Gemma Ward

[vkmarni]

I study fashion design.I can see many people put Gemma into their project or draw her unique face.

 

[soymilkfreak]

This is Gemma we're talking about. A comeback is more then possible. Does anyone think the industry will reject her because she is more womanly now?

amen!

but aww, guys, look! Young Gemma

ilovegemmaward.com

must be one of my favorite pictures of her, it's so simple yet so beautiful.

 

[IAmLordZen]

I hope she really comes back. I miss her face and her walk. And that picture of a young Gemma's a real treat!

 

[Nonobstant]

agree! that pic is so simple, and there Gemma is simply a teen...
i like how she looks at the camera.

 

[meganleigh]

i keep looking to her sisters blog hoping she will mention something about Gemma, and today on her photo blog (dont have the site on me now...sorry! but its linked off her papercastleblog) Sophie mentioned something of Gemma going to LA for a day...not getting my hopes up or anything, but...

 

[Leonardo]

Numéro #78 - November 2006

Ph.: Greg Kadel

Scanned by MODA

 

[Bamhutt]

amen!

but aww, guys, look! Young Gemma

ilovegemmaward.com

must be one of my favorite pictures of her, it's so simple yet so beautiful.

Such an amazing unforgettable young face
Thanks soymilk

 

[kito09]

I love that photo that soymilkfreak posted! Oh my, she is just a marvelous looking creature. So beautiful. Thanks so much!

 

[Ochi Chernye]

Gemma Ward, A Supermodel Betrayed

Baby-faced beauty Gemma Ward was the hottest model in the world. But now that she's grown up and gained 30 pounds, fashion insiders say she's "over." Even though the industry claims it's embracing larger women, her story proves it's all a big fat lie.

On a bright day last November, an Amazonian beauty with long, strong-looking limbs and silky blonde hair hailed a cab in the East Village. Wearing navy shorts and a faux-leopard-skin coat, she looked like an unusually pretty, healthy NYU student, out for a day of combing through vintage shops. It was an unremarkable moment, except that the 22-year-old was Gemma Ward—one of the most photographed women on the planet.

This week, thousands of stylistas will converge on Bryant Park for New York Fashion Week. The runways will host a parade of size-zero adolescents with measurements of 34-24-34, jutting collarbones, and razor-sharp cheekbones. But Ward, once the biggest name in the business, is expected to be absent.

Though Ward is still pictured on her agency IMG's Web page, she hasn't worked as a model for two years. Once her body began to fill out, in 2007, her flacks explained that she was on "hiatus."

IMG declined to comment for this story, and would not confirm whether or not Ward was still officially under their representation or grant an interview with the model or with David Cunningham, the agent responsible for first signing her. When granted anonymity, however, an IMG insider was blunt to the point of nastiness about Ward's future. "Her moment's over," said the IMG source. "She's not coming back."

While Ward's fame—for a brief period—was spectacular, her story is emblematic of the hundreds of pretty teenagers who come to New York City each year in search of a modeling career. Although the industry has recently embraced plus-size models (more on that later), the pressure to slip into size-zero samples is stronger than ever. In 2007, top model Natalia Vodianova said that when she weighed 115 pounds at 5' 9" clients called her management to complain about her size. In 2008, model Coco Rocha said that when she weighed as little as 108 pounds at 5' 10", she was told, "You need to lose more weight," and that she even took diuretics. "The look this year is anorexic," Rocha recalled hearing. "We don't want you to be anorexic, we just want you to look it," they reasoned.

Ward was discovered eight years ago in Perth, at the age of 14. The gangly Australian was sitting in the audience for the taping of a reality show called Search for a Supermodel, clad in a muddy-gray barn jacket, when she was plucked by an agent from the crowd.

She initially said, "No, thank you," but within a year Ward, a tomboy who was all elbows and angles, with giant, startling Bambi eyes, was well on her way to becoming the most sought-after runway model in the world, anointed the Next Big Thing by designer Miuccia Prada. Seemingly overnight, Ward, a schoolgirl from a suburban background—Dad was a doctor, Mom a nurse—went from sporting ratty jeans and surf tees to walking the runway in Yves Saint Laurent, Balenciaga and Jil Sander. At just 16, she became one of the youngest-ever cover models of American Vogue.

Over the next three years, Ward went on to land a staggering 20-plus Vogue covers and sparked a craze for pencil-thin girls who looked vaguely extraterrestrial, with improbably wide-set eyes and rosebud lips. One paper described Ward as "an archangel from Neptune." Others dubbed her a "porcelain doll" or a "Siamese kitten."

Says one photo agent who worked with Ward when she was 15 (and declined to be named for fear of repercussions from IMG, which reps the lion's share of the A-list models in New York City), her youth was almost a shock. "She was a baby," the source says of his first shoot with Ward. "A little girl, completely wide-eyed and lovely, and she had this entourage around her, handlers, all of these adults whose incomes depended on her looking a certain way." Ward, he recalls, seemed vaguely stunned by all the attention. "Models that young don't always understand what they're getting into, what the future will be if their bodies change."

For several years, however, Ward's career continued to boom. In 2007, Forbes estimated that she had earned $3 million that year, and in June she paid $1.525 million for a three-bedroom co-op in the East Village. In New York City, she hung out with the hip Australian expat crowd at the Nolita eatery Ruby's, sipped rosé at the Maritime Hotel and suffered from permanent jet lag.

It's a very interesting article, but super long. If you want to read more, click here.

 

[L.A.Woman85]

this article just makes me miss her more.
she was more than a fad or a passing look, she was the biggest model in the world at one time and it makes me so angry that no one in the industry is sticking up for her, defending her or where even there for her during a time that was obviously tough on her.
it seems that that the industry luv u one day and forget about you the next. but the modelling industry needs her, she offers substance and originality in a world being infiltrated with bland looking 16 year old
just my opinion...

 

[Yendor]

I think we have to accept that Gemma isnt ever going back to the way she was. She had a great run and has made her mark but now her stock has gone down and her body has changed -and theres nothing wrong with any of that

 

[mackos]

I'm so tired of the never-ending is-she-coming-back-or-not issue. I just want Gemma to be happy and that's it.

 

[Yendor]

Well no one's making you take part in the discussion of her career i think all of her fans wish her well but they're not giong to discussing 'oh i wonder if Gemma is happy today'

 

[soymilkfreak]

I'm so tired of the never-ending is-she-coming-back-or-not issue. I just want Gemma to be happy and that's it.

I...couldn't have said it better myself.

oh and this?

But even if she loses the weight, she will never be a supermodel again, claims a high-ranking fashion-magazine source.

nypost.com

excuse me? once a supermodel always a supermodel.
no one can take that away from her. She wasn't just a fad, a one-season wonder. No. She is Gemma Ward.

 

[mackos]

i think all of her fans wish her well but they're not giong to discussing 'oh i wonder if Gemma is happy today'

There's not much difference anyway with all the I wish she made a comeback vs. I don't think she'll ever make a comeback. All I wanted to say, as a huge Gemma lover, is that whatever she does, that's fine for me. It's all about her happiness in the end of the day.

 

[foreverandnone]

shes made the money, maybe she just doesnt want to work anymore.

 

[francesca073]

^^ Period. I agree SMF, once supermodel - always a supermodel.

 

[Cut Copy]

^^^^^ agreed.

the use-by-dates of models is not a new thing...models come and go, but those that make such an impact like Gemma Ward are never forgotten.

 

[Legolas]

she'll always be an icon... she would be #1 in every list if she was still a model

 

[xerq]

Gemma like so many models before has had her 'moment'.granted it was a GIANT, all consuming moment.
but she'll never truly be a supermodel because she hasn't been in the game that long.4 years of popularity doesn't really warrant anything.
as for the article, how f**kin' cruel of IMG,she made them a bucket load and not a single one of them stand up for her.idiots.