Commissioned Editorial
Laura's byline spans publications like Harper's BAZAAR, Fashion Journal, Body+Soul, SBS News, VICE Media, POPSUGAR Australia, RUSSH, Thrillist and The Latch. Below is a snapshot of Laura's editorial commissions.
Even still, as I sat on my couch with a glass of wine in my fluffy pink PJs and a scented candle burning, looking at the Instagram announcement my best friend posted with her beautiful, unique and unconventional engagement ring a few weeks later I thought — what am I waiting for?
I knew what I had to do. I had to get myself a ring. A ring that is made especially for me. With stones that mean something and a design that I pick out for myself and no one else has. It needs to give me strength and courage and power while also being a constant reminder that beautiful things and gestures and romance have meaning. And that they don’t have to be from other people.
A few weeks ago, I went on a date with a handsome guy who didn’t like seafood. I ordered a full dozen oysters and took his polite refusal as fortuitous, then proceeded to tuck in while he watched on, looking half disgusted, half bemused, until I finally caught his expression.
“What?” I asked, mid-chew.
“You know oysters make you horny, right?”
ASo now, I inhabit a different type of body and I don’t really know what to do with that. People keep congratulating me about how I look and I hate to say it, but it’s having an impact on me. It makes me want to stay fit, stay slim. It makes me care because I’m so aware that people are looking. That they notice changes. That they think I look better than I did before.
But I’ve done all of this work to love my body at whatever size it sits, and I don’t want to fall into the trap of striving to look a certain way. I’ve actively moved away from that, and have encouraged others to too.
Two Sundays ago I had to jump on a plane home to Adelaide because my nonno passed away. In that same week, I got made redundant from my job. I’ve never had to embrace that much loss in such a short space of time and I really wasn’t sure how I was going to get through it.
For a girl who spent her young adult years reading period romance novels, things have been a little disappointing. So I’ve been building a shield of confidence and independence around myself to let everyone know I don’t need to fall in love to be whole or successful. And I really believe that. You can absolutely feel nourished and cared for when you’re not in a relationship.
To be honest, I don’t think I’ve ever felt this sexy in a non-sexual way before. I feel sexy, but I don’t feel the need to let anyone know that. And when I say I feel sexy, I mean I look at myself in the mirror and I really like what I see. More than I ever have. I feel sexy with a sense of calm.
THE OTHER night, I was sitting in my favourite cocktail bar drinking a martini and thinking about how delicious the place smelt. It was a familiar smell — something I always notice as I walk up the staircase and into the dark, sexy, ’20s-style bar. I suddenly realised that yes, I was there for their excellent martinis — but I was also there for the smell.
When I first laid my eyes on him, I felt weak at the knees. This is it, I thought, as I struggled to find the perfect words – not too eager, nor too mysterious, but something that would make him think about me before he went to bed that night.
I’m sure it won’t surprise you that I did not, in fact, find any words at all. Instead, I mumbled a hello and tried to distract from my vulnerability, by pouring all my attention into the sad excuse for an omelette I was making. I was hungover, and he was perfect. A modern love-story.
Despite being a force within the fashion industry — as the creative brain behind worldwide phenomenons like the Chanel quilted bag, classic women’s tweed suit and Fendi’s instantly recognisable double-F logo — he was also a man who held some beliefs that go against everything I believe in.
Talking about the weather gets such a bad rap. You can barely ever get through the question, “how’s this weather today?” before someone interjects with a snarky, “are we really that boring that we’ve resorted to talking about the weather?”.
But I think the weather is a super important and also interesting topic of discussion. Living in Melbourne might play a part in this, as Melbourne is known as the ‘four seasons in one day’ city, which means there can be daily frustration, delight and funny stories attached to the weather. In other words, great talking points.
I’m Laura and I’m proud of my body, but I haven’t always been.
Being comfortable in your own skin is so hard. I remember looking at myself in a mirror when I was 11 years old and disliking the way my stomach stuck out over my jeans. But slowly, incrementally I’ve come to like the way I look, and even the bits of me that society tells me I shouldn’t. Here’s what those bits are—and how I’ve learned to love them all.
No one ever told me I’d have to be thin to succeed, yet it remains a silent truth I can’t ignore.
“My body is not an apology.”
Growing up in Australia meant spending summer at the beach, opening up Christmas presents around the pool in the sweltering heat, running around in the nude under the backyard sprinkler and watching our Olympic swimmers win gold on primetime television.
It’s 2013. I’m 18 and have just broken up with the boy I thought I would love forever. Well, he broke up with me. For someone else. Who lived in another country.
So, I moved to a new city to start a new life, and rediscover myself in anonymity.
Although heartbroken, I was ready to experience new people in unfamiliar environments and try as many things as I felt comfortable doing.
It’s as though a destructive gust of wind came through, sweeping the entire scope of the station’s third floor, wiping out all forms of breathing life; leaving only their objects behind.
“My work with painting female figures is something that’s developed over time and at first, I didn’t quite understand it myself. Having her there, it just seemed to make the space work, to give it that extra layer of feeling that a physical space doesn’t conjure up on its own. When you see a human face, it’s different to seeing an object. Something in our brain switches; we’re hardwired to feel rather than think when we see someone’s face."
I’m not sure why this “taboo” dynamic flicked a switch somewhere inside me, or why it became the catalyst for so many of my early-adult sexual experiences.
“There’s this idea surrounding female pleasure vs. men’s pleasure in porn, that the women don’t want to be there. That they’re abused, drug-taking, promiscuous sluts. But the men? They’re seen as champions.”
In 1994, Stephan Elliot shocked the narrow-minded masses of Australia with his fabulously queer comedy film, The Adventures of Priscilla, Queen of the Desert.
The opening and closing scenes of this low-budget production that were filmed at The Imperial Erskineville in NSW, hold the key to stories that make up the history of gay culture and clubbing in Australia—long before it was legalised, let alone celebrated.
Hi, I’m Laura and I love to rant about love. Love is a curious thing and it can be embarrassing to talk about because we’re at our most vulnerable when we’re considering love. But I want to talk about all of it. Follow me as I write this column, LOVE RANTS, a monthly exclusive on POPSUGAR Australia. Let’s rant!