Maryel Sousa

Melbourne

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Articles

Thorne Harbour fundraiser Northside Bizarre makes long-awaited comeback!

3 weeks ago | qnews.com.au | Maryel Sousa

After a six-year hiatus, Northside Bizarre is making a long-awaited comeback in October. What can we expect from the community fundraiser? Written by Maryel Sousa. For nearly a decade, the kink-and-fetish event hosted by The Laird was a favourite among locals. As the community rallied together to raise money for Thorne Harbour Health. In the later years, the Folsom-inspired fundraiser had expanded from the confines of The Laird.
How to get an emotionally avoidant partner to start yapping, according to a psychologist

1 month ago | fashionjournal.com.au | Maryel Sousa |Lara Daly

Deep and meaningful. Throughout my nearly a decade of dating, I’ve been drawn to emotionally avoidant people like a Fitroy fashion girlie to a pair of Margiela Tabis. Maybe I think I can fix them, maybe I’m addicted to the chase. Whatever it is, I can’t seem to escape the curse of the avoidant partner. I’m not – and never have been – the kind of person who struggles to express emotions. If anything, I’ve struggled to control them. My boyfriend is the opposite.
I tapped out of social media for a year, here’s how my life changed

1 month ago | fashionjournal.com.au | Maryel Sousa |Daisy Henry

“Without the low-effort upkeep of likes and Story replies, some of my relationships have naturally ended.” This article is about social media. Wait! Before you turn the page, this is not another thinkpiece about mental health. That angle has been done to death, dissected and stitched back together so many times that we all know it inside and out. I didn’t delete social media for mental health reasons. I just needed to focus on my final university assignments.
How to get involved in climate activism, from the woman who sued the Australian Government

2 months ago | fashionjournal.com.au | Maryel Sousa |Lara Daly

“Don’t think you need to be anyone else, anyone that you aren’t, to be a climate activist.” Thinking about the climate crisis can be rage-inducing, frightening and utterly depressing. It’s a lot. The future seems to be in the hands of losers who’d rather watch the world burn than see their billion-dollar bank accounts decrease by a single cent. Meanwhile, people like you and I feel guilty about our carbon emissions when we book the odd private Uber for our kebabs when we can’t be bothered cooking.
Why I'm embracing mediocracy this year

2 months ago | fashionjournal.com.au | Maryel Sousa |Lara Daly

“Studies have found that perfectionism is more likely to take a toll on your mental health than thrust you into greatness.” I’m a textbook overachiever. In school, I was that kid who got disappointed if I scored 95 instead of 100. I spend way too much time agonising over articles that’ll be edited anyway, and I struggle to pick up hobbies if I think I may not immediately succeed at them. Everything I do has to become my magnum opus. In short, I’m a perfectionist. Perfectionism is a bit of a paradox.
As a model, here’s how I deal with strangers commenting on my body

Jan 13, 2025 | fashionjournal.com.au | Maryel Sousa |Lara Daly

Looking for a new 9 to 5? Head to our Careers page for new listings daily. Yet, after a decade of body positivity mantras, pop culture has taken a sharp turn, and thinness is unapologetically back in vogue. Just as we thought we’d escaped diet culture’s chokehold, we’re now bracing ourselves to hear about which celebrity has ‘let themselves go’ over Christmas dinner. Worst of all, we’re preparing to be subject to the same scrutiny ourselves.
The unspoken joy of moving up a dress size

Nov 27, 2024 | fashionjournal.com.au | Maggie Zhou |Maryel Sousa

“Removing shame makes room for joy.” A few years back, a friend of mine and Fashion Journal contributor, Ruby Staley, wrote about the joy she felt after moving up a dress size. “Life-changing,” she called it. The piece went somewhat viral on Fashion Journal and has been shared a number of times since. Something about countering the narrative we’ve all been fed, that there’s some secret shame in moving up a size, really resonated. “Clothes are to be enjoyed,” she wrote.
I tried a couples therapist’s advice to fight with my partner in the nude

Nov 25, 2024 | fashionjournal.com.au | Maryel Sousa |Lara Daly

Could a moment of tension relief change the entire course of your argument? Did anyone else see that TikTok trend of women flashing their partners mid-argument as a coup de grâce? Breasts apparently have a 100 per cent success rate of ending and winning arguments. I know these videos are almost certainly scripted but they got me thinking: can something as shocking and intimate as nudity help defuse a fight?
Why are we so uncomfortable with being perceived?

Nov 24, 2024 | fashionjournal.com.au | Cait Emma Burke |Maryel Sousa

“While not everyone’s as chronically anxious as me, I know even the most self-assured among us have hidden a tagged photo.” Like every other burnt-out, chronically online millennial woman, I spent my formative teenage years on Tumblr, Myspace and the like. I learnt early on that to be a woman on the internet is to be perceived, and that being perceived means being judged.
The FJ team share the most and least expensive items in their wardrobes

Nov 21, 2024 | fashionjournal.com.au | Maryel Sousa |Giulia Brugliera

How much does it cost to dress like an editor? Many of us know the pain of having expensive tastes without the budget to match. Sometimes, bargain hunting is the most realistic way to build the wardrobe of our dreams. But once in a while, we’ll find a piece that’s so perfect, timeless and of such a high quality that we simply have to have it. For more on the circular economy, head to our Pre-Loved section.