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By Julia Bergin

The Australia Letter is a weekly newsletter from our Australia bureau. Sign up to get it by email. This week’s issue is written by Julia Bergin.

Brisbane has always been behind Sydney and Melbourne as Australia’s No. 3 city, both in population and international renown. But last week it trumped the other two to be the top choice of Jean Paul Gaultier, the international fashion icon.

The French designer picked Brisbane as the sole Australian city to host his autobiographical theater/cabaret cross-couture production, “Fashion Freak Show.” Told through a theatrical smorgasbord of song, dance, burlesque, acrobatics and runway, the show documents the life and creations of Mr. Gaultier.

Although his clothing and costumes have been featured in art exhibits in Australia and have been worn by such Australian cultural heavyweights as the singer Kylie Minogue and the actress Nicole Kidman, Mr. Gaultier has never staged a couture runway show or theater production in Australia before. “Fashion Freak Show” debuted last weekend and will run through Sept. 15 as part of the Brisbane Festival.

For Brisbane, it is another step as it gears up to host one of the biggest events of them all in 2032: the Summer Olympics.

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Elin Charles-Edwards, a demographer and associate professor at the University of Queensland, said that even if many Australians don’t see the city as an equal to Sydney or Melbourne, Brisbane’s cultural and demographic growth say otherwise.

In the past 50 years, the population of Brisbane has grown twice as fast as that of Sydney or Melbourne. At last count, greater Brisbane had more than 2.5 million residents.

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