She Can Do It!

From Conquering the Fashion World to Protecting the Planet, Supermodel Amber Valletta Is One Badass Woman

- Stephanie Trong

Seeing one of the OG ’90s supermodels pop up on the runway these days is the fashion equivalent of the surprise concert cameo, kind of like when Eminem rose out of the floor to take the stage with Drake in Detroit last year. It’s a moment for the young ’uns to see how it’s done.

“When I come in, there’s a level of excitement because I put in my time,” says Amber Valletta, who walked Dries Van Noten, H&M, Isabel Marant, Michael Kors, and Versace last February at the fall collections. She likens this to when she was first starting out and would see the mood of the room change as soon as Linda, Christy, or Naomi showed up. “It’s like any job when you’ve been there for years. You have seniority, and people respect you differently than when you’re an 18-year-old kid.”