Australian Fashion Week: Count Nikolai on life in Sydney
Count Nikolai, the nephew of Queen Mary of Denmark, has opened up about life after moving to Sydney during the opening night of Australian Fashion Week.
Confidential
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Two years after embarking on a six month study trip to Australia, Queen Mary of Denmark’s nephew now calls Sydney home.
His Excellency Count Nikolai of Monpezat has quietly and with no fuss been living in the Harbour City with long-time girlfriend Benedikte Thoustrup.
Count Nikolai studied business at the University of Technology (UTS) and now has a full time job here.
He models too, represented in Sydney by Kult, and has walked for global fashion houses like Dior in Paris.
“I do have a job and I am not going to give more away,” the 25-year-old laughed.
“I am still modelling, which I love very much. I really find Australian fashion interesting both in the style but also because the season is very twisted from the European season. It is upside down right.”
Count Nikolai and Thoustrup attended the Carla Zampatti show on the forecourt of the Museum of Contemporary Art.
His father, Prince Joachim of Denmark, similarly spent six months working on a farm in Wagga Wagga shortly after graduating from high school.
He has previously spoken of Queen Mary’s Australian heritage, revealing she had given him a list of “what to do and what not to do”.
“The last time I was here I was studying at UTS and I obviously fell in love with Sydney and Australia in general,” he explained.
“I made a promise to myself that I had to try and come back and suss out life here. I love it.”
Jackie O attends Fashion Week with daughter Kitty
A seasoned veteran of the glamour scene, Jackie ‘O’ Henderson has found new vigour for events like Australian Fashion Week.
The popular KIIS breakfast radio host and television personality is now seeing the industry through 14-year-old daughter Kitty’s eyes.
“This is why I come now, I take my daughter,” Henderson told Confidential, sitting front row with her daughter at Monday’s Carla Zampatti show.
“She loves fashion and she just gets excited by it all.
“Doing a fashion show and sitting and watching this is a real treat. It is nice because I get to see it through her fresh eyes and get excited all over again.”
Carla Zampatti tribute in pictures
The head of one of Australia’s most iconic fashion brands has warned the industry is in the midst of a tectonic shift amid heightened tensions internationally with US President Donald Trump’s global tariffs.
Speaking as 2025 Australian Fashion Week kicks off with the runway extravaganza to celebrate the 60th anniversary of the Carla Zampatti label, chief executive officer Alex Schuman urged designers to be “bold and ambitious”.
“We have to be (bold and ambitious),” Schuman told The Daily Telegraph.
“There is an arms race going on at fashion weeks around the world. It is much bigger than the brand or the clothes. It is showcasing these iconic locations and really bringing global attention to them.”
Mr Trump recently moved to increase tariffs on goods made overseas and bought in the US.
Schuman, son of the late Carla Zampatti, said the label named after his mother was in a strong position.
“It is not so threatening for us because we are Australian-made, so the tariffs that we face are 10 per cent against somewhere over 100 per cent for a Chinese-made good,” he said.
“For those brands who are manufacturing in China, it is a really big challenge. It is a tectonic shift for some of the brands.
“They have to find new markets. The United States isn’t the only market but I think so long as they stay true to their incredible creativity, they won’t be stopped.”
Carla Zampatti died following a horror fall at Sydney outdoor opera La Traviata in 2021. She was 78.
Schuman opted to host the runway on the forecourt of the Museum of Contemporary Art in front of the landmark Sydney Opera House.
“A 60th anniversary year is a milestone that nobody else has achieved in this country before so we had to do something really different,” he said.
“It is not an ordinary show for us. It is a real celebration. This is a very complex show and I am not sure anyone will ever try it again.”
Of his mother, he said: “I think Mum, if she was here, would be a little bit jealous that she didn’t get the idea and that she didn’t do it first but I think she would be very proud. She was so altruistic about the Australian fashion industry and she was a really big champion of the industry everywhere she went.”
All the looks from on and off the runway
Australia’s biggest celebs and influencers gathered for the first show of Australian Fashion Week including Jackie O Henderson, Pip Edwards, Natalie Barr, Kylie Gillies, Sam Armytage, Bambi Northwood Blythe, Jules Robinson, Tammy Hembrow and Lucia Hawley.
Fashion Week will continue, mostly at Carriageworks in Eveleigh, until Friday.
The event featured a stunning showcase of 60 curated looks, including 14 exclusive pieces created by other leading Australian designers.
The collaboration highlighted the enduring influence of Carla Zampatti, who has become synonymous with timeless elegance and the empowerment of women since 1965.
Contributors to the collection include fashion luminaries such as Pip Edwards, Toni Maticevski, Christopher Esber, Romance Was Born, Gail Sorronda, Kit Willow, Akira Isogawa, Iordanes Spyridon Gogos, Alix Higgins, Grace Lillian Lee, Mariam Seddiq, Beare Park, and Bianca Spender.
In a lasting celebration of Australian design, the exclusive pieces will be donated to the Powerhouse Museum, where they will join the institution’s permanent collection.
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