Mental health advocate and fashion designer Aurelio Costarella died on this day in 2025.
The local fashion icon had been diagnosed with Creutzfeldt-Jakob, an incurable brain condition not long before his passing. It was the same condition that also took the life of his sister Gracie.
Costarella was known for his bold designs and stunning ballgowns with is work drawing many celebrity admirers including Rhianna, Charlize Theron, Danni Minogue and Dita Von Tesse.
Throughout his career he was a major supporter of StyleAid, the WAAC fundraiser that raised awareness about HIV and generated essential funds for support services.
His first fashion business Ray Costarella Designs brough him great success in the 1990’s, but like many fashion labels its success was short lived. In 2000 he launched a new business using his birth name Aurelio, and big department stores including David Jones and Myers both adored his work.
In an interview in 2014 he said that decision to embrace his birth name was a one of his career highlights, alongside his first appearance at New York Fashion Week in 2006.
In 2017 Costarella closed his fashion brand citing the tough retail economy and his own battles with depression as key reasons. He spoke publicly about his challenges with mental health and advocated for more support and understanding.
John Addington Symonds died in 1893
English poet and literary critic John Addington Symonds died on this day in 1893 at the age of 53.
It’s documented that while at university he had several homosexual relationships, before marrying and having four daughters. After marriage he wrote in his diaries that he had a romantic but non-sexual relationship with a young man who had become his student.
Suffering poor health though much of his life he relocated to Switzerland where he wrote a series of biographies, poetry collections, and a study of the Renaissance. He wrote a book about male love in ancient Greek poetry, but its printing and distribution was limited to private distribution.
He left his papers and an autobiography to by published after his death, but publishers removed all references to homosexuality before sending it to print.
‘Bewitched’ Actor Dick Sargent as born in 1930
Born Richard Stanford Cox, he found fame after he changed his name to Dick Sargent and pursued an acting career.
He appeared films and television form the late 1950’s but found success when he joined the cast of popular television program Bewitched. He joined the cast for its fourth season replacing Dick York who was forced to withdraw due to ill health.
The show featured Elizabeth Montgomery as Samantha a beautiful witch who can cast spells, but has married mortal husband Darrin and attempts to fit into suburban American life. Sargent would forever be known as the second Darrin. The show ran for five seasons with him in the cast.
The actor would become a guest actor on many iconic television shows including The Dukes of Hazzard, I Dream of Jeanie, Three’s Company, L.A. Law, Murder She Wrote, The Six Million Dollar Man, Charlies Angles, Family Ties and many more.
In 1991 on National Coming Out Day he shared that he was gay, citing the high level of suicide among LGBT youth as his motivation for sharing the news. The following year he was the Grand Marshall of the Los Angeles Gay Pride Parade alongside Elizabeth Montgomery.
He was diagnosed with prostate cancer in 1989, and passed away in July 1994 aged 64.
In 1979 New Zealand’s ‘We Are Everywhere’ campaign launched
In 1979 media outlets in New Zealand reported that the National Gay Rights Coalition had launched a new campaign with the slogan ‘We Are Everywhere’.
Peter Apperley of Wellington Gay Liberation told reporters the campaign aimed to counter ignorance by highlighting that queer people lived and worked across all communities and professions. It became one of the most memorable campaigns for gay and lesbian rights in Aotearoa’s history.
It was later adopted as the name for a book documenting New Zealand’s fight for gay liberation. We Are Everywhere: Protest, Power, and Pride in the History of Queer Liberation written by Mathew Riemer and Leighton Brown.
Take a look at one of the badges from the campaign that is held at the Museum of New Zealand Te Papa Tongarewa. It makes use of the pink triangle motif that came from the concentration camps of Nazi Germany, and was later adopted as a symbol of gay pride.
