Eve's close shave.

Supermodel Eve Salvail talks for the first time about her experiences with women and the brutal attack that forced her to rethink her career

Back in 1996 model Eve Salvail was the undisputed It Girl of the Paris fashion scene. Her signature look--a shaved, tattooed head--had won her a devoted following among fashionistas looking for a bold new expression of feminine beauty: The French-Canadian stunner had become something of a muse for designer Jean Paul Gaultier, who had featured her in countless campaigns; she'd hit the runway for director Robert Altman in his 1994 fashion epic, Ready to Wear; whenever she walked through the streets of Paris, fans waved and shouted out her first name.

But none of that notoriety mattered one day in the summer of 1996 when she and her girlfriend happened into a Paris cab with a mentally unbalanced driver who became irate when she couldn't produce any bills smaller than 200 francs (about $39) to pay her fare. "We were screaming at him, and he was screaming at us," she recalls. "I got out of the car, and I told my girlfriend to run. And he left his car there in the traffic at a red light. He chased us for 45 minutes. He was throwing me to the ground. People were just circling around us to look. My Lacroix makeup was running everywhere. I was begging people to help us--no one helped whatsoever. I went into a pet shop, crying and begging the woman to call the police as the guy grabbed me by the elbow, pulling me out the door."

Finally Salvail and her girlfriend escaped by dashing across an intersection moments before the traffic light changed. Though badly bruised, Salvail was not seriously injured. When she reported the driver to the police, the officers told her they couldn't help "unless I was dead," she says. "That very day I canceled everything and left Paris."

Salvail settled in New York, broke up with her girlfriend, and dramatically cut back on work. Now married for three years to a male singer-model, she is opening up for the first time to the public about the assault and her bisexual experiences during her modeling years. "Everything has changed so much for me," she says. "I'm feeling much better, much more settled these days."

Growing up in a small town in Quebec, Salvail dated boys throughout high school. At 19 she had her first lesbian experience with a fellow beauty pageant contestant. "She was in modeling," Salvail says. "I was doing my first modeling job. She was representing Mexico. I had a fling with her."

After the contest she returned to Montreal, where she dated a male graphic artist. She stayed loyal to her boyfriend during an extended stay in Tokyo, where she found plenty of modeling work. During her final days in Japan, Salvail shaved her head and got her now-famous tattoo. "[The tattoo] is of a bronze sculpture that's 2,000 years old," she recalls. "It means `good fortune.' My agent flipped out because over there it means you're in the Mafia."

When she returned to Montreal, Salvail quit modeling to work as a bartender in a punk club. Then one day her agent called to tell her that Gaultier, who had seen her picture on the wall of a Montreal cafe, wanted her for his next Paris show. The morning after Salvail's Paris debut "the faxes were rolling out of the machine," she says. "I didn't even know how to get them out. They were confirmations of [bookings] for three magazines."

Her personal life was taking off too. "I was seeing a woman who I met in Montreal. She came to Paris," she says. Pausing, she adds, "I don't like talking about my personal stuff."

Since fleeing Paris, Salvail has performed as a singer with the trip-hop band 10 watt mary in New York and has kept modeling to pay the bills. A few months ago she left the group to focus on a solo career. Later this year she plans to release "Pour Toujours," a duet with fellow Canadian Bryan Adams (who's advising her on the project), with some of the proceeds going to AIDS and cancer charities. She's also thinking about altering her famous look. "I want Meg Ryan's hairdo. Her hair is dope!" she exclaims. Still, old habits die hard. "I try to let my hair grow," says Salvail, laughing. "But then I keep shaving it."

Find more on Eve Salvail and related Internet sites at www.advocate.com

Meers is managing editor of Paper magazine.