Breaking news coming out of Milan this morning posits the exclusive return of Gemma Ward to the runway at Prada as an event of great consequence to pretty much everyone, which it is really, because not only is it #major moment in fashion, but also because thousands of active fashion forum users are literally dying as you read these words. Pray for them.
Seven years after quasi-retiring from modelling to pursue an AFI-nominated acting career that resulted in stage and screen roles in The Great Gatsby, The Black Balloon and Pirates Of The Caribbean, the Perth-born Ward had made a return to the same runway that birthed her career at age 15 – one that’s being described as ‘fifty minutes later than the last arrivals’ and ‘triumphant’ at the same time; marvelled at for her God-given ability to move at a fairly consistent pace by lifting and lowering each foot in repetition. Each time placing one slightly ahead of the other, never having both feet off the ground at the same time yet feeling like she was floating all along – entirely natural, like something she was born to do and had been doing her whole life.
It’s an undertaking that has been in the works for a not inconsiderable amount of time. Eighteen months ago, Ward resigned with IMG Models; nine months later her chic baby Naia, born in December, made her debut on Instagram. These things take time, I guess.
Meanwhile, the New York Times report that guests at Prada’s Spring/Summer 2015 show were served scotch martinis and a small piece of bread with an anchovy placed atop a lemon slice and were “told by veterans that they had better eat the whole thing” on arrival. Or else.
Welcome back, Gemma. Nothing has changed.
Photo by TIZIANA FABI/AFP/Getty Images
