Linda Evangelista returns to runway during New York Fashion Week years after fat-freezing procedure left her ‘disfigured’

Linda Evangelista strutted her stuff during Fendi’s show for New York Fashion Week, marking her triumphant return to the runway years after a botched fat-freezing procedure left her “disfigured.”

The 57-year-old model delighted crowds in a dramatic Tiffany blue gown, which was paired with glittering jewelry and long silver gloves. Her fierce catwalk appearance came at the close of Fendi’s show on Friday inside Manhattan’s Hammerstein Ballroom.

The glitzy event also served as a celebration for the 25th anniversary of the fashion house’s iconic Baguette bag. Evangelista clutched a silver iteration of the purse that was also decorated with roses for her turn on the runway.

A mainstay of 1980s and 90s fashion alongside the likes of Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell and Christy Turlington, Evangelista made her modeling debut in 1984. She skyrocketed to the top of the industry, but the ongoing pressure she experienced as a model took a toll on her self-esteem. As a result, she underwent several sessions of CoolSculpting, a “fat-freezing” technique she said left her permanently disfigured.

In a 2021 Instagram post, the Canadian stunner revealed she suffered a series of rare side effects from the procedure, including paradoxical adipose hyperplasia, which causes swelling and the thickening of fatty tissue.

“To my followers who have been wondering why I have not been working while my peers’ careers have been thriving, the reason is that I was brutally disfigured by Zeltiq’s CoolSculpting procedure which did the opposite of what it promised,” she wrote.

“It increased, not decreased, my fat cells and left me permanently deformed even after undergoing two painful, unsuccessful, corrective surgeries. I have been left, as the media has described, ‘unrecognizable.’”

Evangelista went on to file a $50 million lawsuit against Zeltiq, claiming she was not made aware of the rare side effects she has since been plagued with. She settled the suit in July, just one month before she was revealed to be the cover star of British Vogue’s September issue.

“Those CoolSculpting commercials were on all the time, on CNN, on MSNBC, over and over, and they would ask, ‘Do you like what you see in the mirror?’ They were speaking to me,” she recalled. “It was about stubborn fat in areas that wouldn’t budge. It said no downtime, no surgery and... I drank the magic potion, and I would because I’m a little vain. So I went for it — and it backfired.”

The feature, article paired with a series of glossy photographs, also sees the model open up about the years she spent hiding and keeping to herself in wake of the botched procedure.

“Am I cured mentally? Absolutely not,” she said, adding that she still struggles to look in the mirror nor does she let anyone touch her. “But I’m so grateful for the support I got from my friends and from my industry.”