Beauty

Linda Evangelista slams use of Photoshop in shoots: ‘Filters and retouching are the devil’

Linda Evangelista appeared on The View Thursday to mark Breast Cancer Awareness Month after having breast cancer twice in five years, and along with opening up about her health, she revealed her thoughts on the changing modeling industry.

When the supermodel, 58, was asked about modeling today versus the ’80s, she didn’t hold back.

“Well, I have a pet peeve. A big one,” she said. “I think post-production is the devil. I think filters and retouching are the devil.”

Despite admitting to getting Botox, Evangelista said she preferred the industry before retouching.

“When, back in the day, when we did a photograph, yes we cheated. We tied our belts so tight and then put Coke cans in the back to cinch our waists,” she admitted, adding, “We held reflectors to take out the bags [under our eyes].”

Evangelista was a runway regular in the 1990s.
Ron Galella Collection via Getty Images
She told “The View” that “all the magic and soul had disappeared” from modeling.
Getty Images

However, she continued that despite the models’ tips and tricks, “they didn’t retouch the photo. We did it perfectly on set and what you saw was what you got.” 

The runway icon lamented, “Today, it’s like, no matter what happens on set — like, a button will pop off and they’ll say, ‘Don’t worry, we’ll put it on later.’ Your eyelash will be hanging off and they’re like, ‘Don’t worry, we’ll fix it later.’” 

Evangelista’s comments come after the supermodel has admitted to going through cosmetic procedures to alter her appearance; along with Botox, she got CoolSculpting, which left the model “brutally disfigured” and prompted her to file a lawsuit.

Evangelista joined her fellow supers to cover the September issue of Vogue.
VOGUE
Evangelista has made a modeling comeback over the past year.
Christopher Peterson / SplashNews.com

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She’s been making a splash in the modeling world again in recent days after covering the September 2023 issue of Vogue with fellow supermodels Cindy Crawford, Naomi Campbell and Christy Turlington —which was criticized for the heavy-handed Photoshop and airbrush — and later reuniting with the group at the Vogue World show during London Fashion Week.

In the accompanying cover story, Evangelista — who said she told her model friends about the CoolSculpting “catastrophe” — revealed that “aging gets us to where we want to be, and that’s for me a long life.”

However, she admitted, “I want wrinkles— but I Botox my forehead so I am a hypocrite —but I want to grow old.”