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For 80 years, ELLE has championed new voices and visionaries, creatives who shape culture and exciting voices across the arts. From fashion and film to music and literature, the ELLE masthead has long been an incubator for the next big names—and ELLE Australia is a launchpad for fresh new homegrown talent. The ELLE Next Gen Awards are our way of celebrating the emerging female creatives redefining what’s possible across industries.
This year, we spotlighted eight future-shaping categories: Actor, Designer, Filmmaker, Artist, Musician, Beauty, Writer and Model, and introduced the new Next Gen Icon award—reserved for a young creative already leaving a cultural mark on the global stage. From an actor taking Hollywood by storm, to a visual artist reframing history with extraordinary nuance, our 2025 winners represent the bold, diverse and electrifying future of Australian creativity.
Meet the names you’ll be hearing a lot more of.
Winners: ELLE Next Gen Awards 2025
Next Gen Actor: Yerin Ha
Yerin Ha is the star of the Netflix drama The Survivors and just recently wrapped the fourth season of the hit series Bridgerton. Ha has taken the envied role of Luke Thompson (Benedict’s) love interest, referred to as “the Lady in Silver.” Ha is a graduate of Sydney’s National Institute of Dramatic Art (NIDA), and in 2021, she was named a “rising star” by the Casting Guild of Australia. Before taking the role of one of Bridgerton’s leading ladies, Ha had breakout roles in Halo, Bad Behaviour and Troppo. We’ll be seeing the Sydney-born and London-based actor on the small screen in January 2026.
Next Gen Designer: Courtney Zheng
Courtney Zheng’s work as a fashion designer isn’t just a career—it’s part of a legacy, passed down from her grandmother to her mother, and now to her. It’s a legacy that inspired Zheng to launch her own label in 2023.
A cerebral cool characterises Zheng’s designs and within just 18 months, her sculptural tailoring had captured the attention of international retailers like Bergdorf Goodman and Revolve, with her gowns worn by stars like Gracie Abrams.
Her signature aesthetic blends feminine silhouettes with unexpected textures. Each piece is emotional, intelligent and beautifully constructed—a wardrobe for women of the future.
Next Gen Filmmakers: Phoebe Wolfe
Phoebe Wolfe honed her craft at the Australians in Film Development Lab under the revered film director Patricia Rozema. The Sydney-born writer and director’s debut feature, Purity, is a coming-of-age drama in which a 17-year-old Catholic girl, Marianne, rehearses to play the Virgin Mary in her coastal town’s nativity. The film asked big questions: What do we owe the people we love, and what do we owe ourselves? Along with her creative projects, Wolfe has created character-driven and emotive pieces of cinema for brands like Chanel and Celine, proving herself as much a force in fashion as she is in film.
Next Gen Music: Kita Alexander
With her shimmering voice and sun-drenched pop sensibility, Kita Alexander’s sound is instantly recognisable and has received recognition from international talent. She already had an ARIA nomination under her belt, with her pop anthems like “Hotel” and “Atmosphere” garnering over 300 million global streams. Then, everything changed when Dua Lipa sent her a DM on Instagram asking if she’d like to support her on the Australian and New Zealand leg of her Radical Optimism Tour.
Next Gen ICON: Sophie Wilde
With star-making turns in Talk to Me and Netflix’s Everything Now, Sophie Wilde has proven she can move seamlessly from horror to heartbreak. Her luminous presence, intuitive performances and quietly magnetic style have lit up international film festival red carpets and graced the cover of ELLE Australia’s comeback issue—a force in film, defining a new era of Australian performers. Wilde is our Next Gen ICON.
Next Gen Artist: Hayley Millar Baker:
As a Gunditjmara and Djabwurrung woman, film and photographic artist Hayley Millar Baker is reshaping how history is told. Her works entwine culture, family and Country in a signature black-and-white visual language that incorporates historical images with personal fragments creating a visual language that blends eras. Baker’s career took off when curator and writer Hetti Perkins commissioned her first film for the National Gallery of Australia in 2022. This year, she featured in a group exhibition at Buxton Contemporary.
Next Gen Beauty: Rowi Singh
Rowi Singh is an artist and influencer who uses beauty as her medium. As a makeup artist, content creator, and founder of her own brand, Embellish by Rowi, she found rebellion in beauty, drawn in by the freedom it gave her to explore artistry and self-expression. Her avant-garde looks, often inspired by her South Asian heritage, have earned her a devoted global following, making her a fixture on Instagram feeds and beauty mood boards alike. Lately, Singh has been travelling the world, fronting magazine covers, and hosting high-profile events. Next stop? Painting faces at New York Fashion Week.
Next Gen Writer: Maddison Griffith
Madison Griffiths is leading a new generation of investigative journalists, writing with scalpel-sharp precision about the systemic flaws and injustices women face in myriad elements of their lives. Griffiths has lent her scalpel-sharp prose to topics like abortion, sexual pain and domestic violence, writing for publications like The Saturday Paper, The Sydney Morning Herald and Marie Claire. Griffiths is the author of two books: Tissue and Sweet Nothings, which was released this year. She is currently working on her third.
Next Gen Model: Anna Robinson
Frankston-born Anna Robinson never dreamed of becoming a model, but the fashion world had other plans. Discovered by Chadwick Models, her mother agency, she was soon travelling to far-flung corners of the globe. Last year, she landed a coveted spot on the Prada runway, walking second in the maison’s Spring/Summer 2025 show. Since then, she’s walked in 41 shows, including for Gucci, Dior, and Chanel—cementing her status as one of the most in-demand faces on the international circuit. Anna is now kicking off fashion month as ELLE Australia’s September cover girl.
The post Introducing The ELLE Next Gen Award Winners For 2025 appeared first on ELLE.
