After the Runway, the Romp
by LIZA GHORBANI
I need you girls on the runway now,” said a woman with a headset who was marshaling models backstage at Marc Jacobs on Monday night for a preshow run-through. “Gemma, please.”
Gemma Ward, the 18-year-old Australian who is one of the faces of the moment, blew a plume of smoke upward, snuffed out her Marlboro Light and waltzed down the catwalk in her street clothes — a red-striped dress, bolero jacket and patent-leather flats — arms swinging lightly and cerulean eyes staring blankly ahead. With her moon face, translucent skin and wide-set, long-lashed eyes — oh, but you’ve heard all the doll comparisons. Still, there were quite a few look-alikes in the room, complete with long blond ponytails. But only Ms. Ward had perfected the hundred-yard stare.
“I haven’t been home since I woke up this morning,” she said after the run-through. She popped open a Diet Coke and reconvened with her fellow models at the hair and makeup station, which was littered with roller brushes, blow-dryers and countless cans of Red Bull. It was her fourth show of the day.
“Today I did Carolina Herrera, Oscar de la Renta and Proenza Schouler,” said Ms. Ward, picking at a plastic cup filled with pineapple and grapefruit. “And between it’s been fittings, fittings, fittings!” Just behind her, models and makeup artists alike exchanged air kisses and French salutations.
“Karen, you look so lovely!” said the model Lily Donaldson to her workmate Karen Elson, who was turned out in a white confection of a dress and ruby heels, which funnily enough is the color scheme that her rocker-husband, Jack White, is known for.
The show was about to start, so the girls shimmied into their clothes and applied finishing touches of lip gloss, appropriately to the Pussycat Dolls song booming through the dressing area: “Don’t cha wish your girlfriend was hot like me?”
After the show, Ms. Ward joined celebrities including Mischa Barton, Russell Simmons and Lil’ Kim at the Gramercy Park Hotel, and took in a photo exhibition benefiting melanoma research. “They look great,” she said, eyeing the photos of Winona Ryder and Christy Turlington in the buff, before squealing with delight at the arrival of her hairdresser Harry Josh.
“Gem, come with me to get a cocktail,” said Mr. Josh, leading her to the bar while the crowd parted to let the young model through and, more likely, get a glimpse of her. “You’ll get it faster.”
She handed Mr. Josh his drink with an effortless smile. “Easy as pie.”
Nearby was Victoria Beckham, who had changed since the Marc show and lived up to her nickname, Posh, in a white tutu-inspired dress that offset her bronzed skin. “I love this outfit!” Ms. Ward said. “Where is it from?”
“Alaïa,” said Mrs. Beckham, who then congratulated Ms. Ward on the show before disappearing into a sea of fashion’s finest photographers and stylists.
For Mr. Josh, the benefits of hanging with a fashion It Girl were not over. “We’re going to meet a boy I like,” he said. “Gemma’s going to help me seal the deal!”
Ms. Ward lit a cigarette and mock-enthused in preparation, “Isn’t Harry just wonderful?”
“What time is your first call tomorrow?” he asked.
“Twelve,” she replied, exhaling smoke and smiling all at once.
“Oh, we can party all night” Mr. Josh said. “Twelve is like the new 5 p.m.”
Ms. Ward giggled in agreement. “It’s a luxury in this business.”
[NYTIMES]
maybe next week 
. damn those 10,000 year old cannibals! they could at least taken that 'love story' off. Gemma Ward is so much more important
