The case of Evangelista’s overlooked commentary on the violence often overlooked in the multi-billion-dollar beauty industry, which exposes millions of women every year, makes for a riveting and thought-provoking discussion. It points out how commentators in the fashion press in the U.S. Often overlook this issue, leading to a tsunami of schadenfreude and judgment. However, the initial outpouring of sympathy for Evangelista’s plight, followed by a digital firestorm across the internet, highlights the soul-searching that the industry needs to undertake. It is clear that Evangelista’s case, in which she sues Zeltiq for a botched cosmetic procedure that allegedly left her unable to work and disfigured, will be a significant moment in the courts. The Canadian supermodel announced her lawsuit on Instagram, bringing attention to the aesthetics industry in the U.S.
In 1978, Linda Evangelista joined Elite Model Management after not winning the Miss Teen Niagara Pageant and being discovered by a talent scout. Her occupation, her sense of self, and her reason for existence have truly revolved around her physical attractiveness since then. Her appearance made her an icon. Linda Evangelista’s facial features characterized the period that came before it, just as Steve Jobs’s monotonous fruit and leaf symbolize the defining image of the early 21st century. She was one of the original supermodels–a select group of celebrated beauties whose appearances and figures went beyond the makeup and clothing they were hired to promote, turning them into symbols of a time when fashion held sway over Western popular culture.
After reading the first lawsuit of Zeltiq, I was reminded of Christopher Marlowe’s Doctor Faustus, a classic cautionary tale about a curious and intrepid doctor who makes a deal with the devil that allows him access to the mysteries of hell in exchange for his eternal soul. In Evangelista’s version of the story, the model is both seduced by the ghost of Helen, a spectre condemned to suffer in eternal torment, and courted by the devil as Faustus consigns himself to remain in hell for all eternity before taking Helen as his bride. Faustus encounters many alluring spirits in hell, including the ancient Greek Helen of Troy, whose face launched a thousand ships.
The expression on her face, which makes you want to touch it, is something that is both a curse and a blessing in her everyday life. It has been compared to the touch of Midas, as it has the power to both scare and captivate the common man. British fashion journalist Paul Flynn wrote in 2012 that Evangelista’s beauty was sculpted like the finest biology’s eyeglass, using geometric shapes to create a unique appeal. Despite countless attempts by the fashion press to put Evangelista’s beauty into words (most of which have failed), it almost seemed celestial. Her face appeared more perfect than the rest, as if it had been carefully arranged with the shifting standards of beauty in mind. She graced the runways of every haute couture show, parading down the spring and fall collections, and her imperious gaze could be seen on billboards and newsstands across the ’90s. Like a cat crossing a jungle, her presence was both alien and familiar, and it swept her to the heights of global superstardom in the fashion industry. Now, she is the face that naturally centers the question of Evangelista’s journey.
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Evangelista Linda was born with a face that is not normal, which undermines her claims of suffering from mortal afflictions. In reality, this middle-aged woman looks perfectly attractive in her 50s, with plumped cheeks that cannot be described as plain, hideous, deformed, or brutally disfigured. Even long grainy tabloid photos attest to the fact that her face has not changed much. However, in a heartbreaking Instagram post, Evangelista herself described something close to her as not being beautiful. Today, it is clear that Evangelista’s beauty account has formed two sides of the same coin, with both vileness and veneration in the fashion world. While compliments go handed back, it’s just one aspect of the world for you.
Most women over 40 can empathize to some degree with Evangelista’s plight, whether it is the trauma of a higher order or the shame of bare vanity. She knows the beauty currency is legendary, possessed by only a few who aspire to it, as it cannot be gained from grit or talent, nor can it be engineered or purchased. Even on the rare occasion when the beauty manifests itself famously, in a market buyer’s ruthless and ever-shifting fashion standards, it is a depreciating asset. Anyone who has suffered from the bad highlights of a Botox syringe or a bruised head knows the whims impossible to conform to.
This brings us to Zeltiq’s non-invasive slimming technique, CoolSculpting, which is undertaken by Evangelista. The procedure entails the removal of fat through a process called cryolipolysis, which gradually cools and freezes unwanted fatty tissue by pulling it into an applicator device. According to CoolSculpting’s website, this technique, known as paradoxical adipose hyperplasia (PAH), resulted in a backfired condition for Evangelista, causing her body and face to expand in unwanted pudge instead of shrinking. She claims to have made multiple attempts to reach Allergen Aesthetics, a unit of pharmaceutical company AbbVie that owns Allergen, but received no reply. Allegedly, several painful cosmetic surgeries and failed attempts to fix the botched procedure have led Evangelista into a cycle of profound depression, self-loathing, and sadness, describing it as “the depths of her lowest and most deep cycle.” She is now suing for $50 million on grounds that the company is responsible for the irreversible and permanent effects of the condition. Sounds brilliant, doesn’t it? Freezing cells to death by gradually cooling and freezing them off for roughly half an hour.
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Timing – and chance, is the solution. The so-called Supers have managed to stay relevant well into their middle ages while many other models fade away. How is that possible? Many of her original supermodel peers – including Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington, Kate Moss, and Gisele Bündchen – continue to work either as models or in the world of celebrities, capitalizing on the enduring influence of their famous faces in exchange for substantial fees, as she highlights in her argument. However, it’s valid to question whether a 56-year-old model can reasonably expect a long-lasting career in the fashion industry, which is notorious for its relentless pursuit of novelty and youth. The legal question at hand is whether the procedure is truly responsible for her transition from a goddess-like figure to a mortal, and if so, the extent of the suffering she has endured as a consequence.
Jeanne Beker, the long-reigning host of Citytv’s fashion-defining era, is part of a team working on a documentary series entitled “Misfits of Dreams,” which is scheduled for release in the year. The 1990s were a decade when the fashion business was pushed to the center stage, illuminated by the international light of celebrity culture, and buoyed by the rise of famous and spectacularly young models who formed a tide that the global luxury brands and acclaimed designers rode on, as well as the power of glossy magazines.
To expand their ranks, others would include Claudia Schiffer and Kate Moss. This gang of original faces launched a thousand cosmetics contracts. What formed was the holy “trinity” of models, Turlington, Campbell, and Evangelista, who seemingly became household names overnight, dominating newsstands and major fashion shows.
They were the symbol of even greater change, says Supers. According to him, these models elevated the mere status of vehicles into something beyond. We were all in the epicenter of a changing world. It felt like an electric jolt charging through the room. The models were reprising their famous performance in the video of Evangelista’s iconic song, playing a starring role. It was in March 1991, during Gianni Versace’s show at Fiera in Milan, when Crawford, Campbell, Turlington, and Evangelista walked down the runway lip-synching to George Michael’s gay pride anthem for the AIDS generation, ‘Freedom!’ In his view, Hamish Bowles, the international editor of Vogue and host of Condé Nast’s popular Vogue podcast, identifies this moment as a defining one in the zeitgeist of the 1990s fashion.
It’s simply a completely different scenery. It’s not identical. You have social media celebrities, but nothing has substituted the original supermodels, not in that prevailing manner, “Until now,” Beker states, their renown and impact have persevered. A sort of concluding era for attractive professionals, the Supers were a cultural anomaly in this regard. The worldwide media and marketplace as we understood it experienced disassembly and restructuring, followed by the digital revolution and the beginning of the millennium however.
The fashion industry, known for its enduring legacy, confirms what is widely known: “beauty” in all its forms is an illusion that begins with the controlled quality and confected images of the stuff being sold. It hardly matters that these images are airbrushed to perfection, as the Supers’ continuing ability to command large fees and maintain their fame as famous faces and bodies in the cosmetics and perfume selling industry persists. This is largely a result of many of the original Supers, including Evangelista, whose sense of perfection and limitations have shaped the industry.
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People who are angry, dare to speak up. Supermodels, Victorian children, and royals like are meant to be heard and seen. The dictum has always been held in high regard, whether it is Apocryphal or not. It is rumored to be Kate Moss’s motto, to never explain or complain, and to never say “Never.”
Emily Ratajkowski, a supermodel who has learned about the lack of recognition and similar dysphoric experiences in the mirror, describes in her book the dissociation induced by her commodifying job of using her own body for money, as well as the harassment she has endured. She has almost nothing in common with Evangelista, yet she has 28 million followers on Instagram. However, she continues to be hounded by paparazzi and claims that she was groped on other sets. She became famous for nearly naked dancing in Robin Thicke’s controversial viral hit “Blurred Lines” when she was only 21. According to Ratajkowski, her job is bizarre and measures her worth solely based on her appearance, which is a reality she describes unvarnished. As a former fashion writer, I found many parts of her book riveting. While some critics mocked the book as the whining of a spoiled celebrity influencer, others praised it as an incisive meditation on beauty and culture. Take Emily Ratajkowski’s recent collection of polarizing essays.
Her career was effectively halted and her face was stolen from her long before this, making the truth even bleaker and larger. The industry she served greatly curtailed her career and irreparably damaged her beauty.
Subscribe to the monthly print edition of this magazine, which features an article by Linda Evangelista titled “The Unbearable Beauty.” The article appears in the February 2022 issue of Maclean’s magazine.