That’s Fashion, Sweetie: An Apology to Linda Evangelista
Linda Evangelista was a name impossible to forget in the ’90s. She was the true, pivotal and influential icon — one of the top supermodels at the turn of the century.
She was even part of a group that included five other major supermodels of the time: Naomi Campbell, Christy Turlington, Claudia Schiffer, Kate Moss and Cindy Crawford.
Starting her career in 1984 under Elite Model Management, Evangelista quickly rose to fame. In her career, she graced over 700 magazine covers and walked for every major fashion brand. She had a haircut named after her, was iconic photographer Steven Meisel’s muse and coined the it-girl phrase: “We don’t wake up for less than $10,000 a day.”
Still, even as time and fashion changed, the model within her never left. In August 2015, to preserve her youthful looks, she booked an appointment at CoolSculpting, a non-surgical cosmetic procedure that works to freeze fat. Those who tend to use this procedure target stubborn fat and often freeze their stomachs, thighs or chin.
However, what made this a nightmare for Evangelista is that she experienced a rare side effect that affects less than 1% of cool sculpting users: paradoxical adipose hyperplasia, or PAH.
So, instead of the fat freezing and going away, PAH causes the tissue to expand, thicken and eventually harden to a point where liposuction may not even work.
Evangelista became extremely self-conscious and scared to run into people due to the pressure she faced to remain youthful looking. According to her exclusive interview with People, she felt that “she’s lost her identity.” While she ended up going through the liposuction procedure and is now in a legal battle with Zeltiq Aesthetics Inc., the parent company — her story isn’t something new.
Obviously, cosmetic procedures go wrong all the time – that’s why there’s literally a TV show called “Botched.” But there is such a double standard with aging.
For men, growing old is natural. The silver and gray hairs are trophies of hard work, effort and fruits of life. As men age, especially in fashion and Hollywood, they are compared to ‘fine wine,’ with their beard stubble and true masculinity finally coming in perfect harmony.
But women are suddenly ‘old’ once they are the age of 30.
We are pushed to lather our faces with endless serums, masks and creams that claim to “get rid of fine lines” and “de-age” our faces, and, even at 18 years old, I had friends bring up preventative botox.
There is an enormous stigma that women cannot age.
Unless we are long-time Hollywood legends that can afford ongoing high-end treatment and whose job description is to remain flawless and have every fine line ooze with grace, wisdom and femininity, we non-stars are supposedly frumpy, behind-schedule and succumbing to the pressures of life.
Women, too, age beautifully, and as we grow, so do our wits and knowledge of life; we, too, get to drink nectar from the fruit that we were told only men get to enjoy.
Aging is life. It is progression and growth and an extension of ourselves, so why does it have to be a shameful thing?
I love my frown lines, the little swan-dives in my skin from stretch marks and this one dip in my arm from my vaccine in Japan.
When we fire something in the kiln and it’s paint chips a little, it’s not like the dish is immediately flawed. Instead, we tend to observe and pick in awe of the uniqueness and individuality of our creation. So why don’t we view bodies the same way?
Our skin is malleable and effortless, molded like clay by nurturing hands and warm hearts – isn’t that just the most exciting and beautiful thing?
So who cares if you have a little laugh line or not-baby-bottom-smooth skin under your eyes? It is your character, it is your story and it is you.
We all age like fine wine, and no one can convince me otherwise.
Hadyn Phillips is a freshman writing about fashion in the 21st century, specifically spotlighting students and popular controversy. Her column, “That’s Fashion, Sweetie,” typically runs every other Monday.