Once upon a time, modeling was all about "phases." The Supermodel Phase gave way to the Brazilian Amazon Era (with Gisele Bundchen as its fearless leader), followed by the Weirdos Epoch. Fed up with voluptuous goddesses, the early 2000s industry turned to unlikely women boasting strikingly unusual features. Jesica Stam, Lilly Cole and Gemma Ward were the hottest names on the planet—mythical and out of reach.
Ward, an Australian who, as with Kate Moss, was discovered by accident, was by far the most intriguing of them all. Replacing Moss as the face of Calvin Klein's Obsession Night fragrance and walking a variety of runways, she truly stood out. And then . . . she disappeared.
This month, Ward, only 26, makes a welcome comeback, and her new look signifies how far we've come. No longer a wide-eyed, "weirdly" styled misfit, she looks like a vibrant young woman with extraordinary features. In the new campaign for Country Road, a fashion brand close to home, Ward models good health, smiles and her baby daughter.
We all love a good comeback, especially one that features a new baby. But Ward's comeback, however grand it promises to be, is not only good news for the industry; it also calls for a moment of reflection on shifting beauty standards.
Doesn't it seem strange now that we called this beautiful lady "an alien" back in 2003?
It seems we've evolved somewhat in our perception of beauty, and progressively so. The struggles of inspiring individuals such as Chantelle Brown-Young, a model with vitiligo disease, and Shaun Ross, an albino male model, have made us question the very act of calling people "weird" for not fitting a narrowly defined beauty ideal. Of course, race and weight issues remain a formidable obstacle for model diversity, but at least we've opened the beauty conversation beyond wide foreheads and front teeth gaps.
Accordingly, the media refrains from the "alien" labels nowadays, and seeks out stories of acceptance and inspiration—like the Diesel modeling campaign of Jillian Mercado, a fashion editor and blogger with muscular dystrophy. Compared to these groundbreaking newcomers, Gemma Ward's "weirdness" seems perfectly ordinary, and the way we look at her now is a small, yet significant, baby step toward beauty-discourse maturity.
Images: Facebook
