Linda Evangelista: biography
The "chameleon" model - this is the nickname of Linda Evangelista for her amazingly flexible and changeable image. The "People" magazine has included the gorgeous model to Top-50 of the most beautiful people on the planet.
The supermodel enters the ranks of the world famous queens of the podiums like Naomi Campbell, Claudia Schiffer, Cindy Crawford and Christy Turlington. Linda Evangelista was born in May 1965 in Ontario. Linda grew up in the Canadian town of St. Catharines which is famous due to its close location to Niagara Falls.
The beautiful model has Italian roots. Her parents were emigrants. Linda's father and elder brothers worked at the automobile factory. Her family observed Catholic traditions. Linda was the only daughter and the youngest child in her family, so her parents adored and indulged her. Linda had no burning desire to study, that's why her teachers constantly complained of the teenager. But once the girl said to her exasperated mother who had come from one more unpleasant meeting with the teachers that she didn't care whether she would leave the school or would stay to study till the end. Linda thought that soon she would be either a cook, a nun, or a model.
Probably, Linda’s mother liked the last variant most of all. The woman persistently took her clumsy and tall daughter with the 42nd size of footwear to the castings. There the girl was rejected continuously. The jury said that Linda didn't correspond to model parameters. But after all, her mother managed to conclude many contracts with local department stores, and the girl took part in the shootings for their advertising catalogs. In such a way, the model biography of Linda Evangelista had begun.
Model business
It’s hard to believe, but Miss Teen Niagara beauty pageant which was the first contest in Linda Evangelista's life turned out to be a failure. The girl left the group of the pretenders in the middle of the competition. Nevertheless, the future supermodel was sure that her time would come. She appeared to be right. Linda Evangelista literally "had starved out" her first contract with the model agency. Soon, she persevered and got one of the scouts of "Elite" model agency.
There exists a kind of a legend that once at night, after unsuccessful results of the beauty contest Linda got into the hotel room of the scout. She threatened him that if he didn’t make a model of her, she would call the police and would tell that the man had raped her. The scout said the girl to undress. Then the future model got surprised. Though, the scout had no dirty thoughts. The agent made Linda to walk across the room, to turn the head and to bend down. Next morning exhausted Linda Evangelista left the hotel room with the draft copy of the contract.
The path of Linda Evangelista to the peak of the model Olympus was complicated. The girl was plump. Having a height of 176 centimeters Linda was far from "model" parameters. Her waist measurement reached 64 cm, and the girl’s weight approached the mark of 60 kilos. Her long thick hair was the only thing that this beautiful girl with cat's shape of eyes could be proud of.
Italian model was advertising hair conditioners. But once, her rivals cut Linda’s hair off while she was sleeping. Thus, the girl paid for her stubborn character. The fashionable hairdresser from the "Elite" agency took pity on the crying Linda and made an extremely short hairstyle for the girl. Moreover, he painted girl’s hair in some crazy color.
This prank of the model was at first met negatively by the couturier, and the girl didn’t get the invitation to the fashion parade in Milan. But the public was delighted by new Linda’s hairstyle, and soon people began to ask for the haircut "of Linda Evangelista" in the fashionable salons. Only then people around had noticed great advantages of Evangelista’s appearance. Her career began to take off promptly.
Taking into account the experience of Linda’s amazing transformation, fashion designers felt free to experiment with the model’s appearance. Evangelista looked great with different haircuts, almost in all colors and styles. During one year the model could change her hair color 17 times.
Evangelista moved from New York to Paris. At first, the girl took part in every photo shoot to which the agents invited her. She took any job that she could find. At last, in three years Linda had had good fortune. Evangelista took part in the photoshoot for popular "Vogue" edition. After the successful photo shoot, Linda was at once invited to become the model of the edition. Soon, the picture of the gorgeous model with greenish "cat's"eyes appeared on the pages and the covers of "Elle", "Marie Claire" and "Harper's Bazaar" magazines.
Linda Evangelista enriched her biography with new pages: the girl was invited to take part in the advertising campaigns of such Fashion Houses as Chanel, Dolce Gabbana, Dior, Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein. Linda Evangelista also worked with such brands as Alberta Ferretti, Anne Klein, Barneys, Chloé, Donna Karan, Gianni Versace, Hermes, Jil Sander, Valentino.
The girl signed the long-term contract with "Kenar", cooperated with American Express financial company. The model "chameleon" was in great demand. The fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld, who called Linda "a Stradivarius violin in the master's hands" and the most professional model also became Evangelista's fan.
In the early nineties, Linda Evangelista, Christy Turlington, and Naomi Campbell belonged to the three most demanded models in the fashion industry. The girls created the group under the title of "Trinity". The fees of the model reached heavenly sums. The following words belong to Evangelista - "I won't get up for less, than 10 thousand dollars a day". Later, after many years, Linda had to justify herself for this arrogant statement. Being an adult, Evangelista was actively involved in the charity. Together with her team, she collected millions of dollars in the fight against AIDS and HIV.
After the break for several years in Evangelista’s model career, which followed one of her love affairs, the girl returned on the podium in 2001. And again it was a triumph.
Linda has her star "twin" – the actress Milla Jovovich whose film career was taking off in the second half of 90-s. The girl played the leading roles in the movies "The Fifth Element" and "Jeanne d'Arc" directed by Luc Besson. Besides her work at the cinema, the actress also took part in the commercials. Since 1998 Mila became the face of L'Oréal cosmetic company. Later, in 2007, Linda Evangelista also signed the contract with this international cosmetic giant company and was entitled as "The Ambassador of Beauty".
Personal life
Personal life of Linda Evangelista was not always ideal, as well as her model career. The model got married for the first time to Gérald Mari - the director of the Parisian "Elite" model agency. But her spouse wanted to have a child, and the model was in the prime of her career at that time and couldn't afford it. Her path to the fashion Olympus was too tricky to refuse everything for the sake of family happiness in one moment. Their marriage came to an end and broke up.
Later she had a love affair with George Michael. But before their wedding, the scandal had burst out. The singer confessed in his non-conventional sexual orientation. At the beginning of the 90-s world, tabloids announced the love affair of Linda Evangelista and the star agent Cooper – the actor Kyle MacLachlan. Young people got acquainted during the advertising photo shoot. Their relationship had lasted for six years, but after the announcement of the engagement, the bride left him for another man.
The French football player Fabien Barthez became the new boyfriend of the model. Linda was ready for everything for the sake of the goalkeeper. She was prepared to leave the world of fashion, to give birth to the child who "would spoil" her figure and appearance. But the marriage with Fabien Barthez didn’t take place. On the 6th month of pregnancy, Linda lost her child. The couple was living together for some time, but in 2002 their feelings came to an end.
The short relationship with the with the famous billionaire François-Henri Pinault, which lasted from 2006 till 2007, finished right after Linda Evangelista's had announced her pregnancy. Pinault disappeared, leaving the model for Salma Hayek. Linda and Salma gave birth to their children almost at the same time. Evangelista gave birth to her son. In 2012 the model published information that Pinault was the father of her child and seized the decent sum of money and alimony from the billionaire.
What about the latest love affairs of the former supermodel, it is known, that Evangelista had relations with billionaire Peter Morton. But these relations also hadn’t led to the marriage.
Linda Evangelista at present
Since 2014 on the web there appeared photos of Linda Evangelista which shocked her admirers. In this pictures, you can see that the model had significantly put on weight. Linda’s health problems with thyroid provoked her overweight. The model doesn't hesitate to demonstrate her appearance and often takes selfies without makeup for her page on Instagram.
In 2016 Evangelista got back into shape and began to appear on the pages of glossy magazines and in the commercials of beauty products. In August 2017 Linda Evangelista posed for the anniversary "Vogue" edition dedicated to the 125th anniversary of the magazine.
