For women who grew up in the 1970s and ’80s,the male chest (typically hirsute) was never far from view. Screen heart-throbs paraded their perfectly proportioned pectorals at every turn:think John Travolta inSaturday Night Fever,Tom Selleck inMagnum P.I. and Burt Reynolds in … well,just about everything.
Then,before you could say “chunky gold medallion”,they seemed to disappear,replaced by a certain,er,buttoned-up demureness,the open-neck shirt becoming the sole domain of Gold Coast property developers.
Now,a slew of Hot Young Things – led by the likes of Austin Butler (Elvis),Paul Mescal (Normal People),and Barry Keoghan (Saltburn) – are not exactly behind when it comes to showing a bit of front. Naturally,there’s a clever portmanteau to describe the phenomenon:he-vage. And the interweb is loving it,with Google Trends data showing that searches for the term rose 86 per cent from 2022 to 2024.
During awards season recently,he-vage was everywhere. At the Golden Globes alone,Timothée Chalamet (Dune) wore a verrrry low-cut black shirt,Donald Glover (Mr.&Mrs Smith) sported a revealing satin pyjama jacket and Jeremy Allen White (The Bear) played peekaboo in an unbuttoned shirt that was also transparent.
But is the look translatable away from the red carpet? According to Aussie fashion label boohooMAN,the average Joe can embrace his he-vage by “simply undoing a couple more buttons on a shirt,opting for a V-neck T-shirt … or choosing tailored pieces like waistcoats and blazers with no shirt underneath”. Waxing compulsory.Deborah Cooke
READ/ Woolf mother
They say don’t judge a book by its cover,but the Rachel Cusk-style design of Miranda Darling’sThunderhead (Scribe;$30) gives you an early sense of the reading journey that lies ahead. Set over the course of one day and told through the stream of consciousness of Winona Dalloway (yes,prepare yourself for the Virginia Woolf Easter eggs),the darkly comic novel is a biting,hilarious and original take on motherhood,suburbia and domesticity. The choppy,distinct style might not be everyone’s cup of tea,butThunderhead will hit the mark for fans of novelists such as Melissa Broder,Miranda July and Jenny Offill plus,of course,Cusk herself.Melanie Kembrey