They were the ‘aliens’, the models of the early 2000s who shifted beauty away from sculpted European cheekbones to a more ethereal look.
And after a long hiatus from modelling, the queen of the look, Gemma Ward, has returned to the fashion world with a bang.
It’s a mark of Ward’s influence that her return, stomping the Prada catwalk last month, earned worldwide headlines and trended on Twitter. A big part of the fascination? Ward’s exit from the catwalk wasn’t exactly because of lack of demand.
The Perth-born model quit suddenly in 2001, after Heath Ledger, her boyfriend at the time, accidentally overdosed in a New York apartment. The relationship wasn’t public, but Ward now says she “needed time to heal” – and chose, at the height of her popularity, simply to walk away.
It was one of the more lasting shocks in modelling history. How could a supermodel, at the time earning $3 million a year, abandon everything? Theories floated around: that she’d had a fight with her agency, that she’d gained weight, that she’d shifted wholesale into acting. Ward denied everything, retired quietly, and disappeared, except for a few film parts here and there – until now.
So what does Ward’s return mean for the ‘look’ of 2014?
The catwalk has changed since she left. All the other similar-looking models – wide-eyed, round-faced, childlike – have disappeared, partially, perhaps, because Ward was no longer there to lead them. Lily Cole, Ward’s English equivalent, moved away from fashion too, but in another direction. She now acts, including an appearance as Helen of Troy at the Globe Theatre in London, and received a double first class degree from Cambridge.
In their place are the more androgynous, feline faces of Jourdan Dunn and Aymeline Valade, and another, new phenomenon: the model as social media creature. Cara Delevingne has millions of followers on Instagram, and tweets her responses to the press. It’s expected that, unless you’re Naomi Campbell or Kate Moss, you’ll have time to connect with your fans online.
Ward, who says one of the reasons that she quit was that she was “exhausted,” may find this requirement to be public a new and uncomfortable reality.
But it seems Ward is prepared to be loud in her career resurgence. “I felt maybe a bit mute as a model sometimes,” she told Sunday Style, and said she needed time to find her “power”.
And Ward’s first job is very much a rebranding as earth mother: she’s the face of the new Country Road campaign, with baby daughter Naia, her child with partner David Letts.
So will the return of Gemma Ward mean that the faces we see on the catwalk return to their ethereal 2000s shape, or will she find her place as part of the new wave? One thing’s for sure – as the furore surrounding her return proves, this is a model the public connects with.
It remains to be seen how fashion will receive her – and whether she keeps up after a decade in the shadows.
Image: Gemma Ward Country Road.