There were no surprises when InStyle Magazine announced the second annual Women of Style Award winners in Sydney last night. Celebrities and other high profile women featured prominently in the list of winners, which makes me wonder what was the point? Do these women really need more accolades (not that I consider the InStyle awards an accolade), more press coverage and more schmoozing by those bottom feeders of our celebrity obsessed culture – the gossip mags? Apparently not, as two of the biggest celebrities (Nicole Kidman and Deborra-lee Furness) were not in attendance and most of those shortlisted for the awards, didn’t even bother to show up.
Nicole Kidman received two awards for News/Entertainment and Readers’ Choice. Nicole, currently in Hawaii with filming commitments, accepted her award via video. While Deborra-lee Furness nominated her mother to receive her award on her behalf.
High profile entrepreneur Naomi Simson won the Business category. While Simson, who founded experiential gift etailer RedBalloon was a worthy recipient, I’m betting InStyle didn’t look any further afield than their own girlie tastes, for nominees in this category.
Commenting on the awards, Kerrie McCallum, editor of InStyle, said: “The InStyle and Audi Women of Style Awards are the country’s premier awards evening recognising the efforts of outstanding women who not only display innovation, passion and perseverance in their field of expertise – but also play a special role in Australian culture today.”
A bold statement there from Kerrie McCallum. Since when did ONLY the achievements of celebrities and women who can afford to keep a publicist on retainer, matter? No wonder so many of our young people would rather model their behaviour on celebrities, than follow in the footsteps of women such as Professor Elizabeth Blackburn, the Australian scientist who was awarded the Nobel Prize in Medicine last year.
This is not to say that I think there was any intent on the part of InStyle magazine to deliberately ignore the achievements of so many Australian women who deserve equal recognition. Nope, like so many others who hand out these type of awards, InStyle magazine was just lazy. Why spend hours looking for more obscure references to greatness, when you can just come up with a couple of dozen names off the top of your head.
The full list of InStyle and Audi Women of Style Award winners reads like a who’s who of celebrities and high profile women:
News/Entertainment: Winner: Nicole Kidman
Shortlisted: Claudia Karvan and Jessica Rowe
Fashion: Winner: Kirrily Johnston
Shortlisted: Heidi Middleton and Sarah-Jane Clarke, Sass & Bide; and Nicky and Simone Zimmermann
Charity/Community: Winner: Deborah-lee Furness
Shortlisted: Rachel Ward and Catherine Freeman
Business: Winner: Naomi Simson (RedBalloon)
Shortlisted: Elle Macpherson and Kristina Karlsson
Arts/Culture: Joint winners: Del Kathryn Barton and Deborah Mailman
Shortlisted: Dr Anita Heiss
Lifestyle: Winner: Chui Lee Luk (Claudes)
Shortlisted: Saskia Beer and Terri Winter
Beauty: Winner: Sharon McGlinchey
Shortlisted: Shelley Barrett and Mandy Gray
Environment: Winner: Dr Tammie Matson
Shortlisted: Cate Faehrmann and Sidonie Carpenter
Design: Winner: Melinda Dodson
Shortlisted: Caroline Casey and Alena Smith
For the second year in a row, InStyle has wasted the opportunity to honour ‘real’ women of style – those who work every bit as hard as those honoured by the gossip mag, but who apparently lack one vital ingredient in the recipe for success – a publicist. So I think we can just dismiss InStyle’s award show as nothing more than a PR exercise for everyone involved. What do you think?
Terri WInter / top3 says
I am a little surprised how bitter you seem about this – I was a nominee and certainly don’t have a publicist, Kristina Karlsson (Kikki-K) sat with me too, and was another nominee – although we didn’t win I am sure she was as happy as me to have been nominated. We both work very hard doing what we do, and was nice to be part of it.
I am sure there are many that were wondering Terri Winter who? Not all names were ones that you instantly know, the high profile ones certainly take most of the media attention, but if it gives the Awards some exposure, then that can only be a good thing.
As a nominee that didn’t win, I am still pleased to have been involved with such an amazing group of women! I am sure there are MANY more deserving women, there always will be, it would be a shame to stop any awards because some people miss out. It can still inspire them if looked at for the right reasons.
If these women have become successful due their achievements – do they deserve their recognition any less?
Deborah Robinson says
I have criticised these awards, not the individual nominees. So there’s really no need to get upset.
Deborah Robinson says
I think you may have missed the point of what I was trying to say here and that’s my fault – I should have made it more clear.
I think honouring the achievements of Australian women is a great idea. But wouldn’t it be wonderful if instead awarding celebrities and others who have been over exposed in the media, InStyle actually used this opportunity to raise the public profile of lesser known women who are achieving big things in their area of expertise, but who have been given very little exposure in the mainstream media.
Susan says
Hmmm, I am always a cynic when I see awards that are sponsored by a magazine. It appears to me that with many of these types of awards, it’s all about the best possible publicity for the magazine. As a consequence, I believe that many nominees and winners end up being those women who tend to fit the desired demographic of the magazine.
While I am at pains to state that the women who won may indeed have been worthy winners, I wonder if other high achievers who have a few more wrinkles, a wider girth and are less photogenic had an even chance.
Deborah Robinson says
Thank you Susan – that’s exactly my point. The InStyle awards claim to honour Australian women but they have ignored all but a very small number of them.
Alena Smith says
Hi there,
I think the women of style awards is a really interesting idea. As a nominee for the design category, it brought together people like myself ( definitely not a celebrity! but hard working and extremely passionate about interiors, architecture and all things design) into contact with people outside my sphere.
Not having ever marketed my business ( I totally rely on word of mouth), it was a great opportunity to see how others put themselves forward, and celebrate their success. Hopefully it was also an opportunity to introduce what I do to the “A-list” and see where it takes me.
Congrats to all the winners and fellow nominees!!
Alena Smith
Hazel Edwards says
I also would ask where are the scientists, tradies, authors and women who run businesses which are not in the fashion/media area.
But I guess it depends upon what you mean by ‘style’
A few years ago for a book’Healthy Women:Getting the Balance Right’ I interviewed many admirable women of all ages and circumstances who had faced a health challenge.Some were well known names, others not.Even an interview with an Antarctic station leader. Let’s celebrate those who face ‘real’ challenges, with style. Like Nobel winner Dr Blackburn. These are the ‘real’ women our girls need as role models, not those obsessed only with dieting and fame. Stress the style of the achievements through effort, not just the ‘look’.
I commend Deborah for beginning the discussion.
Hazel Edwards (www.hazeledwards.com)