‘I really don’t think it would happen now – there would be an uproar’: Truth behind Megan Gale and Jennifer Hawkins’ ‘rivalry’
They were the faces of rival department stores David Jones and Myer in the heyday of the ‘store wars’. Here, Megan Gale explains why she never actually had a ‘feud’ with Jennifer Hawkins.
Stellar
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An icon of Australian fashion who broke moulds – whether age, ethnicity or body type – when she hit the runways as the face of David Jones in the 2000s, Megan Gale admits she never expected to still be modelling as she nears her 50th birthday.
As she looks back on the so-called “store wars” and ahead to her next decade, she tells Stellar: “There’s less time. Let’s make the most of [it]”.
Stellar: You recently returned as a “friend” of department store David Jones, after previously being its “face” for 15 years. As a model, how has the fashion industry changed since the early 2000s compared to now?
Megan Gale: It has changed so much. [Back then] it was heavily focused on catwalk and photographic and not really digital at all. You’d go, you’d do the job and you’d leave it. Whereas now, with everything being online, you have to be very well-versed on how to execute that on your social media. The younger generation that’s coming through, that would be child’s play for them. But for me, who’s not really tech savvy and digital-friendly, it takes a little while. But I’ve gotten there. It has all really changed. Particularly when you’re doing shoots, everything is a lot more streamlined because technology has come such a long way as well. So in a lot of ways, it has changed for the better.
What parts of your job take you out of your comfort zone?
Sometimes I find photo shoots uncomfortable now. They were always an area that I’d be … not uncomfortable in, but certainly not as comfortable as catwalk and TV. On photo shoots, there are a lot of moving parts that need to align, especially when you’re working with light and weather. There are a lot of elements that need to come together and so you feel quite out of control. But on the flip side, that teaches you to let go and to just kind of trust in the process, which is hard for us as humans to do. I can be a bit of a perfectionist.
Stellar: At 49, you’re back fronting campaigns and starring in major fashion shoots, including this, your fourth cover of Stellar. Is that longevity anything you would have foreseen when you were starting out?
Megan Gale: When I started, if you were still modelling after 25, that was considered rare. I didn’t necessarily expect that I would still be working in the industry – and in a role like I am with David Jones – at this point in my life. Not because I thought no-one will hire me because I’m old. It was more because I wasn’t sure where I would want to be and what I would be doing. I wanted to get all of my work done by the time I hit [my] early 40s, so that I could just stop and be a mum, and have the luxury to be able to do that. I had a bit of a habit of breaking the mould anyway. I didn’t really find my success until my mid 20s – by then, most girls were finishing. I was never stick thin. I wasn’t kind of like your stock standard “look” as well, having different ethnicities [Gale’s father is English and her mother is a New Zealander who is half Māori].
Megan Gale: It’s a nice surprise to be picked up again at this point in my life and be with David Jones. I think it’s important, now more than ever, to be in this position. I know women often think models or women that front brands are all “young, pretty things I can’t relate to”. To have someone there that has been in the industry for a while, has stepped away, had a family [and] come back, it sends a really good message to women.
During the so-called “store wars” heyday of the mid to late 2000s, there was a media narrative that pitted you, as the face of David Jones, and Jennifer Hawkins, who was fronting rival department store Myer, against each other. Have we moved away from that?
Absolutely. If I had the voice that I have now and the platform, I wouldn’t have stayed [draws a zip across her mouth] about it. I did speak up once about it and it came back to bite me on the butt. [A TV] interview had finished and I thought the cameras were off … Someone asked me something about Jen and Myer, and I said, “I think it’s really unfair to do that to us. I think we’re both achieving so much in our own right. To have it all reduced down to, who’s better?” I remember seeing polls online picking us apart. I love Jen and I respected her enough as a peer to go, “I love what you’re doing.”
And I said “Why is this happening?” Then it got turned into this “Megan slams Jen” [headline]. At that point, I was like, I’m just not speaking up again – no matter what I say, it will be taken and twisted around. Luckily, we both got cast to work together on Australia’s Next Top Model [in 2016, forming the judging panel alongside fashion designer Alex Perry for the show’s 10th and final season]; we could finally have an opportunity to come together, side by side, and show everyone we don’t hate each other. Every time we’d see each other, we’d be like, “Why is this happening?” So, yeah, it resolved itself, but I really don’t think it would happen now – there would be an uproar. I think women especially would be like, “What are you doing to these girls?” It would be challenged a lot more.
You’ll turn 50 next August. What are your hopes as you enter a new decade?
I don’t ever look too far ahead. I really don’t. I’ve learnt that life is going to throw so many things at you. I think you can have a few little things earmarked but the next 10 years, the first thing I think about are my kids [Gale and her fiance, ex-AFL footballer and Survivor Australia star Shaun Hampson, have two children, son River, 10, and daughter Rosie, 7].
[I think about] navigating through teen years – what it’s going to look like for them. Getting older doesn’t really concern me as much.
But what I do ruminate over a bit is the loss of time – it’s one of our most important commodities, time and health. And there’s that sense as you move through life that there’s less time. There’s less time you’re going to have on the planet. Your health will decline, some of us more than others. So for me, I just start to get to a point [where I think], OK, how can I best spend my time and my days and how can I best look after myself to prepare myself as I move through life? When you get to this point, you do start to think about, OK, I need to plan … Let’s make the most of our time that we have and look after ourselves better.
Listen to a new episode of the Stellar podcast, Something To Talk About, below:
Megan Gale is a friend of David Jones; find more information at davidjones.com. Megan will be a guest on the Stellar podcast Something To Talk About, in an upcoming episode in mid-December.
For more from Stellar and the podcast, Something To Talk About, click here. The full shoot and interview can be seen in Stellar, inside The Sunday Telegraph (NSW), Sunday Herald Sun (VIC), The Sunday Mail (QLD) and Sunday Mail (SA) this weekend.
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