In 2007, Jessica Gomes called her modelling agency, close to tears. “I hate this,” she told her rep. “I want to get a breast reduction. I really do.” The 1.75m model had just been to a casting for one of the big French couture houses, who had
responded with a “thanks but no thanks”, explaining that the then-22-year-old’s breasts were too big. It’s something she was hearing regularly and she was fed up.
Luckily, her agency had news that kept Gomes away from the knife. “They said, ‘Jess, don’t worry, okay? Are you sitting down? I’ve got something to tell you. You’ve been booked for Sports Illustrated. They love you for your curves. They love
your boobs,’” says Gomes, who was beyond thrilled. A Sports Illustrated spread is considered one of the most prestigious jobs any model can land. Screw surgery.
It wasn’t always easy for Jessica Gomes to accept that her particular modelling genre is sexy/curvy/healthy as opposed to pin-thin for the catwalk. “Sports Illustrated made me a household name in America and gave me a niche,” she explains. “Before that happened I was confused about what I was meant to be doing and where I fit.”
It’s that sexy/curvy/healthy look that inspired madison to choose Gomes as the nude cover model for our annual Body Issue. A week after our shoot, Gomes is working a laid-back beach-happy style, clad in faux fur-lined boots, a casual T-shirt and a denim mini as she gets her hands on the shots for the first time. She squeals. And gasps. And hides her eyes behind her hands. And says things like, “They’re beautiful!” And, “Oh it’s so weird to look at them!” Then, “They’re beautiful!” again. And then, “Ugh… I want to get rid of that little podgy bit here.” Andfinally, “Oh my God, they’re amazing and beautiful.”
Basically, it’s the kind of mixed bag of reactions any woman would have if these proud, elegant pictures had been taken of them. They’re indisputably beautiful. Amazing and beautiful, even. But like any woman, Gomes’ eyes fixate on the parts she perceives as flaws. It makes her seem refreshingly normal.
It’s the second time we’ve met and past experience tells me the 26-year-old, Perth-raised model will have pretty forthright views about posing naked. She might be a clothes horse, but refreshingly, she’s one with brains and un-airbrushed opinions. So how did she feel about baring all? What does she think about showing her curvy, sensuous body to the world? Does she expect Australia to raise a collective eyebrow?
“We’re all insecure about our bodies,” answers Gomes. “People think that because you’re a model and you’re supposedly beautiful you wake up every morning and look in the mirror and think, ‘Cool!’ But I’m not perfect.” She points out a tiny curve of belly and explains she’s started working out hard to get her abs “really tight” for an upcoming Sports Illustrated shoot. But she doesn’t seem anxious or perturbed. “I think a lot of girls can relate to me because I’m not super-thin and I’ve got boobs and a bum,” she says. “And I actually look pretty good.”
What about the shoot itself? How was it to throw caution – and clothes – tothe wind? “I was nervous before I got to the shoot because, like anyone else, I have things I don’t like about my body,” she says. But Gomes knew the crew well and they all made her feel secure. Ever the professional, she stepped into the light, counted to 10 and dropped the robe.
Curves and clothes are not the only things on Gomes’ mind. What she’s most excited about, she says, is the fact she’s an Asian woman on a mainstream magazine cover. I’m a little taken aback. Here I was thinking the focus would be
nudity, shape and the body beautiful. The fact that Gomes is Eurasian – her mother is from Singapore, her father from Portugal – hadn’t crossed my mind.
It had crossed Gomes’ mind. Repeatedly. And after I think about it, I can see why. Very few Asian faces have been seen on the front of mainstream Australian glossy fashion magazines. Actress Lucy Liu made the cover of Harper’s Bazaar in tandem with her Charlie’s Angels co-stars in 2003, while Gomes herself was part of madison’s ovarian cancer/Witchery gatefold (alongside eight other Australian models) in November 2008. British model and TV presenter Alexa Chung pops up every so often. But they’re rare. It’s a pretty
astonishing omission when you consider that some 1.65 million Australians are of Asian descent.
My initial reaction is to be wary of making too big a deal over this. By creating a song and dance over our differences, we fuel the notion that these very differences are remarkable enough to warrant comment. But it’s Gomes’ reaction − the way her face lights up when she tells me about the personal significance of this shoot for her, for her family and for other girls who look like her − that makes me realise this is a big deal.
“It means so much to me,” she says. “I can remember being a little girl and always feeling so different. Even as a model, I’d always accepted that I could never get on the cover of an Australian magazine. The thing is, I am ethnic and Asian and I hope this [cover] makes other Eurasian women out there proud.”
This upbeat attitude is typical Gomes. Everything about her seems cheerful and sunshiny. Last time we met she told me she likes the Red Hot Chili Peppers. Bars by the beach. Organic food, offset by a bit of beer and chocolate. She’s proud of her career without being rabidly ambitious about carving a tandem business in retail or acting (though she likes the idea of starting a swimwear range one day). There’s a real self-assurance about her. Perhaps it’s innate or maybe it comes from the fact she’s been in the industry for 16 years and has weathered a fair few smackdowns over the course of her career.
