Less is more

When veteran model Eva Herzigová graced the runways in February, she found her mind focused far away. Eastward. “It was a bit surreal because of the situation in Ukraine.

I think it started exactly when Fashion Week in Milan started. It was awkward,” recalls Herzigová, who was born and raised in the Czech Republic. “It was on my mind constantly. It was really difficult, actually, for me to participate in fashion shows while that was going on. It was just really surreal.” She searches for the right word. “Just irrelevant.”

In order to feel comfortable participating, Herzigová, 49, had to think carefully about her motivations—understanding that she could be aware of the greater world but also find purpose in doing work she has long done and knows how to do well. “When you continue and you see it as work, or you take away the whole ego thing, it’s more just a sense of doing something that you love or being in a comfort zone in that way,” she recalls one model writing on Instagram. The sentiment truly resonated with her. She praises models—including Mariacarla Boscono, Gigi and Bella Hadid, and Mica Argañaraz—who donated Fashion Month earnings to relief efforts.

“I think fashion probably needs to step up” in terms of its engagement and activism in general, Herzigová says. She’s especially passionate about an increased focus on sustainability. (Herzigová became an environmental convert during her first pregnancy, when she began thinking more deeply about the future of the planet; soon after, she and her father invested in the building of a wind farm.) She also appreciates Kering’s decision to go fur-free, which she saw for herself at Saint Laurent’s Paris show. “It was a fake fur, obviously, that looked better than I’ve ever seen fur look,” she says. “When you see that kind of effort coming from fashion, then fashion becomes important.”