Linda Evangelista makes 15-year runway return after cosmetic surgery left her ‘brutally disfigured’

metro.co.uk:

Linda Evangelista is back on the runway following a 15-year absence after cosmetic surgery left her ‘brutally disfigured’. The supermodel, 57, made a rare appearance during New York Fashion Week on Friday, when she closed out Fendi’s show and marked her first runway appearance in 15 years.Taking place at Manhattan’s Hammerstein Ballroom, Evangelista stepped out at the end of the show wearing a striking Tiffany blue taffeta gown, diamond earrings, silver silk gloves and a Fendi Baguette bag.The supermodel previously revealed that she would be part of the show in an Instagram post back in July, writing: ‘I am so grateful.’ The star’s last runway appearance came in 2007, when she participated in the 60th anniversary fashion show for Christian Dior.Last year, the model claimed she had been left ‘permanently deformed’ and ‘brutally disfigured’ after undergoing a fat-reducing procedure six years ago.The iconic supermodel shared a statement to Instagram explaining she was taking legal action, after she developed a rare side effect from the CoolSculpting procedure that she claims turned her into a ‘recluse’.Linda explained that the treatment which should ‘decrease’ fat cells did the opposite to her and instead ‘increased’ her fat cells – a risk she claims she wasn’t warned of ahead of the procedure.As a result, Linda says she developed Paradoxical Adipose Hyperplasia (PAH) – a rare side effect of cryolipolysis used in coolsculpting treatments which causes fatty tissue to thicken and fat cells to expand rather than breaking them down.In July this year, she revealed she had settled the lawsuit. ‘I’m pleased to have settled the CoolSculpting case,’ she wrote on Instagram at the time. ‘I look forward to the next chapter of my life.