Megan Gale has returned to the runway after a 15 year hiatus, as part of the Melbourne Fashion Festival.
The model, 47, opened the David Jones Autumn/Winter runway show, held at their Bourke street store, to an audience of 600 people. Gale appeared alongside some of Australiaโs top models, showcasing local and international brands, including Aje, Maticevski, Isabel Marant, and Balmain.
Gale served as an ambassador for David Jones from 1995 to 2015. Her return this year coincides with the franchiseโs 185th anniversary, with the fashion show featuring 185 looks to mark the occasion.
Speaking to The Sydney Morning Herald, Gale said โIt feels like I never left.โ
โPeople like nostalgia, feeling sentimental and remembering good times,โ she continued. โThat time I was at DJs was a great time.โ
In the nearly ten years since Galeโs official departure from the brand, David Jones has seen a shift in direction from supermodel representatives to an ambassadorship structure, including the likes of actress Magnolia Maymuru, beauty editor Eleanor Pendleton, AFL legend Adam Goodes, actress Elsa Pataky, and chef Hayden Quinn.
In an appearance on The Today Show, Gale admitted she โwas nervousโ about her runway return. Also interviewed was Galeโs fiancรฉ, former AFL player Shane Hampson, with whom she shares two children, River and Rose.
On watching Gale model for the first time, Hampson said โIt was like watching a lioness get let out into the wild and โ into her natural habitat and do her thing. Loved it!โ
David Jones CEO Scott Fyfe also commented on the modelโs iconic return, telling The Sydney Morning Herald, โWe are celebrating being 185 years old with a campaign that will last throughout the yearโฆ Thereโs a rich history of creators and authors of memories, and we will connect with some of those icons of the past.โ