DEBORAH HUTTON
Deborah Hutton draws her inspiration from world travel
Once one of Australia’s most recognised models, Deborah is still going as fast as she always did.
For those who followed Deborah Hutton’s web series Renovation Rookie — tracing the makeover of her clifftop Tamarama home over the past year — you’d understand if she put her feet up on one of her plush cream sofas and never moved a muscle. After all, the Hamptons-style transformation was inspired by her favourite movie Something’s Gotta Give, which stars Diane Keaton as a playwright, who recharges her creative batteries at her beach house, with its whitewashed, shiplap walls, sand-dune views and a “kitchen to die for”.
Cut to Hutton’s Instagram posts over the past 12 months, dotted with video updates, talking fans through her every interior decision. The 56-year-old remembers spending long weekends and summer breaks in the Hamptons, a playground for the rich and fashionable, when modelling in New York in the 1980s. While her catwalk days are behind her, and her home base is now a luxury destination in itself, Hutton is adamant she’s not done travelling the world.
“Travel just opens up your world and inspires you in so many ways that sometimes you don’t understand the outcome until you do something [like renovating]. It can just be a feeling, or a hotel you’ve stayed in that has an exquisite bathroom and you just fall in love … be it the finish or a look, or a colour, that you’ve drawn,” she says.
Hutton is channelling her intrepid spirit in her latest role as host of Foxtel’s new cruising show, Imagine This, a collaboration with Imagine Cruising, tempting viewers with weekly deals and bespoke itineraries. As with renovation shows, travel programs are back on the box in a big way. The data, if converted into TV ratings, explains why, with 1.34 million Australians taking an ocean cruise last year, according to Cruise Line International Association figures. The popularity has exploded in the past decade, with passenger numbers quadrupling since 2008.
For Hutton, cruising has long been a way to travel, with her mother Dell a frequent “cruiser”. “I’ve been cruising since I was a kid. My mother has been on about 30 cruises in her life and she used to drag me on those when I was a teenager,” she says.
Before the rejuvenation of cruise ships, which now feature the latest in restaurant franchises, entertainment and on-board activities, Hutton remembers when it was the domain of retirees.
“[But] the nice thing about cruising now is … you can always go and find your own kind of person, because there’s always such a mix of people and ages,” she says. The mother and daughter, still travelling together, recently sailed from Broome to Darwin “and had an absolute ball”.
Then there was the cruise Hutton led from Paris to Cannes a few years ago — curated especially for followers of her Balance By Deborah Hutton brand, which focuses on good food and health — and, apparently, as she confesses now, that includes a tipple or two. “I taught people how to make martinis. We took our own entertainment and my iPod got an absolute hammering. There was also a yoga teacher on board and she would take a class each morning. It was for people who were really genuinely interested in getting the most out of their day … it was really fabulous,” she says.
Imagine This, screens on Foxtel’s Lifestyle channel on Saturdays at 5pm