Linda Evangelista: 'What I really feel about ageing'
People are always asking me how I feel about ageing. As I lost my father this year I now have a good answer to that question. I want to age, I want to get older, thank you very much, because I certainly don’t want the only other option.
I believe that women can be beautiful at any age. So while I am happy to get older, I still want to look good. I don’t want to look younger, just good.
Naomi Campbell is a real ‘woman’s woman’. She is very supportive, she encourages you to be your best, and I root for her because she can be misunderstood. I’m grateful to have her in my life.
I haven’t had a face-lift but when I do I am going to share it with the world. There was a picture of me in the press recently just after I’d had a facial, in which I was wearing no make-up. It was claimed that I had had this and that procedure done, and it was rubbish. I probably will have surgery – not right now, but I am getting close. If it’s important to me I will have it, and announce that I’ve had it.
I was so happy when Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana asked me to be the face of their make-up range. Not just because I have known them since they were beginning but also because their primer and foundation give my face an instant lift. I use them all the time: the effect is so good that maybe I won’t need that surgery!
When I started modelling in the 1980s there was no airbrushing or Photoshopping. But even then I didn’t look like my images. It’s nonsense to say that perfect images of models in magazines are bad for women, because we know they’re not real – we look at them because we love to dream.
The images in the new Dolce & Gabbana campaign actually look like me. Usually I am transformed with wigs and dramatic make-up; in these images I am just me – but a better me as I am wearing their new make-up. The foundation is formulated with Gold Flavo-Silk Tricomplex with extracts of Gold Silk Sericin, Italian olive oil and vitamin B3. The primer contains extracts of Gold Silk Sericin and Italian olive oil.
I have always worked. I will never give up. I am grateful that I have a niche within fashion and have worked with great photographers who have let me have a point of view about the images we created.
I am a romantic, and I know better than to say I will never marry again. [Linda was married to Gerald Marie, head of the Elite model agency; they divorced in 1993.] I’ll just say I’m open to marrying again. In the meantime, please send any admirers my way!
I am always on a diet, and I always cheat! Particularly when I go home to my mum and she makes my favourite Italian food. I love healthy food and I love bad food – it’s all about balance.
It’s become cool to be Canadian. Ryan Gosling and Rachel McAdams are my two favourite actors and the gold medal successes of both the men’s and women’s Olympic ice hockey teams this year were great patriotic moments for me.
Like every working mother I strive for a work-life balance. Any time I spend with my son is ‘quality time’, whether we are working on his homework or singing a song together. Every moment with him is amazing.
I work out not just because I am a model but because it’s what we all need to do. I see a trainer five times a week and I have lots of kit at home: a spinning bike, a power plate, a rowing machine… It keeps my energy levels up, and so does being grateful for the life I have and the people that I have in it.
To relax, I just flop on to the sofa and read or play with my son. I also love cooking. One of my favourite ways to relax is to do my beauty routine once my son goes to sleep. I apply serums or a mask, and I love shabower – when you go from the bath to the shower and pamper your body.
People are surprised but I am actually a real homebody. I love being at home baking and decorating cakes. I enjoy needlepoint, crochet, macramé, gardening – and I play the accordion.
Fashion, in my opinion, is art. I loved a John Galliano yellow ballgown that I modelled for him on the catwalk so much that I kept it. It just seemed natural to put it on display in my bedroom. My closet and dressing area are set up so that I can see all my clothes and accessories. It’s my own little Costume Institute.
I am passionate about the environment. I’m glad that more politicians and citizens are embracing recycling and buying more eco-friendly cars and appliances, although we still need to be more aware of protecting the planet.
It’s a shame that nobody in public life dresses well any more. Everyone looks great on the red carpet, but I wish they’d look more polished in day-to-day life. My icons are old-school movie stars such as Audrey Hepburn, Grace Kelly and Ava Gardner. I love how they always looked so groomed and beautifully dressed. I can’t picture them ever going to the gym in sweatpants and Ugg boots.
At the beginning of my modelling career my eyebrows were one of my most distinctive features. Make-up artist François Nars taught me how to shape my brows and showed me how to draw them in where they absolutely should be. We would look at pictures of Sophia Loren’s brows and use that as a template.
I have a strong connection to Domenico and Stefano because of my Italian heritage. My parents were both born in Italy so I’m Italian despite being born and raised in Canada. But I am afraid I speak Italian very poorly.
Sleep is extremely important for my beauty routine, my health and my state of mind. Unfortunately, like most people, I find children, work commitments and life in general makes getting those eight hours that researchers suggest we should get each night pretty impossible.
The only advice I would offer young women today is what I say to my son every day. ‘You are beautiful, you are perfect.’
I don’t know the secret of my longevity as a model, but I love my job. It’s what I always dreamed of doing, and the fact that I am 50 next year and still get to do what I love is an absolute pleasure for me. I’m still living my dream.
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http://www.vogue.fr/vogue-tv/beaute...gabbana-make-up-avec-linda-evangelista-1/6133
