Wellness City Guide: Melbourne
Noemie Le Coz's Scene Report
Welcome back to Wellness Around the World: City Guides. Once a month, I’ll be tapping a resident wellness aficionado in their home city, asking them to share not only their must-hit spots, as well as a glimpse into the culture of wellness in their community. Today we’re getting a little tour of Melbourne, courtesy of Noemie Le Coz.
Noemie is a creative director, the co-founder of design studio Little Troop (with her lovely husband, Jeremy), and mum of two boys, Luca and Hugo. I was lucky enough to work with Noemie on her newest venture, Bon Elliot, a skincare brand formulated by her sister-in-law, a very wonderful dermatologist in Sydney that’s launching next month. Noemie is not only a joy to work with, but her taste and design skills are widely renowned—she’s a true visionary.
Noemie was born and raised in Melbourne, though she’s lived in New York for the past 13 years. About five years ago, she started returning to Melbourne on the regular since buying her home there (which she recently just sold!). If there’s anyone whose recommendations I trust, it’s Noemie, so it’s my absolute pleasure to let her take the reins and show us around her hometown today.
A Little Backstory
What is your relationship with wellness, personally?
Being a mum of two kids (and now two businesses) makes it hard to prioritize personal wellness, so I try to find ways to bring it into my life as organically and as low-lift as possible. Exercise could look as simple as taking a walk with an old friend or lifting my very chubby one-year-old around the house all afternoon (most underrated core workout around). Eating well could mean sharing a whole pan-fried zucchini or punnet of blackberries with said chubby one-year-old. Meditation isn’t for me but I did just find out that Mozart was one of my most played artists last year, which for me isn’t not meditation?
My mum was a bit of a hippie—super into nutrition, alternative medicine, Enya—so she thankfully taught me a lot of good basics, like the perils of sugar. But she was also a single mum, often struggling and time poor, so I definitely grew up viewing prioritizing wellness as a bit of a luxury, and a bit more through practicality than pleasure.
Wellness for me now is about having the health, time and space to be happy and with the people I love most.
What are some traditional or typical wellness practices of people living in your community? Any specific outlook or history?
Melbournians love taking the time to enjoy coffee (we have really, really good coffee and take it probably more seriously than it should be taken) and same goes for breakfasts. Also, having a laugh, which I think is an important form of wellness. I’d also add applying SPF?! No joke, we have the harshest sun in the world.
Melbourne also has one of the highest standards of living in the world—we have free healthcare, beautifully kept parks and public spaces, nice beaches, it’s culturally rich and diverse, and the pace of daily life is slower than here in NY. Aussies are known for being relaxed and laid back, and this is generally true, because we can be. A baseline of wellness feels a little more baked in.
What is the wellness + beauty scene like today?
The absolute essentials in each category:
