Linda Evangelista Makes an Elegant Return to the Met Gala for the First Time Since 2015: See Her Supermodel Smize

The supermodel has been absent from fashion's biggest night for nine years

After nine years away from the famous Met Gala steps, Linda Evangelista returned to fashion's biggest night on May 6.

For her big moment, the supermodel rocked a look that felt indelibly her. "I wear a lot of Khaite in my real life," she explained to Vogue.

So she tapped the label's designer, Catherine Holstein, who created an elegant white draped gown in organic silk gazar for her.

“The one thing I really wanted to do was push myself out of black, and that’s what we’ve done,” Evangelista said. "I feel so comfortable in it, and I’m really, really, really happy."

Evangelista, 58, accessorized the dress with long, sheer gloves and a pair of tourmaline chandelier earrings by designer Ana Khouri, who accompanied the fashion icon on the red carpet.

The last time Evangelista attended the Met Gala was in 2015 for the "China: Through the Looking Glass"-themed party. She wore a red Moschino gown featuring an oversized bow to the event, the color red as an ode to the gala's theme. Moschino's creative director at the time, Jeremy Scott, cast Evangelista in two back-to-back campaigns for the brand, the first in 2014 and a second fragrance ad in 2015.

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She also made a bold (and ethereal) statement in 2013 for the "PUNK: Chaos to Couture" night wearing a floaty Marchesa gown.

These appearances were the last two in a long string of glam Met Gala displays by the supermodel.

In 2022, she shared with PEOPLE that she had an experience with CoolSculpting, a fat-freezing body contouring procedure, that she says left her "permanently deformed" and "brutally disfigured.".

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Since the release of the Apple TV+ docuseries The Super Models in 2023, Evangelista has reclaimed her life and has made more public appearances. She's found herself back on magazine covers where she belongs — including a solo cover of V Magazine in January, covered in gold paint and the epic cover of British Vogue to send off editor-in-chief Edward Enninful — and starred in a new campaign for Donna Karan helping to relaunch the brand.

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In a November 2023 interview with The Sunday Times, she shared that she's "not hard on myself any longer" over what happened. "How people feel about me still bothers me a little bit, but it used to bother me a lot. I know now that I didn’t do anything wrong," she said. "For the longest time I thought I did."

"I’m not completely rid of it, but I work hard at getting rid of the guilt and the shame," she added. "And I’m not letting it ruin my life. I wouldn’t have stayed locked up if I’d known how many people cared.”

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