Linda Evangelista

Linda Evangelista is a Canadian fashion model known as one of the most accomplished and influential figures in the fashion industry. Throughout her career, she has been featured on more than 700 magazine covers worldwide. She gained widespread recognition as a longtime muse to photographer Steven Meisel and for her public statement, "We don't wake up for less than $10,000 a day." Regarded as one of the "Big 6" supermodels of the late 1980s and 1990s, she was frequently described as the "chameleon" of fashion due to her frequently changing hairstyles and colors.

Evangelista was born on May 10, 1965, in St. Catharines, Ontario, Canada, to a working-class Catholic family that had emigrated from Italy. At age 12, she took a self-improvement course at a modeling school and began modeling locally as a teenager. After participating in the 1981 Miss Teen Niagara pageant, she was scouted by a representative from Elite Model Management. She briefly traveled to Japan for modeling work before returning to Canada to resume her pursuits two years later.

Her international professional modeling career began in 1984 after she signed with Elite and relocated to New York City and subsequently Paris. Her first major magazine cover appeared in November 1984 for L'Officiel. Over the following years, she modeled for major publications such as Vogue, Harper's Bazaar, Elle, and Time. In 1985, she began working as a muse for Karl Lagerfeld at Chanel, and later became a muse for Gianni Versace. Evangelista walked the runways and appeared in campaigns for numerous fashion houses, including Valentino, Ralph Lauren, Dolce & Gabbana, Yves Saint Laurent, and Giorgio Armani, while also starring in advertising campaigns for commercial brands such as Revlon.

In late 1988, Evangelista received a short gamine haircut at the suggestion of photographer Peter Lindbergh. Referred to as "The Linda," the hairstyle became a major fashion trend. During the height of the supermodel era in the early 1990s, she formed a group dubbed "The Trinity" alongside Christy Turlington and Naomi Campbell. She appeared on the landmark January 1990 cover of British Vogue, starred in George Michael's "Freedom! '90" and "Too Funky" music videos, and featured on the highest-selling 100th anniversary issue of Vogue in April 1992. Additionally, she participated in high-profile projects such as billboards for Kenar in Times Square to benefit Ads Against AIDS and appeared in documentaries including Prêt-à-Porter and Unzipped.

After taking a break from modeling in 1998, Evangelista returned to the industry in 2001. Upon her return, she appeared on the September cover of Vogue and participated in ad campaigns for brands such as Blackglama, NARS Cosmetics, Fendi, and Ann Taylor. She also returned to high-fashion runways for houses such as Versace, Chanel, and Christian Dior, before signing a multi-year contract as a brand ambassador for L'Oréal Paris in 2007. Viewers of the television show Fashion File voted her "The Greatest Supermodel of All Time" in 2008.