Linda Evangelista lacked confidence

11 November 2024

Linda Evangelista lacked confidence in the early days of her career.

Linda Evangelista lacked confidence in the early days of her fashion career

The 59-year-old beauty doesn't think her rise to supermodel status happened as quickly for her as it did for some of her peers because she didn't know who she was "supposed to be" until much further down her path.

Speaking during a presentation at the WWD Apparel and Retail CEO Summit, she reflected: "My rise to success working with incredible photographers and magazines and campaigns didn't happen overnight - it took like three years.

"Some of the other models went straight to the top, and my rise was so slow because what I was lacking was confidence.

"I think I didn't have a look. I didn't know how I was supposed to look.

"I didn't know who I was supposed to be, until I found out I could be anybody I wanted to be."

Linda is one of a number of supermodels, including Cindy Crawford, Amber Valletta and Karlie Kloss, to be fronting the relaunch of Donna Karan and she was delighted to work with the fashion house again as she had such fond memories of the designer and her catwalk shows in the 1990s/

She said: Donna was such a fun show to do. She was there with us backstage, and we would get these pep talks. We never got pep talks from anybody. It was just, ‘Walk to the end, walk back.’

"But she wanted us to be our authentic selves, strong women that embodied everything that she ever thought a woman was. She gave us so much confidence, and it was so much fun.

“Sometimes in fashion shows, you look around at the other models and what outfits they have, and you’re like, ‘Oh, how come they got that one?’ But it didn’t matter with [Donna] because her clothes didn’t overtake your personality."

And even now, Linda still wears her old pieces by the designer.

She said: "The black body suit was the basis of everything, and you build on that — it was so easy to get dressed as a woman. There are a couple things like that that I still wear today, because they’re resilient, they have longevity.”