Deborah Frazier cover model
Gia’s first paid and published jobs after signing with Wilhelmina.
After signing with Wilhelmina in February, photographer Ara Gallant meets Gia at Studio 54 in March. Two days later he photographs her for Ambiance magazine.
Ara was interviewed for Gia’s 20/20 episode.
Ara Gallant struggled with drug addiction himself. Sadly, Ara relapsed one last time in 1990, then died by suicide. R.I.P.
“On one of her first nights at Studio 54, Gia was approached by Ara Gallant. Once among the top hairstylists in the industry, the flamboyant Gallant was now establishing himself as a photographer. His more experimental work appeared often in “Interview” , and although his conventional fashion pictures had yet to make a huge impact, he was shooting for a start-up women’s magazine called Ambiance. Gallant was popular with the models; he always wore a cap, for which the girls would bring him pins. He asked Gia if she would come by his studio.” Two days later, Gallant photographed her for Ambiance.
It was her first job in New York. She arrived at nine A.M., had her hair and makeup done by a professional for the first time, and modeled until five P.M. For this she earned $23, which wasn’t going to do much to offset the $50 advances she had begun taking from the agency each Friday. Like all modeling jobs, it would be two months before she found out—when the magazine’s third issue was published—if the pictures were used at all and how she looked. A week after the shooting with Ara Gallant, Gia went on a go-see to Lance Staedler’s studio.
~source “Thing of Beauty”.