Supermodel Linda Evangelista returned to the catwalk for the first time in more than a decade this week.
The 57-year-old closed this year’s Fendi show on Friday (9 September) during New York Fashion Week.
The show marked the 25th anniversary of the Italian fashion house’s iconic Baguette bag. In commemoration, the designer unveiled a collaboration with both Marc Jacobs and Tiffany & Co.
Evangelista walked the runway in a dramatic Tiffany blue cape gown that swept the floor as she went.
The model has avoided the spotlight for more than five years after she claimed to have been left “permanently deformed” by a popular fat freezing procedure called CoolSculpting.
Evangelista’s triumphant return to the spotlight has been praised by social media users.
One person described the moment as “legendary”. Another wrote on Twitter: “Linda Evangelista is SO deserving of all the love and praise she’s been getting lately from the industry...a true icon.”
“The one and the only, the most beloved reigning queen of high fashion supermodel herself, Linda Evangelista!!!” a third user wrote.
Another person said: “Goosebumps when Linda Evangelista came out on Fendi show.”
Evangelista previously took legal action against Zeltiq, the company which markets the FDA-cleared fat-freezing treatment, in September 2021.
In July, she announced she had settled the $50m (£40m) lawsuit.
“I’m pleased to have settled the CoolSculpting case. I look forward to the next chapter of my life with friends and family, and am happy to put this matter behind me,” Evangelista wrote.
After undergoing the treatment, Evangelista was diagnosed with paradoxical adipose hyperplasia (PAH), a rare side effect that affects less than one percent of CoolSculpting patients.
This is when the fatty tissue becomes larger and forms a firm, enlarged mass under the skin.
Evangelista claimed that she had not been made aware of the risk of developing PAH prior to undergoing the treatment.
“PAH has not only destroyed my livelihood, it has sent me into a cycle of deep depression, profound sadness, and the lowest depths of self-loathing. In the process, I have become a recluse,” she wrote in September.
