Zara Wong Is More Than ‘The Girl With the Cool Job’

The former Vogue editor and content strategist spills her secrets on self-care, sleep, and how she’s untying her worth from her work.

Welcome to The Wind Down, a monthly interview series on Bed Threads Journal. Here, we speak candidly to experts and thought-leaders across a range of disciplines on, well, winding down, and what self-care looks like, actually. For this instalment, we speak to former Vogue editor and content strategist Zara Wong.

I f you ask Zara Wong where to get an ice cream in Sydney, you won’t get a simple answer.

“I like Cow and the Moon overall,” she says. “But also the creaminess of Rivareno, the ‘Let’s go camping’ flavour at Bodalla and the old schoolness of Gelato Franco. And there’s something to be said about how Gelato Messina has come to define and do so much for Sydney gelato.”

It’s this commitment to excellence – whether it’s dairy treats or vintage jewellery – that makes Zara one of the most coveted editors and curators in the Australian fashion and beauty industry. Her resume includes stints at Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, WWD, MECCA, and GM of Brand and Content at luxury fashion retailer Aje.

“I’ve always been so curious and want to find the best of the best,” Zara tells Bed Threads Journal. “Whether it’s for travels, how to do your laundry, shopping, cooking… I like doing, seeing, having and experiencing nice things.”

And if you subscribe to her popular newsletter, Screenshot This, you get to experience the fruits of this labour on the regular. Each week, Zara curates the best of fashion, beauty and culture for her thousands of loyal followers, from the perfect wardrobe staples to an article or podcast she’s loved.

But for a fashion and beauty insider who doesn’t like to settle, Zara is remarkably down to earth, sharing how she stays true to herself in an industry that can take itself very seriously. “While I loved fashion, I really loved the business of fashion, the craft, the history, and the skill in styling, designing and words. I was less interested in the status side of [fashion], I suppose, and was so much more in awe of the world of fashion,” she said. “This kept me really focused on why I wanted to be there rather than having to mould my personality to fit in.”

We sat down with Zara in the Sydney home she shares with her husband and toddler, to talk about self-care, wardrobe must-haves, and how she’s untying her worth from her work.

Bed Threads: Hey Zara, welcome to The Wind Down! Can you start by telling us a little bit about yourself?

Zara Wong: I grew up in Papua New Guinea and moved to Sydney when I was in primary school. I’ve worked in fashion media across print and digital, as well as brand and content in retail. I live in inner-city Sydney with my husband and my small toddler son. I love to cook, love eating great food, travelling, reading, writing. I want to make the most of everything. About 99% of the time, I’d rather cook from scratch than order takeaway. I will always be able to suggest a book to read, recommend a great restaurant, or tell you where to buy great vintage in New York.

BT: What does self-care look like for you?

ZW: Honestly, sometimes I just want to lie on the couch and flick through my phone, but you never feel that amazing afterwards. I feel so much better and it’s so much more enjoyable to read – in the bath! On weekends, it’s buying the Financial Times weekend edition and spending Saturday and Sunday and the rest of the week reading it from front to back.

I love sleep. Self-care is getting eight hours of sleep. As a kid, I was so easily excitable and was very high energy so I had trouble sleeping. Touch wood, now I’m a pretty solid sleeper and it’s something the baby has inherited too. If I feel sick, or sad, or stressed, all I need to do is have a good night’s sleep! (I have read about how some people’s stress response is feeling sleepy – this might be me.)

I love sleep. Self-care is getting eight hours of sleep.

BT: How has it changed since welcoming your son?

ZW: I’m more of an evening person so this [self care] is all very much relegated to after 8pm now. It’s probably easier to say now when it’s still early days, but I want to make my baby work with my life, and not change everything around just for him (I mean, within reason). It’s a given that this will evolve anyway, but touch wood, so far he seems pretty easygoing.

BT: What is one non-negotiable way you care for yourself each day?

ZW: I love a coffee or matcha each morning. I love the ritual of it, the taste – I don’t even particularly *need* the caffeine, but I just enjoy the time-out.

BT: Do you ever get the Sunday night blues? Do you have any tips for avoiding them?

ZW: Start to wind down earlier! Instead of procrastinating and whiling away on your phone, have an early dinner, have a shower early and then you can spend the night doing whatever you want. (Clearly, this is written by someone who is no longer in their 20s and can’t go out as easily with a sleeping baby at home.)

BT: Can you talk us through your morning and nighttime routine?

ZW: I built a cute alarm clock – it’s the baby. Sometimes, I wake up before my alarm and think about how nice it would be if I made myself a coffee and sat on my balcony and didn’t look at my phone, but instead, I’ll ordinarily pick up my phone and read through emails and the news. I’ve not been as interested in social media lately – if anything, I’d probably prefer TikTok over Instagram because it’s so much more random and surprising.

In the evening, I have a shower – I can’t get anywhere near the bed unless I’ve freshly showered. If I have a bath, I’ll even have a quick shower afterwards because you know, you’re like soaking in your own day otherwise. I try not to look at my phone when I’m in bed in the evening and instead read a book. If it’s winter, I walk around in shearling slippers – being Chinese, I have a no-outdoor-shoes-inside household!

BT: While working at Vogue, Mecca and Aje, you’ve cultivated your own following across Instagram and in your newsletter, Screenshot This. What inspired you to create content outside of your roles?

ZW: While I have loved all my jobs and have always been so ambitious and focused on my career, I’ve always been so curious and want to find the best of the best, whatever it is. Whether it’s for travels, how to do your laundry, shopping, cooking, anything, and to share it with friends. I remember travelling with a friend through Paris and Rome once, who commented that what she learnt from me was that it is always worth walking that extra 10 minutes to have that better meal. I like doing, seeing, having and experiencing nice things, and I want you to know about it, too!

I’m that friend who if you wanted to know what the best ice cream/gelato (I will offend by using them interchangeably, sorry) is in Sydney or Melbourne, I would break it down for you. I like Pidapipo in Melbourne for its creamy texture, but also rate Piccolina for its fun flavours, and in Sydney I like Cow and the Moon overall, the creaminess of Rivareno, the ‘Let’s go camping’ flavour at Bodalla and the old schoolness of Gelato Franco. And there’s something to be said about how Gelato Messina has come to define and do so much for Sydney gelato. If you tell me you’re going to Rome, I may tell you about my secret vintage costume jewellery store. Maybe. Only if you promise to send me photos of what they have and help me buy something from there.

BT: You’re an incredibly fresh and down-to-earth voice in an industry that can take itself quite seriously. Did you ever feel pressure to dim your personality to fit in in fashion?

ZW: While I loved fashion, I really loved the business of fashion, the craft, the history, and the skill in styling, designing and words. I was less interested in the status side of it, I suppose, and was so much more in awe of the world of fashion, which kept me really focused on why I wanted to be there rather than having to mould my personality to fit in. I started off as a writer, and I write as I speak. I did it through lots of practice, but also reading widely outside of fashion, different mediums, different writing styles, and really studying what makes a good sentence good, what makes a good article good, what makes this celebrity profile so much more interesting than that celebrity profile. The way I approach life, I really want everything to be the best. That’s been my focus rather than all the noise around it.

And fashion attracts a lot of people who feel like outsiders already – this can be fun when you’re geeking out on a vintage Prada collection together!

While I loved fashion, I really loved the business of fashion, the craft, the history, and the skill in styling, designing and words. I was less interested in the status side of it.

BT: Has your relationship with work changed since you became a mother? If so, how?

ZW: I’m not the first person to think this, but priorities. What seems like a disaster can always be fixed. You also learn to work so much faster and more efficiently. I just remind myself that everything should just be like water off a duck’s back. I’m very conscious of how I deal with work stress to make sure I don’t bring it home or take it out unnecessarily elsewhere.

BT: If you had to wear one outfit every day for the rest of your life, what would it be?

ZW: I genuinely love fashion so it’s so hard to decide! A practical outfit would be something similar to what I wore when I was pregnant which I still love – flared zip-up black leggings from Wardrobe.NYC or The Row with an oversized black skivvy from Cos.

BT: What does an actual work week look like for you?

ZW: I work full-time for a fashion brand which allows me some days to work from home. I’m lucky to have a lot of support with care for the baby with my family, so I drop him off or the nanny comes over and I head to the office. Sometimes it might require attending a shoot (anything from a lookbook to ecomm to campaign), reviewing what’s going live that’s consumer-facing, reviewing upcoming collections and doing strategic planning for content, or refining the brand positioning.

In the evenings and weekends, I work on my newsletter – it takes about three to six hours sometimes so I stretch it out over a few days – and also squeeze in personal content creation within it.

BT: What are some of your top tips for making your home beautiful?

ZW: I’m fastidiously clean, but I’m not a ‘tidy’ person so I make the most of my hidden storage through my home and put a lot of clutter in boxes. It just looks so much nicer to have everything put away, and then you can sort out the boxes later when you’re in a better headspace. It’s easier said than done!

BT: How do you create a calming bedroom environment?

ZW: Comfortable bedding! I prefer light colours – I find them more calming. I’m fortunate to have a tree right outside my window and I love looking at it in the morning – it makes me feel like I’m in a tree house. I don’t like having clutter on my bedside table so I try to put everything away.

BT: What’s your next interiors buy?

ZW: I am looking for some armchairs, an outdoor bench and maybe a coffee table. I say maybe, because I’ve been advised against it with a baby, but there’s nowhere to put my coffee cup when I have my morning drink.

While I have a strong sense of style and taste, I’d admit that interiors are more challenging because it feels so much more permanent for me and I don’t want to stuff it up!

BT: Do you have any projects coming up you want to talk about?

ZW: I’ve honestly been so floored by the response to my newsletter. I’ve had it for longer than people may realise (almost three years) and I really just started it because I was living in Melbourne, far away from family during lockdowns, and working a LOT and just didn’t have any hobbies. I had some friends, but you know, I had only been living there for a year – not many!

Doing the newsletter weekly was a way to help keep track of time, otherwise those weeks just all blurred together. I had a lot of readers come through my Instagram, but also so many who had no idea that I worked at Vogue, or MECCA, or wherever, and just came because they were recommended by a friend. It was really, well, nice, to be thought of and considered outside a place where I worked.

A friend once described me as “the girl who has a cool job at a cool company”. Sometimes your own sense of value or self-worth can be wrapped up in it – it definitely was when I was younger, but what maybe helped my sanity was realising very quickly that the majority of the time when working at these places, you are being spoken to or treated very nicely because they want to be featured in the publication you work for, or they want free beauty products or clothes or some other transaction that really just benefits them. It was nice being on maternity leave and having a break from that, and that’s probably when I was able to separate my own self-identity from my career.

A friend once described me as “the girl who has a cool job at a cool company”. Sometimes your own sense of value or self-worth can be wrapped up in it… It was nice being on maternity leave and having a break from that.