A local's guide to Australia

A high-profile model of Whadjuk Noongar descent, Nathan McGuire has appeared on some of Australia’s biggest campaigns. An ambassador for First Nations Fashion and Design and recently named a Changemaker during Australian Fashion Week, he is vocal about Indigenous representation and is shaping a fresh, inclusive, and diverse creative landscape.

This interview is part of The World Made Local, a global collaboration between the seven international editions of Condé Nast Traveller in which 100 people in 100 countries tell us why their home turf should be your next destination.

What’s Australian fashion like at the moment?

It’s really exciting because everyone is playing with the idea of what Australian fashion looks like. We’re still influenced by what’s happening overseas, but everyone is starting to look inwards in our country towards our landscape and to the smaller niche cultures that exist within Australia. We’re seeing a lot of variety and it’s a bit more experimental.

How has the Indigenous fashion sector changed over the years?

We’ve seen it grow exponentially in the last five years. Within the First Nations community, we say indigenous fashion is over 60,000 years old – we’ve been doing it since our cultures’ beginning. The way it looks now is obviously very different. It’s being commercialised, and access to indigenous fashion has really opened up. We’re seeing a lot more designers and a lot more brands, and because there are so many different nations that make up our culture everyone has a different story and point of view.

What Australian designers are you loving at the moment?

I really love MAARA Collective by Julie Shaw, a resort and swimwear brand that was a National Indigenous Fashion Awards winner in 2020. She’s got a really beautiful aesthetic, which is so relevant to culture and she keeps taking it to the next level. I think the same of Denni Francisco of Ngali, which is so diverse as the designs celebrate and feature the artwork of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islanders.

Where is your favourite place in the country?

I go back home to Perth to get away from it all. That is where my family and my country of Whadjuk Noongar Boodjar are, and where I feel connected and refuel my spirit. I love going to the beaches. Perth has the best shores in Australia. The whole west coast is stunning, but I particularly like Scarborough and Trigg – they’re both quite metropolitan so you can grab a coffee and bite before heading to the water. I love the Someday café, too – it has a great menu. Yagan Square is a brilliant cultural hub in the heart of the city that always has interesting outdoor sculptures, markets, and festivals, and there’s a huge digital tower that displays the work of local artists. From here it’s an easy walk to the Art Gallery of Western Australia and the newly opened WA Museum Boola Bardip.

Anywhere else you keep going back to?

I’ve been going to Byron Bay quite a bit. It’s a good spot to get away for a couple of days. It’s a really spiritual place and the kind of energy you get from the area with respect to the traditional owners, the Bundjalung Arakwal people, is very powerful and makes it a really safe space to experience everything it has to offer. I also love Broome in Western Australia. The traditional owners are the Yawuru people. The beaches and landscapes are the most intense visuals, from turquoise ocean and white sands to red cliffs and earth. It's like no other place.

Follow Nathan McGuire on Instagram @nathan.mcguire