Jessica Gomes: nothing is more important than love and marriage

THERE’S something in the air this festive season, with Jesinta Campbell marrying Lance Franklin and fellow David Jones ambassador Jessica Gomes equally loved up with actor Xavier Samuel.

Jessica Gomes is looking forward to spending Christmas at home in Perth - and with new boyfriend Xavier Samuel. Picture: Steven Chee

JESSICA Gomes used to find Christmas shopping a doddle. Sunglasses or a designer handbag for her sisters. Tick. Cool clothes or a great new toy for her nieces and nephews. Tick.

“My family is really easy to please — they love anything, and I also like to find things overseas that they can’t get in Perth,” she says.

But this year she has a challenge: what to buy for her new boyfriend Xavier Samuel? It’s patently obvious Gomes is deeply enamoured with her fellow genetically blessed Aussie, the Twilight heart-throb whom she met in Los Angeles earlier this year.

Jessica wears Camilla and Marc dress, Christian Louboutin bag and shoes, Cartier bracelet. Dog wears Dogue collar and lead. Picture: Steven Chee

“I’m really happy in both my professional and personal life,” she all but gushes.

Blame it on all of those twinkling lights and Christmas baubles, but there’s something in the air this festive season, with Gomes’s co-David Jones ambassador Jesinta Campbell equally loved up. Indeed, on the day Gomes poses for Stellar’s cover, around 100km away, Campbell and Lance “Buddy” Franklin marry in a top-secret ceremony.

If she had any advance notice of the covert nuptials, Gomes refuses to let on, although she later sends the newlyweds her best via these pages.

“Love and marriage are such a beautiful and precious part of life, and I’m so thrilled for Jesinta and Buddy, who just celebrated this,” she tells Stellar. “They are a gorgeous couple and I wish them a lifetime of happiness.”

With two films out next year; her skincare range, Equal Beauty, set to hit shelves in March; and into her fourth year as a David Jones ambassador, it seems the 32-year-old would be hard-pressed to find time for a relationship. But she insists it’s quite the opposite.

“Having love in my life is so important”

“Having love in my life is so important,” says Gomes, adding that she relishes her “balanced” life, particularly her growing movie career with roles opposite Owen Wilson (Bastards), and Bruce Willis and Jason Momoa (Once Upon A Time In Venice).

“I feel I’m at a place in my life where the stars have aligned and everything has come to fruition. I’m at a point where I’m enjoying everything I do. It doesn’t matter how much drive you have or how many magazine covers you do, there are other things that are really important.”

Indeed, as talk turns to Christmas and her plans to spend the festive season with her family, Gomes is wistful about her future. “I want to have a family,” she says. “I think it’ll be at a time that is right. It’s something I [will] feel in my gut — if something is too difficult, I won’t force it.”

Jessica wears Dolce & Gabbana dress, Bulgari earrings, bracelet (left wrist), and necklace (worn on dog), Tiffany & Co. ring, Cartier bracelet (right wrist). Picture: Steven Chee

But even discussing the subject of marriage and children suggests Samuel could be the one to deliver that longed-for dream. The LA-based pair share a love of acting and the Californian lifestyle, but both look forward to returning home to see family and friends.

While the onslaught of the festive season leaves many of us feeling overwhelmed, Gomes says she’s rarely stressed by the prospect of buying gifts and enjoys spoiling her family. One year she treated her mum to a fake Christmas tree with in-built lights, lugging it from the US. “It was like carrying a refrigerator, but she was really excited about it,” she laughs.

Games is clearly one of those for whom shopping is a pleasure, but what if you’re flagging under the pressure of work, food shopping and the dreaded end-of-year dance concert?

Increasingly we’re inundated with images of what the “perfect” family Christmas should look like and there’s pressure to imitate this, according to time-management expert, Kate Christie.

She suggests thinking of your time as money, and calculating how much gifting is going to cost in time: “If you earn $40 an hour and you spend 10 hours at the shops searching for presents, you’ve spent $400 of your time before you have even spent a cent on a gift!”

Christie suggests making a list with a dollar limit for each person, shopping online and buying in bulk. “If you have three nieces to buy for, find an online jewellery store and purchase age-appropriate pieces all from the one shop.”

She also suggests giving “experiences” — whether it’s brunch with your parents or a voucher offering to babysit your nieces and nephews.

While many people unabashedly love Christmas, there’s a growing number who will secretly tell you they loathe the fuss and cost of the festive season. The key, according to Christie, is to factor in time for yourself, say “no” to things you don’t have to attend and relinquish traditions the kids may have outgrown. There’s no point forcing everyone to a carols night, she says, if nobody can be bothered.

Jessica wears Saint Laurent cardigan, See by Chloé shirt, Carla Zampatti pants, Bulgari earrings and bracelet. Dogs wear Dogue collars and leads.

As for those concerned about the cost, it’s time to get hardcore. According to the Australian Securities & Investments Commission, only 57 per cent of people set a budget and just 60 per cent pay with their savings; the rest use credit cards and lay-by or borrow money from family and friends to pay for gifts.

Dr Gary Mortimer, an associate professor at the QUT Business School who specialises in retail behaviour, says many shoppers succumb to “transaction decoupling”, where they simply tap ’n’ go without considering what they’re spending.

He advises using cash and planning what you intend to buy to avoid “post-purchase dissonance” — the discomfort we feel if we’ve bought the wrong item or spend too much. Mortimer also points to a growing trend among separated parents, who buy too much for their kids.

He is, however, a fan of gift cards: “Not only does it mean the treat can be delayed, but if it’s a gift card for a shop, the recipient will be able to buy more thanks to the post-Christmas sales.”

Unfortunately, neither Gomes nor our experts have any advice for those who inadvertently buy a dud gift.

“Oh, I’ve been there,” laughs the model. “I bought what I thought was an amazing printed dress for my niece, but she’d moved on from ‘pretty’ stuff and liked her clothes to be really simple. I was imagining she was still a five-year-old, but she’d grown up and liked very different things!”