Eva Herzigova. “Women today are destroying themselves, and I find it invisible.”

“Chanel is here, rest assured. “, laughs famous fashion photographer Jean-Baptiste Mondino. Not the great Gabriel arrives at the studio, but one of the key characters of the Chanel haute couture show presented at the end of June at the Opéra Garnier. Swiftly removed, a majestic, theatrical and airy black cloak passes from hand to hand, then slips behind the screen. A unique and therefore highly coveted piece may only stay on set for an hour; it awaits on the other side of Paris. A little later, supermodel Eva Herzigova arrives on the set.

Hyper-weakened, he laughs at Mondino’s jokes, playing with the cloak’s sweeping wings, sometimes taking the form of a magical bird, sometimes of black fire. We think of the serpentine choreographies of American modern dance pioneer Loi Fuller. Maestro Mondino, suddenly focused, whispers a few words to him. Eve’s eyes darken, then she opens her cloak in a choreographed ellipse. Click, click. The return screens are followed by shots of absolute beauty one after the other. The image here is magical.

A rare sincerity

A break. Eva Herzigova wore a robe and slippers. She eats her rice salad with her hair pulled up with simplicity. “Working with Jean-Baptiste is always very nice. we have known each other for a long time, we have created wonderful stories together. Mondino doesn’t just take pictures, he takes pictures. He understands the strong side of the clothes, immediately sees whether it is in the material or the cut, and knows how I will appropriate the creation,” he assures in French sprinkled with anglicisms. Before our eyes, we no longer have this creature from another world, but a woman of disarming naturalness.

High cheekbones, but wrinkles that fold in the sun at the corners of the eyes, Eva Herzigova is 51 years old. With a sincerity quite rare in the profession, he immediately declares that “he does not do anything to his face”. “Today women destroy themselves, I consider it invisible. But not only in fashion, the phenomenon is everywhere on the street. I find it sad,” he claims. He adds: “I know what you’re going to tell me, ‘it’s easy for her, she’s beautiful’, all that… But not exactly! We need to change the conversation about the age of women. I’m tired.” He simply admits that he has put the kibosh on social alcohol and cigarettes. Burst of laughter, rolling eyes. It must be said that Eva Herzigova hardly has time to rest these days. We’ve seen him in recent campaigns for Saint Laurent (by Jürgen Teller) or Balenciaga (by David Sims), on the Cannes red carpet and even on the catwalk of the Mugler Fall-Winter 2024-2025 show.

Strong connection with photographers

Eva Herzigova has had a career spanning more than thirty years, an extraordinary longevity. In the 1990s, when the Berlin Wall had just come down, the East was the new El Dorado for top model hunters. At the age of 16, Eva won a beauty pageant (which she didn’t actually participate in) in her native Czechoslovakia’s capital, Prague. He is going to Paris. Boom, in 1994 it literally exploded with the Wonderbra campaign shot by Ellen von Unwerth, with Frederik Beigbeder’s very famous tagline (“Look into my eyes…I said eyes”). A plunging neckline, a brooding look, blonde Eva embodies a true man’s fantasy, a “pin-up,” in her own words.

“Such commercial success could have done me a disservice because you get pigeonholed quickly. Fortunately, I managed to create a strong connection with famous photographers and artists, such as Helmut Newton or Peter Lindbergh, with whom I took iconic photographs.” Of all, Lindbergh is his mentor. I have known him since I was 16 years old.” (German photographer died in 2019, Editor’s note). In the 2000s, she joined a limited circle of supermodels and became the muse of Gianni Versace, Karl Lagerfeld, Jean Paul Gaultier and Marc Jacobs. But what is its secret? “I have a transformative side, I like to embody the vision, to be the woman according to Peter, according to Helmut… I like to tell a story, to look strong. There are girls who are always themselves, others rock or glamorous… Me, I’m a chameleon. I’m adapting.”

He goes, Dior’s look is waiting for him. In a few hours, she will be on a plane to Tours to join her husband and her three sons, George, Philip and Edward. Before leaving, Eva Herzigova kisses us and says as a guide, “We grow stronger with age.”