Is Gemma Ward's career over?
February 17th 2010 09:00
The fashion industry's skinny obsession appears to have claimed another victim. Aussie supermodel Gemma Ward, who shot to stardom as a teenager for her ultra-thin, waif-like figure, has begun to look... well, just a little bit too normal. At age 22 her figure has filled out, and as any high fashion model knows far too well, gaining weight is a surefire way to ruin your career. But is it really Gemma's time to kiss her modelling career goodbye? Or does she have the staying power to pull through?
The New York Post's Page Six Magazine has written a lengthy article on the subject, complete with insider views that mostly declare Ward's career as finished, finito, kaput. "Her moment's over," said a source at IMG, the modelling agency that represents Ward. "She's not coming back."
Other fashion industry sources were kinder, but echoed similar sentiments. "Every six months you get a new crop of girls. For every one with staying power, like a Kate Moss, there are 20 who don't make it past 18," said a photo agent who has worked with Ward. "You gain weight, and you knock yourself out of the running. It's an image-driven industry that doesn't take kindly to the girl who bucks the trend. Clients start saying, 'She's fat now, don't book her!'
"If you want to be cynical about it, looking that way was her job. She doesn't want to do what it takes, she's not going to get work. That's just the way it is."
Some people have speculated that Ward's weight gain was related to the death of her close friend Heath Ledger in January 2008. The two were rumoured to be dating just weeks prior to Ledger's death, and it has been suggested that Ward comforted herself with overeating, as a way of dealing with her grief.
But Olga Liriano, a New York City casting director and model booker who worked with Ward during her career's peak, says that this idea is ridiculous and it's far more likely that Ward's body is simply filling out due to her age. "A woman's metabolism changes in her twenties," Liriano pointed out. "Maybe trying to stay in a business where a size zero is the norm was too much for her, and not worth the sacrifice."
While it seems as though Ward may no longer have what it takes to strut the catwalk, there's no shortage of work opportunities still available to her. Her role in 2008's The Black Balloon made several Hollywood bigwigs sit up and take notice, and she's rumoured to have signed with CAA, an agency who represents such huge names as Natalie Portman and Anne Hathaway. She also appeared briefly in the 2008 thriller The Strangers, alongside Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman.
But even Ward herself can see the irony involved in trading one superficial, image-driven industry for another. "I realise you can't please everyone," Ward said when being interviewed by Melbourne's The Age. "Sometimes when people are constantly wanting the fantasy or the illusion, you have to break it to them that it's not real."
Several fashion insiders believe that Ward's been lucky to have gone as far as she has, without falling into the drug scene or developing an eating disorder along the way. "I say, congratulations," says one fashion magazine source. "She has other things she wants to do. She made major money… and she got out of it alive."
Gemma's own sister Sophie - a 24-year-old writer, and a former model herself - agrees wholeheartedly. In November 2008 she wrote of Gemma, "She came home every now and then, always for Christmas, sometimes in between, and I kept my head down trying to pretend my little sister wasn't being slaughtered internally by an external industry," and again, in October 2009: "I once was a model, so I have authority to slam what is becoming to my eyes one of the most dangerous and wanky professions that ever became created on this earth's face."
To read the full Page Six article about the rise - and apparent fall - of Aussie supermodel Gemma Ward, click here, and let me know what your thoughts are on Gemma's situation by leaving me a comment below. To read more about the skinny versus curvy debate in the modelling industry, click here.
Gemma in the pages of Vogue magazine, back in her career's heyday...
... and more recently, showing off her fuller figure on the catwalk for Chanel.
The New York Post's Page Six Magazine has written a lengthy article on the subject, complete with insider views that mostly declare Ward's career as finished, finito, kaput. "Her moment's over," said a source at IMG, the modelling agency that represents Ward. "She's not coming back."
Other fashion industry sources were kinder, but echoed similar sentiments. "Every six months you get a new crop of girls. For every one with staying power, like a Kate Moss, there are 20 who don't make it past 18," said a photo agent who has worked with Ward. "You gain weight, and you knock yourself out of the running. It's an image-driven industry that doesn't take kindly to the girl who bucks the trend. Clients start saying, 'She's fat now, don't book her!'
"If you want to be cynical about it, looking that way was her job. She doesn't want to do what it takes, she's not going to get work. That's just the way it is."
Ward's wide-set eyes, slightly flattened nose and rosebud lips completed her sought-after waif look
Once described as 'a porcelain doll'...
... she's become just a regular Aussie girl.
Some people have speculated that Ward's weight gain was related to the death of her close friend Heath Ledger in January 2008. The two were rumoured to be dating just weeks prior to Ledger's death, and it has been suggested that Ward comforted herself with overeating, as a way of dealing with her grief.
But Olga Liriano, a New York City casting director and model booker who worked with Ward during her career's peak, says that this idea is ridiculous and it's far more likely that Ward's body is simply filling out due to her age. "A woman's metabolism changes in her twenties," Liriano pointed out. "Maybe trying to stay in a business where a size zero is the norm was too much for her, and not worth the sacrifice."
Starring alongside Rhys Wakefield in the Australian indie film The Black Balloon
Hollywood beckons?
While it seems as though Ward may no longer have what it takes to strut the catwalk, there's no shortage of work opportunities still available to her. Her role in 2008's The Black Balloon made several Hollywood bigwigs sit up and take notice, and she's rumoured to have signed with CAA, an agency who represents such huge names as Natalie Portman and Anne Hathaway. She also appeared briefly in the 2008 thriller The Strangers, alongside Liv Tyler and Scott Speedman.
But even Ward herself can see the irony involved in trading one superficial, image-driven industry for another. "I realise you can't please everyone," Ward said when being interviewed by Melbourne's The Age. "Sometimes when people are constantly wanting the fantasy or the illusion, you have to break it to them that it's not real."
Modelling for the recently deceased Alexander McQueen in 2007
On the catwalk for Chloe's Spring 2007 Ready-to-Wear collection
Several fashion insiders believe that Ward's been lucky to have gone as far as she has, without falling into the drug scene or developing an eating disorder along the way. "I say, congratulations," says one fashion magazine source. "She has other things she wants to do. She made major money… and she got out of it alive."
Gemma's own sister Sophie - a 24-year-old writer, and a former model herself - agrees wholeheartedly. In November 2008 she wrote of Gemma, "She came home every now and then, always for Christmas, sometimes in between, and I kept my head down trying to pretend my little sister wasn't being slaughtered internally by an external industry," and again, in October 2009: "I once was a model, so I have authority to slam what is becoming to my eyes one of the most dangerous and wanky professions that ever became created on this earth's face."
Backstage at Hermes, in 2007
Ward in 2004 (left), and (right) in 2008
To read the full Page Six article about the rise - and apparent fall - of Aussie supermodel Gemma Ward, click here, and let me know what your thoughts are on Gemma's situation by leaving me a comment below. To read more about the skinny versus curvy debate in the modelling industry, click here.
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