Nicole's SEA CHANGE

Fashion insider Nicole Warne Shadbolt takes us to a few of her favourite spots on the New South Wales Central Coast, her home once again

- ANNA MCCOOE

It’s golden hour at Long Jetty on the New South Wales Central Coast (Darkinjung land) and fashion vanguard Nicole Warne Shadbolt, 32, is having a full-circle moment. As Gary Pepper Girl – her internet alter ego – she made her screen name travelling the globe in hot pursuit of beautiful fashion images. With bases in New York (her inhale) and North Avoca (the exhale), life centred on her suitcase. On this sparkling Wednesday, she is more in step with the slower pace of her Australian home turf, where she has stayed put for nearly two years, because the fashion industry now comes to her.

She’s not one to reflect on her own clout, so I put it to her that her current state of stillness affirms the fact she has truly arrived. “I’m getting quite emotional,” she says. “I’ve spent my career getting myself to cities. If anyone told my younger self I’d be working with designers and amazing mastheads on the Central Coast I wouldn’t have believed them. It’s like a dream.”

For the shoot in question, Hugo Boss couriered in a wardrobe of luxe, casual looks from their pre-spring 2022 womenswear collection (Warne Shadbolt is a friend of the brand). The freshly jabbed crew drove 90 minutes north of city limits. And photographer Robbie Fimmano, who had just repatriated to Sydney from New York, even rolled out of bed at 3am to capture the sunrise at North Avoca Beach. This is what you do when a fashion-industry powerhouse promises to share her local photoshoot secrets. to share her local photoshoot secrets.