from damage caused by misdiagnosis.
Finally I also had acceptance in my life. We both now understand who we are, which gives us personal empowerment. We no longer listen to naysayers. More importantly, we now have a direction and a purpose to our different, but not less, lives.
Barb and Paul are embarking on a year-long motorcycle ride around Australia to film a new documentary, Autism All Grown Up, which will investigate the difficulties faced by adults on the spectrum.
When did weddings become more about the gift registry and less about the coming together of two people who love each other, asks Zoe Arnold.
I had a panicked call from a friend of mine, a few months out from her wedding.
“What colour are the towels?” she yelled desperately down the phone.
“What?” I asked. I had no idea what she was talking about.
“The towels you’re getting me for my wedding! What colour are they? I need to know so I can match them to another set I’ll put on the registry.”
It clicked: I had told said friend that I would buy her a decent set of towels (you know; bath sheets, towels, matching face cloths, bath mat) for her upcoming nuptials, so I could bypass the whole registry situation.
My friend’s a classic kinda girl. The kind of person who wears pearls and always looks elegant, no matter the occasion. There was no way I was going out of the beige bracket while selecting her linen.
She sighed with relief, and tittered that she had to dash as the rest of her day would be spent finalising the gift list.
But a panic over shades of beige is nothing compared to the following story.
A bride in the US was told by her friend that finances were tight, and she couldn’t afford a gift for their wedding day, but one would be forthcoming as soon as she found employment again.
She added that she had a card that she would like to give now, apologising for her lack of material gift.
Turns out the bride wasn’t cool with a belated present.
A chain of text messages show the bride’s true colours: she explains her friend is “getting something for nothing,” and courteously offers to uninvite her friend to her upcoming baby shower.
It’s a galling read.
Said friend did something most of us wouldn’t do: writing back a page long letter pointing out her selfishness and stupidity.
What is it about weddings that make people think it’s time to cash in on presents?
Let’s be honest: in 2013 most of us live with our partners before we charge down the aisle.
On average, it costs a whopping $40,000 to say “I do” … just think of how many towels you could buy with that!
Personally, I reckon registries are overrated.
Gift giving is nice, but if you’re attending the nuptials of a friend or family member, you should know them well enough to pick them something out off your own bat, without having to follow some impersonal list.
If you’re late choosing you always have some terrible choice to make, like between a tagine (that they will never use), or an alarm clock (which is just so boring!)
How about letting your guests choose what they want to get you, or accepting your guest’s attendance as a gift in itself?
Just attending a wedding is a costly affair: most involve travel, accommodation, new outfits, hair, make up … it’s a lot to ask people to pay for.
Weddings are ostensibly about the formal union of two people. A celebration of love, and family.
What linen set you end up with shouldn’t really factor into it.
Shane Warne is back tweeting romantic messages to Elizabeth Hurley, indicating the couple’s relationship is going strong following split rumours.
Warne tweeted from India saying he was going to bed “with romantic thoughts” of his fiancée, who is busy filming her new TV series The Royals in Oxfordshire.
He also included a picture of a romantic story he had been reading and remarked the pair made “a great team”.
Katie Holmes has been single since her split from Tom Cruise in 2012, but she may have a new man.
She’s been romantically linked to Jamie Foxx, with the pair first sparking rumours of a romance when they were spotted dancing together at the 4th Annual Apollo in the Hamptons benefit in August.
Sources have now told In Touch they’ve been “dating for a while” and that Jamie, 45, often spends time at 34-year-old Katie’s apartment.
“They’re very Mission: Impossible about their romance,” the source said.
While Jamie has denied the claims, telling Entertainment Tonight, “[The rumours] are 100 per cent not true,” a New York hotel staffer claims to have seen Jamie’s driver drop Katie off at her Chelsea home after the pair spent the night together at a hotel.
Jamie also played down the fact that the pair, who have been friends for a long time, were dancing at the charity event. “We simply danced at a charity event, along with a lot of other people,” he said.
An observer at the event told Us Weekly that Jamie wanted more than a friendship but Katie was “flattered but not interested”.
Getting kids to eat healthy food can be hard work. It’s all very well to cook up a storm, but what a dreadful waste of time if they won’t eat it. I hate cooking, so if I am going to do it it had better work!
Vouching for the majority of parents, I’d say our number one goal is to get our kids actually eating the healthy food we prepare, but it’s not all about the food or recipe.
The parenting techniques you use to get them to eat right actually end up benefitting children across their whole development, especially enhancing better behaviour and self-esteem.
So start dreaming darlings. Following these tips combined with a couple of years of determination, your kids will be dishing you up gourmet meals as you recline, sipping a chilled wine on an early summer’s evening.
Top tip: Team Effort
Getting kids involved in the kitchen early in life is the key, and the best way is through team effort.
I know sometimes it’s easier to send the kids packing and if that’s what you need to do on a particularly day then go for it. But on the days where you’ve been graced with extra love and patience, get the kids contributing to the preparation of the family meal, even if it’s in the tiniest of ways.
Give kids goals and rewards:Focus your child on becoming part of a team. Eventually they will realise all of its members are valued and in order for a family to thrive, everyone’s contribution is very important.
Work, whether it is washing up, picking fresh herbs, earning a living, etc. should be thought of as a natural part of life and depending on how we look at it, can be made fun and interesting, or in the least, not too painful. Aversion to work is what creates the pain. There is no escaping it for anyone, so the earlier kids learn this lesson, the lesson of acceptance, the happier they will be.
Give kids the fun jobs:Whether it’s cutting the tops off the pasta packets or gathering ingredients, make the tasks exciting to keep your kids interested.
You could get them to throw ingredients, carefully, across the kitchen to you. This work particularly well with tomatoes, because if they fall, it softens them up for the sauce!
There’s no job a kid loves more than to pick fresh herbs from the garden or herb pot, and adding food the pan. And they love stirring, measureing, and rolling anything in flour.
One last thing: Timing.
Put a timer on and see how fast they can do tasks.
Now that is always a winner!
You will find Lorna’s web-series, along with a range of blogs on recipes, chemical free living and children’s health news on the feedingkids.tv site. You’ll even find a forum of children’s health professionals ready to answer your questions.
Kate Winslet on the cover of Vogue, and on the red carpet last night.
Kate Winslet has appeared on the cover of USVoguelooking even more flawless than usual thanks to some heavy-handed airbrushing.
The fashion bible has been accused of overly-Photoshopping Kate’s famous face, erasing her laugh lines and blemishes and even getting rid of her trademark mole.
The 38-year-old mother-to-be’s blue eyes also appear unnaturally brightened, while her cheekbones and jaw are much more sculpted than they appear in real life.
Kate is an outspoken opponent of airbrushing. She was furious whenGQmagazine heavily retouched an image of her in 2003, publicly lashing out at the title’s unrealistic standards of beauty.
“The retouching is excessive,” she said at the time. “I do not look like that and more importantly, I don’t desire to look like that.
“I actually have a Polaroid that the photographer gave me on the day of the shoot … I can tell you they’ve reduced the size of my legs by about a third. For my money it looks pretty good the way it was taken.”
Sharing recipes between friends has been practised for centuries but it’s not very often your friend is the Queen of England.
A letter from Queen Elizabeth II to US President Dwight Eisenhower, sent in 1960, has revealed Her Majesty’s recipe for drop scones.
A new book, Letters Of Note by British author Shaun Usher, has published the Queen’s own recipe in a letter to the President after he and his wife Mamie visited the Royal at her residence in Balmoral.
“Dear Mr President, seeing a picture of you in today’s newspaper, standing in front of a barbecue grilling quail, reminded me that I had never sent you the recipe of the drop scones which I promised you at Balmoral. I hope you will find them successful,” the Queen wrote.
The Royal drop scone recipe
“Beat together 2 eggs, 4 tbsps of caster sugar and 1 tsp of milk,” she wrote.
“Add 4 tsps of plain flour, a second tsp of milk, two tsp of bicarbonate of soda and 3 tsps of cream of tartar.”
“Finally, you should fold in 2 tbsps of melted butter.”
The Queen’s handwritten letter is one of the 125 personal letters captured between inspiring historical figures and published in Letters of Note.
Other remarkable correspondence featured includes letters from Gandhi appealing to Nazi Hitler, Leonardo da Vinci’s job application, Virginia Woolf’s heart-wrenching suicide letter and the first noted use of the expression “OMG”, in a letter to Winston Churchill.
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