Melissa Levy, Fashion Director, Cero Magazine (New York via Sydney)

On guiding principles
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“I’ve always been one to move so fast that I don’t feel what’s happening to me and I'm often too afraid to speak up. In the last few years, since the pandemic really, I was able to stop, access, cull and move forward. Now I can’t turn back. I keep this in the foreground of my experience through rituals. Immersing my body in water, sweating, moving, being still, breathing. Integrity and speaking my truth.”

On place

“Place is identity and fundamental to my sense of well-being. My place of origin is the South Pacific, between the eastern coast of Australia and the archipelago of the Philippines. I identify with both innately. I am a child of the ocean, the heat and humidity, the thick slick salty air, and the heaving hungry jungle. I use the differences in our cultural, physical, and spiritual makeup, the gaps in between, and the moments of friction as my guide. Every day is the chance to create a new existence and forge the change we want to see.”


Photography by Anna Ritsch
Styling by Rachael Wang