Renowned supermodel and one fifth of the “Big Five” group of models that ruled the nineties, Linda Evangelista is set to take centre stage in London alongside close friend and collaborator, the fashion photographer Steven Meisel.
Evangelista has shied from the spotlight in recent years after a botched cosmetic fat removal procedure had the opposite effect and caused the fat cells in her face to multiply. Speaking out about her experience for the first time in 2021, Evangelista said she felt she had been “brutally disfigured” by the process.
Now, Evangelista is finally growing comfortable with the limelight again, and is opening up about the hey-days of her career across multiple mediums. It was recently announced Evangelista would be appearing in the AppleTV+ documentary, The Supermodels, alongside Cindy Crawford, Christy Turlington and Naomi Campbell.
The four Supers (four of the big five, Kate Moss or Claudia Schiffer usually occupy the fifth spot) are set to speak candidly to documentary makers about their modelling experience in the early ‘90s, where the models walking the runway became as important as the clothes for the first time.
But Evangelista isn’t leaving it there. Her comeback also includes the release of her first book, Linda Evangelista Photographed by Steven Meisel, and a live show in London where she discusses the book, her personal and professional relationship with Meisel and “behind-the-scenes stories about her experience as one of the world’s leading supermodels”.
The book features over 180 images shot over the course of twenty-five years, capturing Meisel’s “constantly evolving vision” of Evangelista and features an introduction from former fashion editor at Vogue, William Norwich.
”An audience with Linda Evangelista”, which will take place in Cadogan Hall in Chelsea on September 17, is sure to produce some juicy, exclusive tidbits which only fuel the appetite for the AppleTV+ series, which is set for release three days later, on September 20.
The two events also coincide with London Fashion Week which is set to run from September 15-19 this year, so all eyes will be trained on the city’s fashion scene already, making Evangelista’s talk all the more buzzy.
Evangelista broke into the modelling industry in 1984, when she was 19. “You know what it was? I was tall, and people used to tell my mum, ‘Oh, she’s tall. She should be a model.’ That, and I was obsessed with fashion,” Evangelista told Vogue in 2022.
She was somewhat successful, but her career really took off after she cut her hair short, on the advice of fashion photographer Peter Lindbergh. The haircut became an instant trend, nicknamed “The Linda”, and helped boost Evangelista’s fame, ushering in her era as a supermodel.
She retired from modelling in 1998, only to return three years later, this time working more sporadically. Evangelista has worked consistently since then, taking a break only to recover from her botched medical procedure, from which she seems to now be bouncing back. And we couldn’t be happier to see it! The Evangelista renaissance era is upon us.
