While she has posed for the lexicon of photographers, illustrators, magazines, and campaigns over a legendary 35-year career, Linda Evangelista had never sat for a painter before.

It's funny to hear the superest of supers say she was "nervous. I kept saying to myself, 'Linda, he wouldn't have accepted to do this if he didn't like you.' " She continues, "When I first sat down, Clemente said, 'You really want to wear that dress?' And I was like, 'Yep, this dress is me.' I'm very Dolce, very 1950s. I love womanly embellishment. But I didn't know it would take five hours!" She laughs. "With my elbow out. Oh, my God." In Clemente's portrait, Evangelista sees an "exaggerated version of myself. I was shocked! But I thought it was beautiful. And I never think anything is beautiful."