Today from the fashion streets of Milan to New York, the modelling world is ruled by none other than the beautiful stunning models from Brazil. After football Brazil has now become famous for the models it is giving to the fashion industry. Women Fitness present before its viewers a selected list of Top 10 hottest Brazilian Models on this planet. This list is in no order of preference.
1) Ana Beatriz Barros
Ana Beatriz Barros was born on 29th May 1982. She is a Brazilian model known for her multiple appearances on the SI Swimsuit issues and for her work with Guess?, bebe, Victoria’s Secret, Chanel cosmetics, and Jennifer Lopez’s JLO fashion line.
Barros was born in a small town of Itabira, Minas Gerais, Brazil, to Sônia, a housewife, and Reinato Barros, a mechanical engineer. Later, her family moved to Rio de Janeiro, where she spent her childhood. Barros is of Portuguese, Spanish and Italian ancestry and is the youngest of three sisters; Patricia, who is also a well known model, and Malu (Maria Luisa).
When she was 13, Barros and her older sister, Patricia, were vacationing in Rio de Janeiro when they were spotted by a representative from Elite Model Management.
Barros was encouraged by the Rio Elite office to participate in the Elite Model Look 1996, which she was runner up to Diana Kovalchuk. Barros subsequently competed for international Elite Model Look and placed second worldwide. Elite sent her portfolio and recent Polaroid shots to GUESS? which led her to do the Millennium GUESS? campaign along with her friend and fellow Brazilian model Alessandra Ambrosio.
In addition to Guess?, Barros has done advertisements for Christian Dior, Armani Jeans, Oakley, L’Oréal, Diesel, Victoria’s Secret, Chanel cosmetics, and Jennifer Lopez’s JLO fashion line, among others. In 2004 Jennifer Lopez selected Barros to be the face of her new lingerie line, JLO Lingerie. Lopez said, “I wanted someone young, sexy and urban, with a universal appeal”. Barros has been in shows for the likes of Valentino, Missoni, Gucci, Christian Dior, Versace, Emporio Armani, BCBG, DKNY, Jean-Paul Gaultier, Dolce & Gabbana, Michael Kors, Red Oak, Elie Saab and many more prestigious fashion houses. She walked in the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show in 2002, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2008, and 2009.
She has been on numerous covers of magazines such as Glamour, Vogue, Marie Claire, Allure; Brazilian magazines such as Capricho and Audi magazine, W, Elle to name a few. Barros appeared seven times on Sports Illustrated in the Swimsuit Issue (2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008). Barros was named #96 in FHM magazine’s “100 Sexiest Women in the World” supplement in 2006.
She was chosen to be in the 2010 Pirelli Calendar photographed by Terry Richardson in Bahia, Brazil, alongside Lily Cole, Daisy Lowe, Miranda Kerr and other models. Barros replaced Lindsay Lohan for Fornarina’s Spring Summer 2010 campaign and look book. She has already filmed her first commercial for the company. Barros was also featured in the 2010 Spring/Summer campaign for British retailer Marks and Spencers alongside Twiggy, VV Brown, Lisa Snowdon and Dannii Minogue.
Once one of the top models for Guess, Brazilian supermodel Ana Beatriz Barros has since landed on the cover of several high-profile magazine, including Glamour, Vogue, Marie Claire, and Allure and has appeared in the famous Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition. Barros has walked the annual Victoria’s Secret runway six times, including the 2009 show set to air on CBS on the first of December, but the supermodel is still not an official Angel. Despite her wingless status, you can still find Barros showing off her unearthly body in the 2010 Pirelli calendar.
With six appearances in the annual Victoria’s Secret runway show, a stint posing for Sports Illustrated’s Swimsuit Edition in 2008 and her upcoming work alongside Miranda Kerr in the 2010 Pirelli calendar under her belt — or should we say bikini bottom — and it’s clear that Ana Beatriz Barros isn’t your typical emaciated high fashion model. The native Brazilian is both cut and curvy, making her the kind of supermodel that both men and women can agree is sexy. Although she still hasn’t been upgraded to the status of Victoria’s Secret Angel — a title her best friend and fellow Brazilian Alessandra Ambrosio holds — we think 2010 might just be the year Barros gets her wings. She definitely rings our bell.
Ana Beatriz Barros’ name still doesn’t have the same household status that her best friend and fellow Brazilian supermodel Alessandra Ambrosio’s does, at least outside of Brazil. The supermodel, however, has walked runways for both haute couture designers and has appeared six times in the annual Victoria’s Secret runway show, which means she has the kind of body that appeals to elitist fashion insiders and she can satisfy the demands that a C-cup bra requires. That’s not an easy feat. Barros is still not an official Angel like Ambrosio, but after her upcoming work for the 2010 Pirelli calendar gets out there, we have a feeling that might change.
The hazel-eyed beauty was discovered by the director of Elite Model Management while vacationing on the beaches of Brazil. He encouraged her to enter the Elite Look Of The Year contest.
In 1996, Ana Beatriz Barros placed first in the Brazilian Elite Look Of The Year, and second in the international level of the same contest that same year. With a national Elite Look Of The Year championship and a modeling contract with the agency, Ana Beatriz Barros was ready for the big leagues: in this case, Guess.
Once Paul Marciano (cochairman and co-CEO of Guess, responsible for the careers of Eva Herzigova, Kim Smith and Josie Maran) received Ana Beatriz Barros’ impressive portfolio on behalf of Elite, he knew he had a new Guess girl on his hands.
Ana Beatriz Barros’ beauty cannot only be seen in the Guess Hawaii campaign (along with fellow Brazilian Alessandra Ambrosio), but also in international advertisements for Onyx (in Italy), Head & Shoulders and Chanel makeup.
Ana Beatriz Barros has graced the covers of Capricho (Brazil), Nova and 20 Ans (France) and has appeared in magazines such as Elle (Brazil), Claudia (Brazil), Allure (US), Woman (Spain), and Audi (Brazil).
Ana Beatriz Barros’ love for diverse cultures and languages added to her desire to be a model, and that’s a good thing since she was constantly living the jet-setter life of a runway and print model. The fashion shows in which Ana Beatriz Barros has appeared in include Balmain, Christian Dior, Christian Lacroix, Jean Paul Gaultier, Paco Rabbane, Valentino, and Lolita Lempicka. In February 2008, Ana Beatriz Barros appeared in the Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition.
Although still not an official Angel, Ana Beatriz Barros walked the Victoria’s Secret runway for the sixth time in 2009, along with her already Angelic best friend and fellow Brazilian supermodel Alessandra Ambrosio. Jay-Z or Harvey Weinstein were just two of the impressive guests seated at the event, set to air on CBS for the general public on December 1, 2009. In 2010, Ana Beatriz Barros will appear with Miranda Kerr, Lily Cole and Daisy Lowe, for what is one of our favorite reasons to ring in the New Year: the latest Pirelli calendar.
2) Sancler Frantz
Sancler Frantz Konzen was born on 9th April , 1991. She is a Brazilian model, journalist and beauty queen. She was taken to the Rio de Janeiro by the agent Sergio Mattos, through which participated in fashion weeks Fashion São Luís, Maranhão, and Fashion Days in Minas Gerais, where she modeled for brands like Colcci Fashion and Space. Also, made a parade of designer jewelry for Priscilla Szafir.
She also won numerous beauty contests, some of them: Princess Girl Summer 2009, Fall of Miss Rio Grande do Sul 2009; Miss Arroyo del Tigre 2010, Miss Rio Grande do Sul 2010 (step local); finalist of Miss Rio Grande do Sul 2010, the EC Musa Avenue 2010; Queen of Industry and Commerce of Rio Grande do Sul 2010; Princess Queen of Industry and Commerce of Rio Grande do Sul; Musa Gauchão 2010; Girl Jacuí Regional; Musa Sun RS; Musa Regional Clubs, More beautiful student of Rio Grande do Sul, in addition to local bands, such as Queen City of Arroio do Tigre.
Moreover, represented Brazil in the Miss Atlantic International 2011 in Punta del Este, Uruguay. The contest had representatives from Mexico, Bolivia, Uruguay, Panama, Andorra, Ecuador, Guatemala, Dominican Republic, Paraguay, Costa Rica, Spain, Argentina, South Africa, Colombia and Peru. Its goal is to promote the exchange of cultures and tourism in Latin America. In the first event of the competition, Miss Atlantic Brazil, Sancler Frantz received a range Etre Belle International Ambassador 2011, whose sponsor was a German company that funded the event. In addition, she led the popular vote by Internet, thus winning the title of Miss Atlantic International Internet.
Sancler is a journalism student from UNISC. She was host of the Journal of Pampa, Pampa TV news of Rio Grande do Sul, and also the Pampa Noon, besides participating in the variety show Studio Pampa. It brokered by the TEN model management agency in São Paulo.
She recently stayed in the reality show Top Model – the Reality, achieving 3rd place. Chosen candidates from Porto Alegre, Sancler competed against 23 other candidates selected in six capitals and went through a grueling routine that included learning how to apply makeup and parading professionally paint the glass to books of modeling agencies and participate in a tree climbing circuit, biking and kayaking to shoot. Always won praise from the judges and was the favorite of the public, winning the popular vote with 80% of the votes. She was also invited as a reporter for the Evening Program at TV Record.
In April 2013, she competed in the Miss Brazil World 2013 as Miss World Lobos Island. The representatives of 27 states and several Brazilian islands, totaling 37 candidates, arrived in Rio de Janeiro on March 31 and went to the Portobello Resort & Safari in Mangalore, where they participated in events and competitions characteristic of the contest. The elected Miss World Brazil 2013 would receive the crown of Mariana Notarangelo, Miss Brazil World 2012 and will represent the country in Miss World 2013 to be held in Jakarta, Indonesia, on Sept. 28, with more than 120 participating countries, characterized as the largest beauty pageant in the world.
To participate in this contest, Sancler had to develop a social project, which nominou of Hug Toasty through her were collected thousands of pieces of clothing for donation in her hometown of Arroio do Tigre (RS). The video of the development of this project can be seen on the official website of the contest and also on YouTube. Sancler obtained as a result the title of 2nd Best Social Project of all candidates.
Before the final, that would be forwarded by UOL, Sancler earned a Best Smile. Furthermore, won the event called Parade of Top Model, was voted the 3rd Best Body contest and won the title of Miss Islands. In the end, Sancler was crowned the winner of the contest and won the right to represent Brazil in the Miss World contest, which occurs on September 28 of that year. “I’m not believing yet. It’s A big dream I have. I gave the best of me. My differential is my determination to do my best and give my best in every race,” said the winner in an interview with UOL.
3) Lea T
Lea T was born on 19th April 1981 and referred to then as “Leandro Medeiros Cerezo”, She is a native of Brazil, and one of the world’s current favorites in the fashion modeling industry. She is most known as having been the Muse of Givenchy. She is also a pop culture icon of Transgender Advocacy in the LGBTQQIA Community.
Lea T is the daughter of well-known former Brazilian football player Toninho Cerezo. Lea was identified as male when she was born. In a January 2011 interview, the transsexual model stated her intentions to undergo sex reassignment surgery in March of that year.
The surgery actually occurred in March 2012, in Thailand. In an interview to Fantástico, in January 2013, she described the surgery in a negative way but two weeks later she said that she felt satisfied with the results.
She was first discovered by Givenchy senior designer Riccardo Tisci and became the face of Givenchy in late 2010. Her first runway show was for Alexandre Herchcovitch during São Paulo Fashion Week in January 2011. She has been featured in editorials in Vogue Paris, Hercules Magazine, Interview Magazine, Cover Magazine and Love Magazine.
In 2011, she was also the cover star of two editions of the Spring/Summer 2011 edition of Love Magazine, one as the solo model and another featuring her kissing Kate Moss. Though still rated as one of the world’s top models, Lea T. is no longer ranked on the Top 50 models list at models.com. In 2013, she participated in the Italian version of Dancing with the Stars on Rai Uno entitled Ballando con le Stelle (Series 9)
While Lea T has stated an attraction to both sexes, she did not experiment with her sexuality until her twenties.
4) Liliane Ferrarezi
Liliane Ferrarezi was born on 26th June 1988. She is a Brazilian model who came to national attention in 2002, when she was the winner out of 350,000 entrants competing in the Brazilian round of the Supermodel of the World contest. Representing Brazil in the 2002 world final, held in Punta Cana, Dominican Republic, she finished as the runner-up out of forty-five contestants.
Since then, she has modelled for designer labels including Balenciaga, Calvin Klein, and Marc Jacobs and been photographed for the campaigns of Burberry and Gap. Her magazine covers include French and Italian editions of Vogue. She also appeared in a television commercial for “Echo Women” by Davidoff.
Ferrarezi has worked for the agencies Beatrice of Milan, Ford Models of Sao Paulo, and Models 1 of London.
Liliane Ferrarezi is only in her early 20s, but she’s been a fashion veteran since the age of 14. A former winner of the Supermodel of the World in her native Brazil, she’s popular in her homeland for her underdog victory and has served as a direct influence to other Brazilian hopefuls like Camilla Finn. Outside of Brazil, she’s become recognized at runway events for Marc Jacobs, Calvin Klein, Givenchy, and Chanel (among others), and for her cover shoots, print ads and television spots for the likes of Burberry, Armani Exchange, Louis Vuitton, Gap, and Christian Lacroix. While she’s not as much of a force these days as she was as a promising newcomer, Liliane Ferrarezi still has the potential to come back hard and climb up fast. We have our eyes on her and so should you. Check out fellow Brazilian supermodel Gisele’s post-baby bod at UsMagazine.com
Liliane Ferrarezi was such a hot modeling commodity in her earlier (read: teenage) years that it wasn’t possible to look at her as anything but a girl wearing designer clothes. Now that the hype has quieted down and she’s had the chance to enter adulthood, we can see that she has the makings of an energetic and attractive Brazilian babe who could dazzle us for a while to come. If there are no objections, we would like to add her to our ever-growing list of Brazilian models that we’d like to date.
Among the more striking features of Liliane Ferrarezi’s face are her prominent eyebrows, which add a symmetric and strong quality to her expressions and her overall exotic look. Given that Ferrarezi’s mother took great care of her during her formative modeling years in New York City and kept her away from typical model traps (harsh partying, eating issues), we can imagine that Ferrarezi is comfortable in her own skin and big on family values. We’re not sure if she currently has a man in her life, but you can bet that a family-oriented guy would stand the best chance of sweeping her off her model feet.
With nearly 10 magazine covers to her credit and over 75 designers fighting over her services in her first three years on the job, it’s no surprise that Liliane Ferrarezi has found herself as one of Models.com’s Top 50 in the industry. What is surprising and impressive is that she accomplished all of it before her 18th birthday. Now in her 20s, Ferrarezi has survived the early ups of the modeling business in one piece and continued her career development through television ads and recent magazine spreads.
To date, Liliane Ferrarezi hasn’t earned the same money or experienced the same amount of fame as her Brazilian counterparts have. That being said, she seems perfectly content to not be doing that. Having entered modeling at such a young age, it appears as though she is enjoying the experience of being there as much as she’s pleased to make money doing it. Having been a fan of models since her earliest years, she relishes the sheer kick of sharing a shoot with Kate Moss or walking a runway for Calvin Klein. It’s this kind of attitude that has kept her out of trouble (read: drugs and eating disorders) and can surely help extend her career in years to come.
As the youngest of three in her Brazilian family, Liliane Ferrarezi used her childhood years to latch on to one of the most common dreams that Brazilian girls have: becoming a supermodel. With lucrative modeling careers being almost the norm for women in her country, Ferrarezi spent a great deal of her free time outside of school perusing through magazines and imagining herself in designer clothes on catwalks around the world.
In 2002, Liliane Ferrarezi got the necessary encouragement from her parents and her brother’s girlfriend to apply as a long-shot entrant into the Brazil segment of the Ford Models-sponsored Supermodel of the World competition. To her surprise, the organizers liked what they saw in her photo and she was invited to the competition at age 14 with over 350,000 competitors in her midst. In an impressive display of both beginner’s luck and natural modeling ability, Ferrarezi took top honors at the competition and advanced to the global contest in the Dominican Republic. Though she didn’t win, she would finish second in the competition to Dari Maximova of Germany and sign a contract with the New York branch of Ford Models before she could even return home.
At nearly 15, Liliane Ferrarezi was about to enter a world of big money, odd-fitting fashions, catty infighting, and eating disorders, but thankfully, she wasn’t forced to do it alone. Her mother moved with her to New York and besides helping her learn the local language of her new surroundings, she kept the young model grounded as well. For Ferrarezi, her keen attitude paid off with a series of plum assignments. In 2003, she earned back-to-back covers for the French edition of L’Officiel in May and June before netting the October Italian issue of Vogue. Ferrarezi would add to her rising stock by hitting the catwalk to flaunt the ready-to-wear autumn-winter collections of 2003 for a number of famed designers, notably Calvin Klein, Sportmax and Max Mara. For the haute couture fashions of the same season, she would suit up for high-rollers Chanel and Givenchy.
Liliane Ferrarezi’s relevant experience on the catwalk brought her increased exposure and a number of advertising contracts. By the end of 2004, her campaign dance card would already be filled with the likes of Marc Jacobs (for his Marc line), Miu Miu and Burberry. Perry Ellis would hire her for both ad campaigns and runway duties, while other high-end designers such as DKNY and Tommy Hilfiger would help Ferrarezi impressively crack the ranks of Models.com’s Top 50 models list.
Over the next two years, Liliane Ferrarezi would go on to add more campaign clients like Gap and Louis Vuitton to her advertising portfolio. In addition to this, she would land on the cover of more international magazines such as Amica and Glamour in Italy and Spur in Japan. From there, she would later go the television route to advertise her weatherproof hair in an amusing ad for John Frieda Weather Works, as well a more sensual ad for the Davidoff fragrance Echo Woman.
Liliane Ferrarezi hasn’t been as active on the catwalk in recent years, but she has kept her foot securely in the magazine spectrum with recent photo shoots in July of 2009 and February 2010 for the Brazilian edition of Marie Claire. Having matured into a true beauty, her recent shoots have featured new, lighter hair with a touch of blond and the same distinct eyebrows that helped make her notable in the first place. We look forward to watching her become one of the fashion industry’s most notable all over again.
5) Camila Alves
Camila Alves McConaughey was born on 28th January, 1982. She is a Brazilian model and designer. She was born in Itambacuri, Minas Gerais, Brazil and spent her childhood between the beaches of Bahia and the farmlands of Minas Gerais. She was raised by her mother, an artist and designer, and her father, a farmer. Alves arrived in Los Angeles at the age of fifteen to visit her aunt, and never left. After working for four years as a house-cleaner and waitress, she successfully learned English and decided to make the United States her home.
Alves relocated to New York to sign with Bleu Model Management model agency. One of her more notable campaigns was for Triumph lingerie. At the age of 19, Alves moved to New York to pursue a career as a fashion model. Alves and her mother design the Muxo line of handbags, which were conceived after experimenting for three years with styles and designs. In 2010, Alves hosted the Bravo network’s third season of its reality television show Shear Genius. In April 2012, Alves was signed on as the new face for Macy’s clothing line “I.N.C. International Concepts”.
Alves met American actor Matthew McConaughey in 2006. The couple became engaged on Christmas Day 2011, and were married on June 9, 2012 in Austin, Texas, where they reside. They have three children: sons Levi (born July 7, 2008), Livingston (born December 28, 2012), and daughter Vida (born January 3, 2010).
Camila Alves onced said “Matthew and I are very simple people. Everyone just has to find common ground and make that work for them, and that’s what we do. I respect marriage and I think it’s beautiful that people do it. But for me, more important than anything is having a peaceful life and a peaceful home. I can only hope it gets better.”
Matthew McConaughey is one lucky dude, especially considering he refuses to wear deodorant and loves playing the bongos. Seriously, if it weren’t for his looks, dude would be a social leper, especially the way he gallivants around town like a little school girl with his bestie Lance Armstrong. But back to Camila. She might be more famous for being McConaughey’s arm candy than she is for being a model, but she looks damn good doing it. We’ve never actually seen any of the Brazilian model’s campaigns, but we believe her when she says she’s a model.
As far as modeling goes, Camila Alves hasn’t received that much exposure. She’s appeared in a few music videos as well as commercials (we particularly liked the ad she did for Triumph lingerie). However, given her public exposure as “the woman who broke down Hollywood’s playboy,” we think she might get the chance to follow in the footsteps of other Brazilian beauties like Adriana Lima and Gisele Bundchen.
After high school, she moved to New York to pursue acting and modeling, and earned a certificate from the Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute. Shortly thereafter, Camila Alves began receiving offers. She became one of the sexy coveted lingerie models for Triumph (Matthew, when you’re girlfriend appears shirtless, it’s a totally different story than when you do it). In 2002, she had an uncredited bit part in the Walt Disney movie Snow Dogs, starring Cuba Gooding, Jr. but that’s not exactly something you write home about, or mention… ever.
Camila Alves’ incredibly hot body attracted hip-hop artists Chingy and Ne-Yo next. She worked on Chingy’s “Pulling Me Back” (2006) and Neyo’s “Because Of You” (2007) music videos.
In late 2007, the model was spotted with Hollywood’s main bachelor Matthew McConaughey, and rumors started flying as to whether or not the two were engaged. All of that was quashed when the couple announced they were expecting a baby in January 2008. They decided not to find out the baby’s sex, and although the daddy-to-be was quoted as saying he’d heard the doctor refer to it as a “he,” they still refused to confirm anything.
As if impending motherhood wasn’t enough, Camila Alves also started a new handbag line, Muxo, with her mother in ’08. In July 2008, the couple gave birth to a baby boy, and in June of 2009, the couple confirmed that Camila was pregnant with their second baby. Way to make babies, Matthew. See, the stork doesn’t bring them after all.
6) Caroline Ribeiro
Caroline Ribeiro said “I think my face is different, it’s exotic — not like normal beauty. I don’t have what you would call perfect beauty… With a face like mine I can play around.”
Caroline Ribeiro was born on 20th September 1979 in Belém, Pará, Brazil. She is a Brazilian model. As a teenager, Ribeiro moved to São Paulo to begin modeling. She states of her own looks, “I think my face is different, it’s exotic – not like normal beauty. I don’t have what you would call perfect beauty… With a face like mine I can play around”.
Caroline is of Amerindian, Portuguese and African descent and draws attention for having an exotic biotype.
Ribeiro’s modeling career improved after she signed with the Marilyn Agency in Paris in 1999. She became the “favorite model” of Tom Ford and appeared prominently in multiple Gucci campaigns. She was also featured in campaigns for Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Oscar de la Renta, Valentino, and Yves Saint Laurent. Caroline also walked the runway for Victoria’s Secret along with fellow Brazilian models Gisele Bündchen, Adriana Lima, Fernanda Tavares, and Alessandra Ambrósio. Ribeiro also became a Revlon spokesmodel. She has appeared on the covers of Vogue Italia, French Vogue, and Harper’s Bazaar.
She married fellow Brazilian Paulo Rego, also a model, and they have one child together, Felipe.
She is the new face for Revlon, succeeding Cindy Crawford as its primary model for an estimated $6 million US a year. She has done provocative ads for Gucci and graced numerous magazine covers, including most international editions of Vogue. Her sex appeal can be easily seen via her long, silky legs, and the oft-quoted, overrated “exotic” factor.
With a birth certificate that says 1980, you’d think her career was just starting instead of being deemed “comprehensive.” But with covers on the Italian, American, and Japanese editions of Vogue; Harper’s Bazaar; Marie Claire; and Oyster magazine, she is far from a novice in the industry.
Let’s not forget the ad campaigns for fashion’s leading houses mentioned earlier, and runway shows for Tommy Hilfiger, Luca Luca, Badgley Mischka, BCBG/Max Azria, Carolina Herrera, Calvin Klein, Ralph Lauren, Michael Kors, Anna Sui, Donna Karan, Jean Paul Gaultier and Versace (notice how all the names just sound so European?). Asleep yet?
Although the holidays she spent with her family in Brazil are among her greatest memories, Caroline (pronounced Carol-ini) wanted to pursue a modeling career.
Caroline’s career started out in Sao Paulo, where she worked as a model for three years but did experience some obstacles along the way. Despite her exotic looks — that blends her Portuguese and Amazonian Indian heritage — agents complained about Caroline’s teeth and lack of curves. But that didn’t stop Caroline; she knew she had what it takes.
After some time in Paris, where she used a portfolio of her Polaroid shots to get gigs, she headed out to New York. She was finally signed by Marilyn Agency in June 1999. The agency, which also houses models Helena Christensen and Fernanda Tavares, saw the beauty in Caroline that Gucci’s Tom Ford had recognized a while back.
While agents were complaining about Caroline’s “flaws,” Tom Ford saw the statuesque stunner and hired her to appear in Gucci’s ad campaigns. Caroline has been proclaimed as Tom Ford’s (“America’s Best Designer” according to Time magazine) favorite model, and her work with Gucci eventually opened up doors to more fashion houses.
Today Caroline Ribeiro (she shortened her name so that it’s easier for everyone to pronounce) calls Chanel, Louis Vuitton and Valentino among the big-time fashion companies she models for, in print and runway shows. Caroline has also appeared in Italian and American Vogue (in photo spreads shot by Steven Meisel and Mario Testino), as well as the covers of Vogue and Harper’s Bazaar.
While Caroline has worked with the top designers and even appeared in the Victoria’s Secret fashion show in Cannes in 2000, she signed the contract to really cement her career as a supermodel in September 2001; she was chosen as Revlon’s newest spokesperson.
After Cindy Crawford stepped down as the face of Revlon in February 2001, the company wanted to find someone representative of this generation’s woman; a step away from the All-American girl, toward the mixed heritage, free-spirited woman. No one can argue that Caroline’s flawless and unique face, along with her vibrant personality, make her the perfect choice to add to Revlon’s roster of beauties, which includes Halle Berry, Rhea Durham and South African model Nicola Breytenbach.
With a $6 million contract and the title of the Revlon Girl — an honor that was considered for Gisele Bundchen and Luciana Curtis — it’s clear that Caroline is only going up the modeling ranks. When not promoting Revlon’s High Dimension Haircolor or striking a pose for Gucci, Caroline enjoys spending time with her boyfriend in her New York apartment, listening to bossa nova and Brazilian music.
7) Raquel Zimmermann
Raquel Zimmermann was born on 6th May 1983. She is a Brazilian model. Zimmermann was discovered by a scouting agency in Porto Alegre, Brazil at the age of 14 and made her way to Japan and on to Paris. Shortly thereafter, Steven Meisel booked her for the cover of Vogue Italia, September 2000, and her modelling career began in earnest.
Zimmermann has campaigned for such brands as: Balenciaga, Bloomingdales, Cavalli jeans, Cerruti, Chanel eyewear, Chloé, Christian Dior, CK by Calvin Klein, Clairol, Dolce & Gabbana, Dsquared, Emanuel Ungaro, Escada, Fendi, GAP, Gucci, Giorgio Armani, H&M, Hermès, Hugo Boss, Louis Vuitton, Lanvin, MAC Cosmetics, Max Mara, Neiman Marcus, Prada, Roberto Cavalli, Shiatzy Chen, Valentino, Versace, and appears regularly in American Vogue, French Vogue, Italian Vogue, W, Harper’s Bazaar, Visionaire, POP and Self Service. She also appeared in the 2002, 2005 and 2006 Victoria’s Secret fashion shows.
Zimmermann has appeared on many magazine covers, such as: Vogue (Brazil, USA, Italy, France, Japan, China, Greece, Germany, Russia), Harper’s Bazaar, Elle, Numéro, L’Officiel, Marie Claire, i-D, V and French. In the May 2007 issue of American Vogue she was featured on the cover with fellow models Doutzen Kroes, Caroline Trentini, Hilary Rhoda, Sasha Pivovarova, Agyness Deyn, Coco Rocha, Jessica Stam, Chanel Iman, and Lily Donaldson as one of the “World’s Next Top Models.”
In 2008 casting agent James Scully, who is responsible for picking which model is to score a spot on top runways, says in regard to Zimmermann: The energizer model! I think she’s the only model of the last ten years who never goes out of fashion. It’s as though she never ages yet gets better-looking each season. Probably the most versatile model of all, she truly could be in any show. Her professionalism rivals any model and her timeliness is equal to Cindy Crawford’s, whose punctuality was legendary.
In 2007 Zimmermann appeared on the cover of V and in the first ever television commercial by Gucci for its new fragrance, Gucci by Gucci directed by David Lynch. Zimmermann was ranked number one on international model ranking website models.com from December 2007 until February 2010. As of April 2011 she is, because of her long run on the Top 100, ranked 14 on the Top Model Icons of All Time list.
She has recently been featured in the H&M, Fendi, Lanvin, Printemps and Roberto Cavalli advertising campaigns. Zimmermann appeared on covers of the June 2008 issue of Elle Brazil, the July 2008 issues of Vogue Nippon and Numéro Tokyo and the cover of the August issue of Chinese Vogue, as well as the covers of the Vogue Nippon issues from December 2008 and October 2009. She was the face of Oscar de la Renta for the spring/summer 2009 advertising campaign photographed by Craig McDean as well the face of Marc Jacobs for the 2009 spring/summer campaign photographed by Juergen Teller. The May 2009 issue of American Vogue featured her as one of the faces of the season, alongside Liya Kebede, Lara Stone, Natasha Poly, Caroline Trentini, Jourdan Dunn, Natalia Vodianova, Anna Jagodzinska, and Isabeli Fontana.
Vogue Paris declared her one of the top 30 models of the 2000s.
She starred in the Lady Gaga music video for “Born This Way”, where she was featured wearing designer clothing and helped give birth to a non-prejudice race from the “Mother Monster”. Zimmermann, a German Brazilian, was born in Bom Retiro do Sul, RS, Brazil. She reports that she practices the Transcendental Meditation technique.
Raquel Zimmermann, on being the world’s top model said “It means the recognition of my work and all my efforts… I am very happy.”
Raquel Zimmermann is an international supermodel. She’s best known for her appearances in magazines like Vogue, her modeling of various brands and her catwalk struts for the Victoria’s Secret Fashion shows.
As she’s one of the world’s elite models, there is little to complain about when it comes to Raquel Zimmermann’s sex appeal. An exotic Brazilian beauty, her tall frame is complemented by her striking eyebrows, deep eyes and full lips. Her main areas of focus have always been the maintenance of her hair and skin.
Despite her knockout physical beauty, Raquel Zimmermann has an interesting take on physical beauty. She doesn’t believe that looks set people apart in the modeling world — in her eyes, it’s the model’s interpretation of the fashions and their “acting” at shows that set the standards of excellence. Either way, her looks, acting and winning personality made an impression on photographer Ruy Sanchez Blanco, who is now her husband. For now, it’s a family of two.
Raquel Zimmermann’s modeling portfolio covers a broad chunk of the modeling spectrum. It makes sense, given that she’s the top-ranked model on the industry-ranking website Models.com. Since her first big splash as a cover model for French Vogue, Raquel Zimmermann has made covers a thing of habit with additional cover shoots for magazines like Vogue, Harper’s Bazaar, ELLE, Marie Claire, V, and recently, i-D. One of her magazine highlights was a 2007 shoot for Vogue that had her posing with nine other models as part of a supermodel special.
Being a supermodel, Raquel Zimmermann is no stranger to promoting brands or prowling the catwalks. To date, she’s regularly lent her face and body to names like Calvin Klein, Versace, Giorgio Armani, Escada, Christian Dior, Chanel, and Gucci. Raquel Zimmermann’s association with Gucci also led to her role in a TV commercial directed by David Lynch (Blue Velvet). She’s made three appearances at Victoria’s Secret fashion shows as well.
As a child, Raquel Zimmermann was very tall for her age, and even though she was a dedicated student, her peers felt that her height made her an ideal model. Shirley Mallmann was the Brazilian supermodel of the time, and Raquel Zimmermann decided to give it a chance by joining a modeling school at the age of 12. Two years later, a modeling scout “discovered” Raquel Zimmermann and sent her to Japan and Paris to kick-start a modeling career.
In 1999, Raquel Zimmermann debuted in Paris for Chanel and Valentino. She soon followed with a cover shoot for French Vogue in 2000 and a Christian Dior contract in 2001. After another cover shoot for French Elle that same year, Raquel Zimmermann got a chance to appear on the Italian Vogue cover for acclaimed photographer Steven Meisel. The shoot proved to be troublesome since Raquel Zimmermann didn’t speak English, but the finished product was a success.
The cover shoot for Italian Vogue opened the door up to many more opportunities for Raquel Zimmermann. In 2002, she joined Victoria’s Secret for their annual fashion show, the first of three such shows she would participate in. Two years later, she was photographed by Meisel again for Escada, who would eventually name her as the face of the company.
With a regular stream of covers and cosmetic work, Raquel Zimmermann was now earning over $10K per runway show and further adding to her resume. She became the face of Hermes in 2004 and did cover shoots for Harper’s Bazaar in Japan. She also found time to star in the debut episode of Belissima, a TV show based in her native Brazil. In 2006, she joined MaxMara for another exclusive contract, and was the opening model for Viktor & Rolf’s Paris show.
The modeling exploits of Raquel Zimmermann continued on into 2007 and beyond. She appeared in a Chanel photo shoot with noted fashion guru Karl Lagerfeld behind the lens. She also gained another new contract — this time with Fendi. In May of that year, she teamed up with Meisel again, along with nine other supermodels, for a Vogue cover shoot that profiled the exciting new group of supermodels.
Raquel Zimmermann also signed a contract with Gucci, which expanded her horizons further. She would act in a TV commercial for the company that was directed by film director David Lynch. After celebrating the fall of 2007 as a show opener in New York, Milan and Paris for various designers, Raquel Zimmermann finished the year ranked No. 1 on Models.com. The work continued to pour in for Raquel Zimmermann in 2008, thanks to additional magazine appearances in Vogue, V and i-D. She also headlined shows for designers like Oscar de la Renta and Stella McCartney. After her modeling career is done, Raquel Zimmermann would like to pursue a career in the arts, but for now she’s quite content to be the world’s most sought-after supermodel.
8) Alessandra Ambrosio
Alessandra Corine Ambrósio is a Brazilian model. Ambrosio is best known for her work with Victoria’s Secret and was chosen as the first spokesmodel for the company’s “PINK” line. Ambrosio is currently one of the Victoria’s Secret Angels and has modeled for brands such as Next, Armani Exchange, Christian Dior, and Ralph Lauren.
Ambrosio serves as an ambassador for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society. Ambrosio was also selected by AskMen.com as Number 2 out of the “Top 99 Most Desirable Women of 2008”. In 2012, she came in 6th on the Forbes top-earning models list, estimated to have earned $6.6 million in one year.
Ambrosio was born in Erechim, Brazil on April 11, 1981. Her parents own a petrol station. She has Italian and Polish ancestry. She enrolled at a modelling class at the age of 12, and at the age of 14, she was one of 20 finalists for the 1996 Elite Model Look national competition for Brazil. Ambrosio was always insecure about her large ears, and at the age of 12, she had cosmetic surgery to have her ears pinned back, though two years later she suffered complications. In 2006, she appeared on The Tyra Banks Show, and said that the surgery was a bad experience and has discouraged her from ever getting plastic surgery again.
When Ambrosio was 12 years old, she started modeling classes,and then began modeling for Dilson Stein at age 15. Competing in Brazil’s Elite Model Look competition started her modeling career in earnest. Her first notable modeling job was the cover of Brazilian Elle magazine. Elite passed along some of her Polaroids to Guess which led her booking the Millennium GUESS? campaign. She has since appeared in advertisements for brands like Revlon, Christian Dior, Giorgio Armani, and Ralph Lauren, as well as the Pirelli Calendar. She has walked the catwalks for designers such as Prada, Chanel, and Oscar de la Renta.
She has appeared in numerous international magazine covers, including Cosmopolitan, Elle, GQ, Harper’s Bazaar, Marie Claire, Ocean Drive, Vogue and the only model to appear on the cover of Glamour in the United States in 2006.In 2004, Ambrosio launched her line of swimwear called Alessandra Ambrosio by Sais, a division of Rosa Chá. It sold 10,000 units in only its first month on the market. Ambrosio was the face for the UK company Next and starred in their first television campaign in 12 years. On the July 2009 cover of Marie Claire, Ambrosio appeared in a spread with Sacha Baron Cohen to promote Baron Cohen’s 2009 film Brüno.
Ambrosio, became the face of Brazilian sportswear brand Colcci costarring with Ashton Kutcher in a steamy denim ad. She was ranked No. 5 on Forbes’ The World’s Top-Earning Models list, with an estimated earnings of $5 million over the year 2010–2011. In October 2011, Ambrosio became Vogue’s blogger, commenting on her wardrobe by posting one photo of herself each day for a month. On August 13, 2012 she appeared in the London 2012 Olympic Closing Ceremony as part of Rio de Janeiro’s Handover show
By 2004, she was selected as the first spokesmodel for the Victoria’s Secret “PINK” line In 2005, she walked the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show runway wearing lingerie made entirely out of candy. In the 2008 edition of the Fashion Show, she walked the runway three months after giving birth to her first child, and opened the show the following year in 2009. The 2011 show saw her wearing the heaviest wings (30 lb) ever made for the show. In 2012, Ambrosio was chosen to wear the “Fantasy Bra”. The Floral Fantasy Bra, created by London Jewelers, features amethysts, rubies, sapphires and diamonds (including a 20-carat white diamond in the center), all set in rose and yellow gold, according to InStyle. There’s also a matching belt adorned with more than 5,200 precious stones.
Ambrosio has made several television appearances, notably a cameo as herself on HBO’s Entourage; The Late Late Show with Craig Kilborn; Late Night with Conan O’Brien; A guest judge on Project Runway season 2: Team Lingerie and twice on The Tyra Banks Show. In 2006, she had a cameo on the box-office hit movie, Casino Royale appearing briefly as Tennis Girl #1. Ambrosio guest-starred on How I Met Your Mother (episode: “The Yips”) on November 26, 2007 with her fellow Victoria’s Secret Angels Adriana Lima, Selita Ebanks, Marisa Miller, Miranda Kerr, and Heidi Klum.
She is often cited by the popular media as one of the world’s sexiest women. As an Angel, she was chosen as one of People magazine’s annual “100 Most Beautiful People in the World” in May 2007.
Ambrosio has been engaged to businessman Jamie Mazur since 2008. The couple have two children: daughter Anja Louise Ambrosio Mazur (born August 24, 2008) and son Noah Phoenix Ambrosio Mazur (born May 7, 2012). She is the National Ambassador for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society.
Alessandra Ambrosio said “80 percent of the time I’m on some beautiful island in a bikini. But I’m working and everybody else is on their honeymoon!”.
Whether she’s dressed up in candy or just being altogether angelic, the very spicy Alessandra Ambrosio is easily among the modeling world’s most beautiful women. A regular on the annual list of the AskMen Top 99 Most Desirable Women, she’s also one of the highest-paid ladies in the industry as well. Perhaps most familiar to men as a resident Victoria’s Secret Angel since 2004, she’s also graced the cover of countless magazines, while making memorable stops in movies (Casino Royale) and television (Entourage and How I Met Your Mother). Besides adding credence to the theory started by Gisele Bundchen that only undiscovered supermodels live in Brazil, Ambrosio is now a proud member of the Unofficial MILF Modeling Club where she’s proudly flaunting off her post-baby shape to eager industry observers and her many male admirers around the world.
Except for some pinned ears that resulted in botched plastic surgery, Alessandra Ambrosio is all-natural and all the better for it. Besides her Brazilian heritage, perfect skin, gorgeous eyes, and 34-25-34.5 post-pregnancy figure, pretty much everything she does not only makes men envious, but also makes women extremely jealous. Need an example? Her diet consists of eating “whatever I want,” which often includes chocolate and usually starts with her favorite breakfast of an egg, cheese and bacon sandwich with cappuccino on the side.
Unfortunately, ABC News mocked Ambrosio by saying that her new body makes her look like “a pre-pubescent teenager,” but we think this might be related to some hard feelings over her losing her entire 40 pounds of pregnancy weight in just two months. Don’t blame her — blame the Brazilian Butt Lift.
Besides munching on bacon and eggs at dawn, Alessandra Ambrosio has an exciting mix of guy-friendly interests like surfing and skydiving to go along with her admiration of the personal styles of Jimi Hendrix, Kurt Cobain and Stevie Nicks. We can only imagine how much fun it would be to join Ambrosio on an exotic tandem skydive while singing classic punk rock tunes before a romantic bikini breakfast of bacon and chocolate. Unfortunately, the divinely lucky Jamie Mazur has already beat us to it.
A professional model since her teen years, Alessandra Ambrosio has just entered her thirties, but has already amassed a lifetime of modeling accolades and a multi-million dollar annual paycheck. Having enjoyed the industry exposure that comes from a decade-long association with Victoria’s Secret — including stints as an Angel and a spokesmodel for Secret Pink — she also has enough prestigious magazine covers and photo spreads to start a small library. With a roster of collaborators that includes names like Calvin Klein, Prada, Oscar de la Renta, Christian Dior, Richard Avedon, Steven Meisel, and Mario Testino, Ambrosio is among the best and also one who only works with the best.
The proud owner of a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, Alessandra Ambrosio would like to parlay her incredible modeling success into other areas, with entertainment being one major possibility. Having already made select TV and film appearance (and more importantly, filmed a Hummer commercial with Regis Philbin), Alessandra Ambrosio would like to keep climbing the acting ranks until she’s able to work with her favorite directors Quentin Tarantino and Tim Burton and her acting crush Johnny Depp. If the whole acting thing doesn’t work out, then there’s always medical school. No sarcasm here. Alessandra Ambrosio also aspires to be a cardiologist, but we must say we’re concerned about how many heart attacks she might cause.
Alessandra Ambrosio’s path from bright-eyed trend-follower to beautiful trend-setter started at age eight when she engaged in regular model dress-up sessions with her sister. A young admirer of beauties like Kate Moss and Helena Christensen, Ambrosio was also a fan of Karen Mulder and after seeing the model on a magazine cover, she knew exactly what she wanted to be when she grew up. Within a few years, Ambrosio was taking classes in modeling, but her teenage insecurities temporarily got the better of her. While her skinny frame lent itself to a model’s body, she felt that her ears were too prominent and went under the knife to “fix” them. Complications resulted two years later, but fortunately, they didn’t derail her pursuit of a modeling career.
At age 15, Alessandra Ambrosio bravely entered the 1996 Look of the Year Competition, which was presented by the Elite Modeling Agency. She didn’t emerge victorious, but just a year later, the agency came back to offer her a professional contract, anyway. Following her first magazine covers for Elle (Brazil), Marie Claire (Brazil) and Harper’s Bazaar, Ambrosio hit pay dirt in 1999 as a hired gun on a campaign for Calvin Klein Jeans and a Paris and New York runway model for Christian Lacroix and Philosophy di Alberta Ferretti.
Now working with the full backing of Elite, her agency boldly sent a few choice modeling shots to GUESS, who selected her as the face of their 2000 Millennium campaign alongside Ana Beatriz Barros, another Brazilian model who helped her learn English. As a Guess Girl, like Laetitia Casta and Anna Nicole Smith before her, Alessandra Ambrosio became a famous face and a hot modeling commodity. Soon, esteemed photographers like Steven Meisel (for Gap), Anette Aurell (for Elle) and Richard Avedon (for Wonderbra) were lining up to shoot her and fashion innovators like Revlon and Oscar de la Renta were even quicker to sign her up to exclusive deals.
In 2001, Alessandra Ambrosio walked her very first runway show for Victoria’s Secret. It would serve as the beginning of a long-term association with the retailer, which would culminate with her selection as the spokesmodel for the company’s 2004 line, Secret Pink, and her recognition as one of their exclusive and oh-so-glamorous Secret Angels. As part of the thrill of modeling for a company specializing in lingerie, she got the chance to star in TV commercials for the brand and also pose in a custom-made 2005 outfit that was created completely with candy. Bonus perks to Alessandra Ambrosio’s increased industry relevance included a cameo as a tennis player in Casino Royale with Daniel Craig and a guest appearance as — who else? — herself on a 2007 episode of Entourage.
After being recognized by People as one of the 100 Most Beautiful People in the World and gracing the cover of GQ in June 2007, Alessandra capped off the year with a pair of major achievements. First, she cracked the top five model earners in the world with an annual pay rate of more than $6 million. In addition to that, she joined Camila Finn, Gisele Bundchen and a small crew of Brazilian models for a Mario Testino-photographed editorial for Vanity Fair.
In 2008, all eyes were on Ambrosio’s belly as she became pregnant with her first child. Following the birth of her daughter, Anja Louise Ambrosio Mazur that August, she still found time to join the rest of the Victoria’s Secret Angels for the September 2008 cover of British GQ and the company’s yearly fashion show two months later. Slimmed down and still one of the modeling elite, Alessandra Ambrosio joined comedic genius of the moment, Sacha Baron Cohen, for a Borat-themed British Marie Claire cover in the summer of 2009. A year later, she would hit the runways of Paris for Prada, for a special appearance that saw her adding sex and sassiness to the “librarian look.” As a model who especially enjoys the chance to play characters on the runway, it was a perfect way for Ambrosio to celebrate her continued success as an industry darling.
In 2012, Alessandra gave birth to her second child, Noah Phoenix Ambrosio Mazur, and once again was back on the catwalk within weeks looking as sexy as ever.
9) Adriana Lima
Adriana Francesca Lima was born on 12th June 1981. She is a Brazilian model and actress who is best known as a Victoria’s Secret Angel since 2000, and as a spokes model for Maybelline cosmetics from 2003 to 2009. At the age of 15, Lima finished first in Ford’s “Supermodel of Brazil” competition, and took second place the following year in the Ford “Supermodel of the World” competition before signing with Elite Model Management in New York City. In 2012, she came in 4th on the Forbes top-earning models list, estimated to have earned $7.3 million in one year. She is married to Serbian basketball player Marko Jaric, with whom she has two daughters.
Adriana Francesca Lima was born on June 12, 1981 in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. She is of African, West Indian, Japanese, and Portuguese ancestry. She is a devout Roman Catholic who attends mass every Sunday. In April 2006, she told GQ that she was a virgin. “Sex is for after marriage,” she explained. ” Men have to respect that this is my choice. If there’s no respect, that means they don’t want me.”
After nine months of dating, Lima became engaged to Serbian NBA player Marko Jaric in June 2008. The couple married on St. Valentine’s Day 2009 in Jackson Hole, Wyoming.n May 2009, it was reported that Lima had applied for Serbian citizenship. The couple have two daughters: Valentina Lima Jaric (Serbian Cyrillic, born November 15, 2009) and Sienna (Serbian Cyrillic, born September 12, 2012).
Lima never thought about being a model, although she had won many beauty pageants in elementary school. However, she had a friend at school who wanted to enter a modeling contest and did not want to enter alone, so Lima entered with her. Both sent in pictures, and the contest sponsor soon asked Lima to come out for the competition. Soon after, at the age of 15, she entered and finished in first place in Ford’s “Supermodel of Brazil” model search. She subsequently entered the 1996 Ford “Supermodel of the World” contest and finished in second place. Three years later, Lima moved to New York City and signed with Elite Model Management.
After acquiring representation, Lima’s modeling portfolio quickly began to expand, and she appeared in numerous international editions of Vogue and Marie Claire. As a runway model, she has walked the catwalks for designers such as Vera Wang, Giorgio Armani and Valentino, among others. Lima became a GUESS? girl in 2000, appearing in that year’s fall ad campaign. She also appeared in the book A Second Decade of Guess? Images.
Lima continued to build upon her portfolio, doing more print work for Maybelline, for whom she worked as a spokesmodel from 2003 until 2009, the same year she appeared in the company’s first calendar. She did an ad campaign for Swatch Lima has also worked for notable fashion brands bebe, Armani, Versace, BCBG and Louis Vuitton. She also appeared on the covers and in the editorials of other fashion magazines such as Harper’s Bazaar, ELLE, GQ, Arena, Vogue, V, Esquire and French Revue des Modes. Her April 2006 GQ cover was the highest-selling issue that magazine for the year. It is also one of the biggest selling issues of the publication ever. The magazine named her “The World’s Most Voluptuous Virgin”.
In 2008, she again fronted the cover of GQ, this time, attracting a record number of visits to the publication’s website. She also appeared in the 2005 Pirelli Calendar and became the face of Italy’s cell phone carrier, Telecom Italia Mobile, a move that earned her the nickname, “the Catherine Zeta-Jones of Italy.” In February 2008, Lima was featured on the cover of Esquire, re-creating the classic 1966 Angie Dickinson cover on Esquire’s 75th anniversary. She appeared only in shoes, diamonds and gloves for the November 2007 issue of Vanity Fair celebrating 20 years of supermodels with her fellow Angels.
In February 2008, she was chosen to be the face of Mexico’s Liverpool department store chain and launched the partnership with a press conference, runway show, and summer campaign. Lima returned to the high fashion runway in 2009, walking for Givenchy. That same year, after visiting Turkey, Lima signed a contract with Doritos to appear in print campaigns and commercials which began airing in Turkey that April. She was also one of the faces of Givenchy for the Fall/Winter 2009 season. Lima is one of the two faces of Blumarine’s Fall/Winter 2011 season.
In 2011, Lima signed a deal as a spokeswoman for Megacity by Votsu, a Brazilian social gaming company, to appear in their commercials. She also became the face of Brazilian luxury brand, Forum for their F/W and S/S seasons. Lima has worked with the most established photographers in fashion such as Inez van Lamsweerde and Vinoodh Matidin, Vincent Peters, Mario Sorrenti, Mert Alas and Marcus Piggott David Sims and Mario Testino. She became the face of Donna Karan’s spring 2012 advertising campaign, which was accused of having racist undertones due to a photo featuring Lima posing in front of huddled local Haitians.
In 2006, Lima ranked as the fifth highest paid supermodel. In 2007 and 2008, she ranked as the world’s fourth highest paid supermodel by Forbes Magazine. In early 2012, Turkish clothing company Mavi Jeans, has made a contract with Adriana to be the face and spokesmodel for the brand. In the first quarter of 2012, her advertisement campaign increased sales to 50%, the highest increase in products sales. It also provided 20% increase in stores and online traffic. Furthermore, her television commercial which was watched by 28 million people became a trending topic at Twitter and the number of people now on Mavi’s facebook page have increased by 20%. Store officials at Mavi say the clothing Adriana wore in the ad campaigns were met with so much demand that, they ran out of stocks. Due to her success rate with the company, the European and Russian branch of Mavi decided to make her the global face of the brand.
Lima was photographed by artist Richard Phillips on the famed Copacabana sidewalk in Brazil for Visionaire no. 62 which was released in mid-2012. Lima is the subject of a painting by Phillips at Gagosian Gallery’s 24th Street Gallery in New York. In an interview, Phillips talks about Lima: “She’s so powerful,really an entity, in a way”. Then added: “You meet her and there’s a generosity of spirit and very friendly and easy manner, and then all of sudden, the lights go on, and you realize you’re working with this absolutely extraordinary person who’s capable of creating these powerful images.”
She is – for the second time – featured in the Pirelli calendar by setting a record of being the first pregnant woman to be ever featured in the calendar for the 2013 edition.
In July 2013, Desigual announced that Adriana Lima will be the face of the brand during Barcelona Fashion Week Spring Summer ’14, following Bar Refaeli in the same role on January 2013.
Lima is probably best known for her work with Victoria’s Secret. Her first fashion show for the company came in 1999, and since being contracted as an Angel in 2000, she has appeared on subsequent shows ever since, opening the show in 2003, 2007, 2008, and 2010. In 2012, she opened the show for the 5th time less than two months after giving birth to her second child. In 2004, she was part of the five Angels promoting Victoria’s Secret nationwide in the so-called “Angels Across America”-Tour alongside Tyra Banks, Heidi Klum, Gisele Bündchen and Alessandra Ambrosio. She missed the 2009 show due to her pregnancy.
Lima has appeared on several television ads for the brand, including the praised and criticized “Angel in Venice” commercial of 2003 with Bob Dylan. 2008 continued for Lima with hosting the What Is Sexy? program for the E! Entertainment Network and a July tour for the BioFit Uplift Bra launch. She was also featured in November’s Miracle Bra relaunch. Topping the year off, Lima wore the “Fantasy Bra” for the 2008 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. The bra, created by American jewelry designer Martin Katz, was set with 3,575 black diamonds, 117 certified 1 carat (200 mg) white round diamonds, 34 rubies, and two black diamond drops totaling 100 carats (20 g). Valued at over $5 million, the bra carried more than 1,500 carats (300 g). In 2010, she again wore the Fantasy Bra, called the Victoria’s Secret Bombshell Fantasy Bra. The bra which weighs in at 142 carats with 60 carats of white diamonds and 82 carats of topazes and sapphires is worth 2 million dollars.
Lima’s 2008 solo Victoria’s Secret’s Super Bowl XLII ad was the single most-seen ad of the game, watched by 103.7 million viewers. In February 2012, Lima became the only celebrity to ever star in two Super Bowl commercials in one game. She starred in Super Bowl XLVI commercials for online flower service Teleflora and Kia Motors in early 2012 which was watched by more than 200 million viewers. Her Kia Motors Super Bowl commercial – promoting the new Kia Optima – sent sales to their highest mark since the design debuted. Sales were up 31% from January 2012 and 138.6% from February 2012. The commercial was also voted No.3 out of the 55 commercials on USA TODAY and Facebook’s Super Bowl Ad Meter. A teaser of the commercial was released in movie theaters in January before the game. It is believed to be the first time a Super Bowl commercial premiered in movie theaters.
Forbes named her Teleflora commercial as one of the best during Super Bowl XLVI, with the comment, “Teleflora … Adriana Lima. ‘Nuff said”. Among the many reviews the commercial had, The Huffington Post said: “One of the basic goals of any commercial is to capture the viewer’s attention, and by this measure, Teleflora.com’s ad featuring supermodel Adriana Lima was most definitely successful.” ESPN.com noted: “This actually makes sense when you think about it: Launch your Valentine’s Day campaign in the middle of the Super Bowl. That’s actually what flower company Teleflora is doing on Sunday. Even smarter? Hire supermodel Adriana Lima to star in it.”
Lima’s first acting role was the wife, alongside Mickey Rourke and Forest Whitaker, in The Follow (2001), a short film in BMW’s series The Hire, starring Clive Owen and directed by Wong Kar-wai. She also appeared with her fellow Angels in a guest spot playing herself in the series How I Met Your Mother in November 2007. She also recently played herself along with fellow Angels in the new 2013 series The Crazy Ones starring Robin Williams and Sarah Michelle Geller, she wore the “Fantasy Bra” in that episode.
In 2008, Lima appeared on the American television series Ugly Betty, where she played herself and made friends with the series’ title character, Betty.
Lima was listed in the 2005 Forbes’ edition of The World’s Best-Paid Celebrities Under 25. She ranked ninety-nine in the 2005 and 2006 Forbes’ edition of The Celebrity 100 lists. In 2012, she was listed in Forbes Celebrity 100 power list for earning more than 7 million between May 2011 and May 2012. In 2012, she ranked number eight in forbes’ “The World’s Most Powerful Latino Celebrities” list for earning more than 7 million dollars.
Lima was chosen to be a part of People magazine’s 100 most beautiful people in the world list, sharing that space with the Angels, with whom she also received a star on the Hollywood “Walk of Fame” prior to the 2007 Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. That same year, she ranked 7th on FHMs “100 Sexiest Women 2007” list. Lima was also voted on Maxim’s “Hot 100” 2007 at the No.53 spot. She was voted No.1 as the Most Desirable Woman in 2005 by visitors of the men’s lifestyle website Askmen.com and placed 4th in 2006 and 2007, 10th in 2008, and 19th in 2009. She received the award for “Hottest Girl on the Planet” in the 2007 Spike Guys’ Choice Awards. Since November 2008, Models.com has featured her at number one on the list of the “Sexiest Models.”
As of July 2011, she is also ranked No. 4 in the website’s “Money Girls” list. The website also lists her on “the Supers” list. The list, which has only 8 supermodels, is about supermodels that transcend the boundaries of the fashion industry and have public recognition in and out of fashion. In 2010, she was voted eighth in “FHM’s Sexiest Women in the World”. FHM ranked her at No. 6 in 2009, No. 21 in 2008 and No. 4 in 2007.
In 2010, Lima was ranked No. 46 on the 50 most popular women on the Web according to Google search results. A results from a market research study in 2011 about the UEFA Champions League released by Heineken showed that 52% of men would rather watch their team lift the Champions League trophy than go on a date with Lima. McAfee ranked Lima as the 6th most “dangerous” celebrity in cyberspace in 2010. The ranking, relating to the use of the names of popular celebrities to lure people to websites that are laden with malicious software, ranked Lima number eight in 2011. Complex (magazine) ranks her 4th in the list of “The 100 Hottest Supermodels of All Time”.
In a 2011 interview with The Daily Telegraph, prior to the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show, Lima revealed her diet regimen – nine days before the show, she drinks only protein shakes: “No liquids at all so you dry out, sometimes you can lose up to eight pounds just from that,” she says. She also stated that the last three weeks before the show, she works out twice a day. The interview got negative reviews on the media and was mentioned in CNN’s Anderson Cooper’s “Ridiculist”. Shortly afterwards, Lima defended herself in an interview with E!, “I know it’s very intense but … I just have an athlete’s mind and I appreciate doing this thing,” she said. “It’s not that I do crazy diets throughout the year. I just do it for this particular thing. After this show, I become normal again.”
The Adriana Lima diet became so popular that, it eventually became one of the top five most searched diets on the web in 2012 according to Google. Other celebrities on the list are Beyonce and Michael Phelps. Lima does charitable work helping with an orphanage, “Caminhos da Luz” (Ways of Light), located in Salvador. She helps with construction to expand the orphanage, and buys clothes for poor children in Salvador, Bahia. She appeared on Var misin? Yok musun?, the Turkish version of Deal or No Deal, where her prize money went to a hospital in Istanbul for children fighting leukemia.
Adriana Lima said “It’s wrong for a guy to have no personality, no heart. Because I don’t care about style or money. I care about heart.”
Adriana Lima is undeniably one of the most beautiful women in the world. A product of Brazil, men know her best as one of the elite Victoria’s Secret Angels, an association that has afforded her participation in some of the best runway shows and Super Bowl ads over the past decade. The reach of Adriana Lima’s fame has extended beyond the many pop culture branches of the Victoria’s Secret umbrella, leading to her involvement in numerous modeling campaigns, runway appearances and acting projects. Adriana Lima’s substantial industry power and incredible physical appeal have earned her the right to be counted among the very best in her profession. One of today’s top-five earning supermodels, Adriana Lima has joined ranks with the likes of Gisele Bundchen and Marissa Miller. In addition to her financial status, Lima’s piercing beauty has earned her nods from the respective “Sexiest Women” and “Most Beautiful People” lists of People and FHM, while here at AskMen we have featured her numerous times as one of our Top 99 Most Desirable Women — including the No. 1 spot in 2005.
Having remained a virgin until after marriage, Adriana Lima is undoubtedly one of the most virtuous members of the Victoria’s Secret Angels. An angel in more ways than one, she waited until age 17 to experience her first kiss, to which her partner responded by immediately asking her mother for permission to marry the model. His reaction was honorable, but it wasn’t far off from what would be required to go any further with Adriana Lima. A devout Catholic (she’s been known to bring her Bible to runway events), she’s been open about her belief in abstinence and admitted to GQ in April of 2006 that she was, in fact, a virgin. That issue, starring Adriana Lima as its cover girl, was GQ’s top-seller of the year, and the magazine christened her as “The World’s Most Voluptuous Virgin.”
While Adriana Lima probably suffers from no shortage of marriage proposals, she still spent some time on the celebrity dating scene before finally finding her ideal match. The lure of royalty — in the form of Prince Wenzeslaus of Liechtenstein — wasn’t enough to win her over, nor was rock star appeal, as one Lenny Kravitz soon learned. Adriana Lima’s winning suitor would come in the form of Serbian basketball star (and former NBA player) Marko Jaric, who met her in 2007 and married her in 2009. Adriana Lima may have left her virgin label at the altar, but thanks to her stunning figure and riveting gaze, she remains among the most beautiful of beauties.
After winning one of Brazil’s biggest modeling competitions at 15, Adriana Lima has been on an upward climb. Joining Victoria Secret’s ranks in 1999, she went on to earn her angel wings in 2001. Since then, she’s been able to groove with Bob Dylan, has been the star of some of the highest rated commercials during the Super Bowl, has shown off a multimillion dollar bra and also inked her name onto other lucrative contracts with the likes of Maybelline, Givenchy, Guess?, Mavi and even Doritos. One of the more versatile Victoria’s Secret Angels regarding the projects she chooses, Adriana Lima is the total professional package — and her industry weight as one of the priciest models backs it up.
When she’s not playfully mimicking Angie Dickinson on magazine covers, befriending Ugly Betty or joining Clive Owen on cinematic BMW commercials, Adriana Lima somehow finds time to have a life away from modeling and make a difference in causes that she believes in. On her off days, she’s an avid reader and a supporter of the Ways of Light orphanage in her birthplace of Salvador, Bahia, Brazil. In addition, she also participated in a local broadcast of Deal or No Deal to help Turkish children with leukemia.
Her second place finish in the 1996 “Supermodel of the World” competition assured Adriana Lima that a modeling career was in the cards. She took full advantage of the opportunity by signing a deal with Elite Model Management and heading straight into print, ad and runway work. Adriana’s first runway appearance was for Anna Sui in 1997 within a year, she would already have an ad contract with Anna Molinari and a cover shoot for Marie Claire (Brazil) in the books. In 1999, the young model would continue to develop her runway credentials by wearing the collections of Emanuel Ungaro and Balmain.
Adrian Lima’s most significant hire of 1999 was Victoria’s Secret, who brought her on board that year for their annual fashion show and their summer catalog a year later. The company was so taken with the Brazilian beauty that they named her as one of the Victoria’s Secret Angels — immediately boosting her career and modeling credibility, accompanied by big payday. In their efforts to keep pace with the industry’s hot new faces, other companies and designers like Guess?, Vera Wang and Ralph Lauren quickly scooped her up. Automobile giant BMW took a different approach by including the model in Wong Kar-Wai’s The Follow, a short film series that costarred Forest Whitaker and Mickey Rourke, and was headlined by Clive Owen.
In 2002 and 2003, Adriana Lima added to her runway repertoire by participating in shows for Christian Dior, Versace and the late Alexander McQueen. A cosmetics deal with Maybelline followed, as did a cover shoot for the March 2003 edition of Elle, but first and foremost Adriana Lima was still an Angel. As a testament to this, she experienced one of her career highlights in a 2004 Victoria’s Secret Super Bowl commercial with Bob Dylan, a project that had her donning wings, heels and — of course — lingerie. The ad would be seen by more than 100 million viewers worldwide. Just a year later, Adriana would put her unique stamp on Italy as the face of Telecom Italia Mobile in a campaign that led her to be nicknamed “The Catherine Zeta-Jones of Italy.” In 2012, she was the only model to star in two separate Super Bowl commercials, including Teleflora and Kia Motors (both ads resulted in an increase in sales for both companies). She has since been a cover girl for GQ, and both Spanish and Brazilian Vogue.
Following a legendary best-selling GQ cover appearance in 2006 that dished on her sexual exploits (or lack thereof), Adriana Lima was named by Forbes in 2007 as one of modeling’s highest-earners. Following another Super Bowl commercial in 2008, she continued her industry dominance through the rest of the year, starting with an Esquire cover pose inspired by Angie Dickinson to celebrate the magazine’s 75th birthday. It was an iconic cover that also included other Victoria’s Secret Angels like Selita Ebanks, Izabel Goulart, Karolina Kurkova, and Alessandra Ambrosio. Another GQ cover shoot — which attracted a record number of website visits — came next before Adriana Lima made another iconic appearance for Victoria’s Secret by wearing a $5 million, 1,500 carat bra at the company’s fashion show.
Adriana Lima would also spend part of 2008 in the acting world as herself (and a new friend of America Ferrera’s title character) on the popular television series Ugly Betty. In 2009, Lima would team up with Givenchy for an illustrious fashion show before joining fellow beauties Iris Strubegger and Mariacarla Boscono as the company’s models for its ensuing Fall/Winter collection.
After her marriage in 2009, Adriana gave birth to daughter Valentina Lima Jaric. She was back on the runway looking better than ever, and starred as the cover model for the June 2010 issue of V. Having proclaimed that being a mother is her favorite job, the 30-year-old Adriana Lima had her second daughter with husband Marko Jaric in September 2012.
10) Gisele Bundchen
Gisele Caroline Bündchen was born on 20th July 1980. She is a Brazilian fashion model and occasional film actress and producer. She is the goodwill ambassador for the United Nations Environment Programme. In the late 1990s, Bündchen became the first in a wave of Brazilian models to find international success. In 1999, Vogue dubbed her “The Return of the Sexy Model”, and she was credited with ending the “heroin chic” era of modeling. Bündchen was one of Victoria’s Secret Angels from 2000 until mid-2007. Bündchen pioneered the “horse walk”, a stomping movement created when a model picks her knees up high and kicks her feet out in front. Claudia Schiffer and Naomi Campbell have stated that Bündchen is the only true remaining supermodel.
Gisele has also ventured into acting, she had supporting role in Taxi (2004) which she was nominated at the Teen Choice Awards for Choice Movie Breakout Performance and for Choice Movie Bad Guy. Gisele also had a supporting role in The Devil Wears Prada (2006), and from 2010-2011 was the executive producer of an educational environmental cartoon, Gisele & the Green Team. Gisele supports many charities including Save the Children, Red Cross and Doctors without Borders, as well as dedicating part of her time to environmental causes.
Since 2004, she has been the highest-paid model in the world, and is the sixteenth richest woman in the entertainment industry (as of 2007). In 2012 she placed first on the Forbes top-earning models list. From 2000 to 2005, Bündchen was in a relationship with American actor Leonardo DiCaprio. She married New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady in 2009.
Bündchen is a sixth-generation German Brazilian, born in Três de Maio, Rio Grande do Sul, to Vânia Nonnenmacher, a bank clerk pensioner, and Valdir Bündchen, a university teacher and writer, who are both of German descent. Bündchen was born and raised in Horizontina, a southern region in Brazil where there is a large population of German ancestry. She grew up with her five sisters—Raquel, Graziela, Gabriela, Rafaela, and her fraternal twin Patrícia, her junior by five minutes. She speaks Portuguese as her native language, in addition to Spanish, English and Italian. She studied German in school.
In 1993, Bündchen joined a modeling course with her sisters Patrícia and Gabriela at their mother’s insistence. The following year, Bündchen was discovered by the Elite modeling agency at a shopping mall in São Paulo while on a school excursion. She was subsequently selected for a national contest, Elite Look of the Year, in which she placed second. Claudia Menezes from Bahia took first place. Bündchen placed fourth in the Elite Model Look world contest, held in Ibiza, Spain. At the age of 14, she then moved to São Paulo to launch her modeling career. In 1996, Bündchen had her first New York City break at Fashion Week.
In 1997 Bündchen traveled to London, where she auditioned for 42 shows. She got her big break when chosen for her ability to walk in towering heels—on a slippery runway—for Alexander McQueen’s spring 1998 “rain” ready-to-wear show. Echoing similar accolades for Elle Macpherson a decade earlier, McQueen dubbed Bündchen “the Body”, immediately boosting her bookings. In 1998 she secured her first British Vogue cover, and became the most in-demand cover girl of her generation with 10 covers in fewer than four years – even Kate Moss has never graced more than nine in the same period according to vogue.co.uk.” In 1998, she posed for Missoni, Chloé, Dolce & Gabbana, Valentino, Gianfranco Ferré, Ralph Lauren, and Versace campaigns. She made the cover of the French edition of Vogue, and fashion magazine i-D featured her on its cover, profiling “A Girl Called Gisele.” Vogue magazine’s online encyclopedia of models states, “As the year 2000 approached, Gisele Bündchen was the world’s hottest model, opening up a new category in the popular imagination: the Brazilian bombshell.”
She appeared on the cover of Vogue in July, November, and December 1999. She won the VH1/Vogue Model of the Year for 1999, and a January 2000 cover gave her three consecutive Vogue covers. In December 2009 she appeared alongside her husband Tom Brady on the cover of book The World in Vogue – People, Parties, Places. In 2000, she became the fourth model to appear on the cover of the music magazine Rolling Stone when she was named “the most beautiful girl in the world.” Bündchen has been on the covers of many top fashion magazines, including W, Harper’s Bazaar, ELLE, Allure, international editions of Vogue, as well as style and lifestyle publications such as i-D, The Face, Arena, Citizen K, Flair, GQ, Esquire, and Marie Claire. She appeared in the Pirelli Calendar in 2001 and 2006, and in broader publications such as TIME, Vanity Fair, Forbes, Newsweek, and Veja, for a total of more than 600 magazine covers throughout the world—a total that is only second to Princess Diana’s. She simultaneously graced the covers of both the US and British editions of Vogue in January 2000, the first issue of the new millennium.”
By 2000, her record-breaking contract with Victoria’s Secret helped solidify her status as the world’s top model. She has been on numerous book covers such as “MaRIO DE JANEIRO” by Mario Testino and a Russell James Retrospective book. She is the fourth model in history to grace the cover of Rolling Stone, in which she was named “the most beautiful girl in the world”, in 2000. Also that year “Time magazine said she was “one of the few runway models whom straight men can name.” For spring 2000 fashion week she opened Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors, Dolce & Gabbana, Christian Dior, and Valentino shows in New York, Milan, and Paris. From 1998–2003 Bündchen was in every Dolce & Gabbana fashion campaign, totaling eleven consecutive campaigns with the brand. In 2006–2009, she returned as the face of the brand’s fragrance, in a campaign titled “Dolce & Gabbana The One”.
In 2000, Gisele wore the most expensive Victoria’s Secret Fantasy bra of all time, the “Red Hot Fantasy Bra”, worth $15 million and listed in Guinness World Records as the most expensive lingerie ever created. In February 2001 her Got Milk ad campaign debuted in the 2001 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit issue. Bündchen was invited to host the Brazilian version of the reality-show “America’s Next Top Model” in (2003), but she refused. According to her sister and public relations manager, Patricia Bündchen, she did not want to pursue a career on television. Photographed by Steven Meisel, she was presented on the September 2004 cover of American Vogue as one of the “Models of the Moment”. In 2004, Bündchen played the bank robbers’ leader, Vanessa, in the 2004 remake Taxi. In 2005 she got picked to wear the Victoria’s Secret Fantasy Bra again, the second most expensive one ever the Sexy Splendor Fantasy Bra($12 500 000). In their December 2005 issue, New York magazine chose and publicized a list of 123 reasons to love New York City, with reason number 43 being that Bündchen lived there.
In 2006, she played Serena, a minor character in The Devil Wears Prada. In February 2007, Bündchen returned to the Milan runway by opening and closing Dolce & Gabbana’s show. She was chosen by Time magazine in 2007 as one of the 100 most influential people in the world. In September 2007, Bündchen was featured on the cover of Vanity Fair’s style issue, photographed by Mario Testino. The issue was one of the best sellers that year.
When she reappeared on the cover in 2009, the issue was the lowest selling for the magazine in nearly two years. On 26 August 2008, the New York Daily News, listed Bündchen as the fourth-most-powerful person in the fashion world. On 12 May 2009, The Independent called her the biggest star in fashion history. In 2009 Harper’s Bazaar magazine rated her among the top 26 greatest models of all time.
In 2010, she made Vogue’s best dressed of the decade list for her 2008 and 2009 Met gala appearances, as well as for her bikini-clad, logo-tattooed appearance in a 2000 fashion editorial. In April 2010, she was photographed for the cover of American Vogue for the eleventh time. In September 2010, she led a group of top models for Vogue’s Fashion’s Night Out runway show at the Lincoln Center in New York. She then made a surprise appearance on Balenciaga’s runway, closing the show. In 2011 she participated and represented Pantene in the Brazilian Rio Carnival 2011 parade.
She ranks first on models.com’s the Money Girls list and second on The Sexiest Models list. In 2011 CEOWORLD Magazine ranked her among their Top Accomplished Women Entertainers. She was ranked number 95 in FHM Magazines 100 Sexiest Women in the World 2011. In 2007, Bündchen was named “The World’s Richest Supermodel”. On 11 April 2008, a black-and-white photo of Bündchen shot by Irving Penn was auctioned for US$193,000 (£96,000). The picture was one of dozens from the collection of Gert Elfering that were sold at Christie’s International in New York. Bündchen’s picture sold for the highest price.
As of 2010 Bundchen has appeared on two Vogue Shape issue covers, more than any other celebrity or model. She ranked No. 45 in the 2011 FHM Australia list of “100 Sexiest Women in the World”. In 2011, Men’s Health named her one of the “100 Hottest Women of All Time”, ranking her at No. 25. In October 2011, Bündchen made a surprise runway appearance during Paris Fashion Week, closing the Givenchy spring-summer 2012 fashion show.
In 2011 she participated and represented Pantene in the Brazilian Rio Carnival 2011 parade. In 2011 she appeared on eight Vogue covers, more than any other model or celebrity that year. Her July Vogue Brazil 2011 cover shot in the Amazon was the magazine’s highest-selling issue ever, selling 70,743 copies. The record was later broken by model Karolina Kurkova, who appeared in the November 2011 issue,which sold 70,991 copies.
In Spring 2012, she won three major spring campaigns – Versace, Givenchy, and Salvatore Ferragamo. In early 2012, it was announced that she would be the face of Banco do Brasil’s first global ad campaign, with the tagline “Bank of Brazil. From Brazil to the world. From the world to Brazil.” April 2012 Time magazine listed her among their All-TIME 100 Fashion Icons list of the 100 most influential fashion icons since 1923. In August 2012 in honor of the 120th anniversary of Vogue, they spotlighted the ten women who have been immortalized for the number of times they’ve graced the coveted cover of the magazine, Gisele being on the list with 11 covers total. As of 2011, there have been 29 persons who have appeared on the covers of Vogue Paris, Vogue Italia, American Vogue and British Vogue; Gisele being one of them.
In 2012 she declined an invitation of the Brazilian Olympic Committee, the COB, to participate in the closing show alongside other country stars such as Marisa Monte and Seu Jorge. In 2012 she made 5,600 appearances in commercials in her native Brazil. In August 2012, it was reported that she replaced Kate Moss as the face of David Yurman. She was shot by famous photographer Peter Lindbergh for the Fall 2012 campaign. At the end of 2012 she has appeared on 120 Vogue covers. She also holds the record for the most Brazilian Vogue covers of all time. In February 2013 it was announced that she became the face of Chanel’s new make-up range, Les Beiges, which campaign was shot by Mario Testino. Her first time ever as a spokesperson of the brand. It was reported later that she beat Rihanna and other celebrities to star in the campaign, being chosen by Karl Lagerfeld himself.
24 September 2000, Newsweek published an article “This Year’s Model” which emphasized a craze in modeling culture in Brazil because of Gisele. “In Brazil, where beauty is as highly valued as football or the samba, modeling has become an obsession. Modeling courses, makeup workshops and beauty contests are all the rage. Crash diets are in vogue. A dozen big-name modeling agencies like Marilyn have set up shop in São Paulo and deployed an army of talent scouts to beat the pavement for new faces. And from the smallest parish in the southern grain belt to the swank boulevards of Sao Paulo, kids are practicing their posture and perfecting their pouts. Capricho, a glossy teen magazine, recently asked 1,100 Brazilian teenagers if they wanted to become fashion models. Eighty-six percent said yes. The reason for this craze stands 1.77 meters tall and has smoldering blue eyes. Her name is Gisele Bundchen–known to all as Gisele–and she is the most celebrated Brazilian since Pele.” it stated. they went onto claim; “It would be difficult to overstate Gisele’s impact, not only on Brazil but on the modeling industry as well. Just two years ago the celebrity model looked like an endangered species. The public grew so weary of the pampered princesses that they were pushed off magazine and tabloid covers by pop singers, movie stars, even politicians. Then came Gisele. “She had breasts and hips and great hair,” says James Scully, booking editor of Harper’s Bazaar.
“Men want her. Women want to be her. We haven’t had that since Cindy and Naomi.” And so the fashionistas swarmed to Brazil for Gisele clones. Fashion Pygmalions are scouring the hinterlands for beauties in the rough. Models with nondescript accents are pretending to be Brazilian. “Everyone asks me if I know her,” says Brazilian clothing designer Alexandre Herchcovitch, whose popular label, Zoomp, is selling even better in the age of Gisele. Other Brazilian companies are capitalizing on the babe from Brazil as well. When the giant beverage company Ambev wanted to add some oomph to its New York Stock Exchange debut last week, they called Gisele—not Greenspan—who tossed Ambev caps and blew kisses. Says Herchcovitch: “It’s a good time to be Brazilian.” To be sure, Brazil’s modeling business has changed dramatically since Gisele was a schoolgirl. In the mid-’90s, there were five agencies nationwide. Now there are 11, with branches all over the country and a legion of aggressive scouts.” Bündchen pioneered the “horse walk”, a stomping movement created when a model picks her knees up high and kicks her feet out in front.
In 2000, Bündchen was dubbed the “Boobs from Brazil” for inspiring the 36,000 breast enhancement surgeries performed that year in Brazil. In 2006, Elle magazine surveyed the American leading stylists and asked them to name the star whose hair was a favourite for their clients. More than 50 percent gave Bündchen the title of best hair in Hollywood. In February 2008 a survey by the International Society of Aesthetic Plastic Surgery (ISAPS) asked the question, “What influences do celebrities have on the decisions patients make?”. The survey was sent to more than 20,000 plastic surgeons in 84 countries. Bündchen was among the most frequently mentioned celebrities. Bündchen won the abdomen and hair categories and took second place in the breasts category. 2008 saw a black-and-white photo of Bündchen, shot by Irving Penn, auctioned for $193,000 (£96,000) alongside images of other models and celebrities, including Carla Bruni. Gisele’s fetched by far the most on the night.
She was voted second place on Vanity Fair’s world’s most beautiful poll in 2009. On January 2011, Bündchen came in first in the most desired female body on the 14th Annual Famed Hottest Looks survey, compiled by Beverly Hills plastic surgeons Dr. Richard Fleming and Dr. Toby Mayer. Even after giving birth in December 2009, her body was the most requested by the doctors’ patients. “Different body types are represented on the list because most women are shaped differently and want to look naturally beautiful,” explained Dr. Fleming. “Some women want the lean look like Gisele.”
In 2011, AskMen.com revealed their annual “Most Desirable Women” list. Bündchen, along with Angelina Jolie and Beyoncé Knowles, are the only women to have made the list every year for ten years in a row. singer Beyonce in a 2011 Harper’s Bazaar interview named Gisele as one of her fashion inspiration stating that “I always admire Victoria Beckham and Gisele Bündchen. Their style is modern but always classic.”
A designer the Tibi Spring/Summer 2012 fashion show at New York Fashion week in fall 2011 explained, “The inspiration is taken heavily from the ’90s—a freshly scrubbed Gisele from the pages of Vogue—clean, crisp, sporty looks and relaxed styles you want to live in.” Vogue editor Anna Wintour calleded her the “model of the millennium,” and the magazine called her “The return of the sexy model”. Rolling Stone declared her “The Most Beautiful Girl in the World” in 2000 and Vanity Fair published an article titled “… And God Created Gisele” in 2009. In 2012 The 26th edition of Casa Cor in Brazil, one of the world´s biggest decorating, landscaping, and architecture events, paid tribute to Gisele with a wood sculpture in her image. She was ranked #9 on Men’s Health Magazine’s list of The Hottest Women of 2013. In 2013 GQ Magazine listed her among The 100 Hottest Women of the 21st Century.
After C&A Brazil hired Bündchen as a spokesmodel and began airing television commercials, sales increased by 30 per cent. In 2012 The Hollywood Reporter stated Bundchen became C&A’s biggest booster in Brazil and even helped with European sales. In 2001, Bündchen launched Ipanema Gisele Bündchen, her own line of flip-flop sandals in association with the official Ipanema brand of flip-flops. In three years, sales topped $30 million, with a portion of proceeds going to green causes. Forbes put her 53rd on their 2007 list of the most powerful celebrities. Ipanema Gisele Bündchen made an estimated £152 million with over 250 million pairs sold in 2010. Bündchen told Vitals Magazine in 2005 that she has been involved in business and investing in real estate since she was 18 years old. She claims modeling is only 40 per cent of what she does, and the rest is contracting. On 1 May 2007, it was announced that Bündchen had ended her contract with Victoria’s Secret. According to a stock market analysis in 2007, when Gisele terminated her agreement with Victoria’s Secret, which is owned by Limited Brands Inc. (LTD), Limited was selling for $26.80 per share. Soon thereafter, the stock declined to $18.36 per share, a 31.5% drop.
American economist Fred Fuld developed a stock index to measure the profit performance improvement of companies represented by Bündchen compared with the Dow Jones Industrial Average. According to Fuld, the Gisele Bündchen Stock Index was up 15 per cent between May and July 2007, substantially surpassing the Dow Jones Industrial Average, which was up just 8.2%. In 2010, Bündchen introduced her own skin care product line, named Sejaa Pure Skincare which according to Forbes has been in talks with Shiseido for over a year on an acquisition deal. In early 2011, Procter & Gamble’s Pantene shampoo sales increased 40 per cent in Latin America after Bündchen started representing the product.
Edward Razek, chief marketing officer of Limited Brands, who worked with Bündchen during her Victoria’s Secret career says, “She’s an international icon who can also move product, from shampoo to couture.” The lingerie brand “HOPE” increased turnover by 40 per cent after contracting Bündchen as its representative. According to Grazia daily UK in January 2012, her lingerie label “Gisele Bundchen Brazilian Intimates”, has already proved to be a sell out in Latin America, Portugal, Japan, and Israel.
In February 2012 the website Vogue.it stated “the Brazilian model is the King Midas of fashion. Everything she touches turns to gold and companies that have invested in her have reaped the rewards.” An Esprit public awareness campaign featuring Bündchen helped raise consumer awareness of the Esprit brand, with a 9 percent rise in Germany, and a 19 percent rise in China. She was ranked No. 61 on Forbes’ Most Powerful Celebrities list in 2012. In May 2012 she was ranked fourth on the World’s Most Powerful Latino Celebrity list by Forbes.
In 2013 she ranked #5 among the most successful Brazilian Business Women list. Forbe’s reported that, the products that bear her name… in Brazil – including Grendene’s Ipanema sandals. She has her own lingerie line called Gisele Bundchen Intimates. She still collects big fees to lend her image for the likes of Chanel, David Yurman and P&G
Bündchen donated $150,000 to Brazil’s Zero Hunger program. She designed a limited necklace edition for Harper’s Bazaar, crafted by jewelers Gumuchian Fils. These necklaces were sold to raise money for St. Jude Children’s Research Hospital. She contributed an autographed iPod loaded with a personal playlist to be auctioned off, with all proceeds benefiting Music Rising, a campaign founded in 2005 to replace lost or destroyed instruments of musicians in the Gulf Coast Region after the hurricane disasters. In 2006, Bündchen became the face of American Express Red, part of the Product Red initiative. A portion of earnings from this credit card are donated to HIV/AIDS victims in Africa. In 2009, she appeared on 30 covers of the international issues of Elle magazines wearing Product Red clothing and posing with products from companies who support the same cause.
She has helped raise money for cancer research and treatment, victims of Hurricane Katrina, and the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami for which she donated a check for $1 million to the earthquake fund created by the Japanese Red Cross Society sending $250,000 to the Pacific Tsunami Fund and Save the Children and another $250,000 to a Japanese Red Cross earthquake fund. Bündchen opened The Luz Foundation in 2007, a grant-making organization advocating the empowerment of young girls. She donates a percentage of her earnings to help with their projects. In 2008 Bündchen auctioned a collection of diamonds for charity. The collection features a 6-carat diamond ring worth $120,000 – $150,000, and a 3.35-carat Sabbadini diamond ring worth $15,000 – $20,000. A percentage of the proceeds from the auction will go to Russell Simmons’ Diamond Empowerment Fund, whose mission is to raise money to support education initiatives in countries where diamonds are a natural resource. In 2010 she wrote a $1.5 million check to the Red Cross to aid the relief effort in Haiti after seeing the devastation done by the earthquake.
Bündchen made a surprise visit to patients at the Jimmy Fund Clinic at the Dana-Farber Cancer Institute in Boston. In 2011, Bündchen was added to The Giving Back Fund’s list of celebs who made the largest donations to charity. In June 2012 she helped launch a beauty contest in Brazil, Top Kufa Brazil, to find new faces in Brazilian favelas. This was the first national competition of beauty played exclusively by candidates between 18 and 22 years who live in underserved communities, created by the Central Union of Slums and Pantene, the brand which Gisele is the face of.
Bündchen dedicates part of her website to environmental issues. She launched a “green” blog in 2008 with the aim of “reflecting on socio-environmental issues that we can do something about”. In May 2009, she co-hosted the Rainforest Alliance’s annual gala to honor leaders in sustainability. Bündchen has also supported a variety of environmental causes, including clean water initiatives, environmental sustainability, and preservation of South American rainforests.
In 2007 she took part in eBay Giving Works, eBay’s program dedicated to charity listings online auction for the WWF, with 100% of the proceeds going to the World Wildlife Fund’s global conservation initiatives, especially those involved in the fight against climate change. In 2008 she appeared on the cover of US magazine American Photo to promote her Forests of the Future project for the reforestation of the Brazilian Atlantic Forest. The initiative, which was set up with SOS Mata Atlantica in 2004, has planted over 1 million new trees in Bündchen’s name to start reforestation of the Brazilian rainforests. In May 2011 Bündchen was named Harvard’s 2011 Global Environmental Citizen in recognition of her eco-efforts. In November 2011, she was awarded Greenest Celebrity at the 2011 International Green awards at the National History Museum of London. Each year the Green Awards honors a celebrity who has been the most creative and innovative in the approach of sustainability of the environment. An online public vote took place and Bündchen was the winner, beating Paul McCartney and Miguel Bose.
In 2008 Bündchen and Brady dished out turkey and all the trimmings unannounced to over 400 job trainees in Roxby Massachusetts for Goodwill Industries International. On 20 September 2009, she was designated Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). In January 2012, Bündchen made her first official visit to Africa as UNEP Goodwill Ambassador. Bündchen chooses a different charity each year to which proceeds of sales from her sandals are donated. The 2011 donation went to ISA – the Socio-environmental Institute. In January 2012, Bündchen visited Kenya on a goodwill mission to improve energy poverty. She spent a day with a family in a village in Kisumu County and helped them with tasks such as carrying firewood to their hut – while discussing the dangers of using firewood inside homes that do not have energy. She danced with the locals and visited various homes, as well as teaming up with UK NGO Practical Action during the course of her stay. In April 2012 she donated money for AIDS research. On the eve of World Environment Day 4 June 2012, Bündchen, who is Goodwill Ambassador of the UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme), went to Rio de Janeiro to plant the first of a series of 50,000 trees in a degraded area.
From 2000 to 2005, Bündchen was in a relationship with American actor Leonardo DiCaprio. In 2004, Bündchen and DiCaprio made People’s annual Most Beautiful Couples List. In 2010, Bündchen told Harper’s Bazaar how important breastfeeding is for her.
Bündchen began dating New England Patriots quarterback Tom Brady in December 2006. In 2009 Brady revealed to Details magazine that they were first set up on a blind date by a mutual friend. Bündchen and Brady married on 26 February 2009 in a small Catholic ceremony at St. Monica Catholic Church in Santa Monica, California. On 5 April 2009, the couple remarried in a larger ceremony in Costa Rica, with Bündchen’s stepson John present. Bündchen and Brady have two children together: son Benjamin Rein Bundchen Brady (born 2009) and daughter Vivian Lake Bundchen Brady (born 2012).
Gisele and Tom’s Los Angeles home uses solar energy, gray water system, lighting systems that reduce energy consumption, a rainwater recovery system, waste reduction and recycling programs. They have their own vegetable garden, where 90% of the food they eat comes from. The house uses recovered stone, wood, insulation, household appliances with a green seal and other sustainable products, and 80% of the construction waste was reused or recycled. Subsequently, the family bought a $14 million condominium at One Madison in Manhattan in October 2013. They are building another home near Boston.
After the Patriots lost in Super Bowl XLVI and Bündchen was heckled by several New York Giants fans, she was caught on video saying, “My husband cannot fucking throw the ball and catch the ball at the same time!” The comment, which was widely publicized both in the traditional media and the blogosphere, caused a media stir.
In August 2011, Bündchen ranked 60th on the Forbes list of The World’s 100 Most Powerful Women. She ranked third on the The 20 Youngest Power Women of 2011 List at age 31. In 2011 Forbes named Bündchen and Brady as the World’s Highest Paid Celebrity couple, beating out Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie as well as Beyoncé and Jay-Z. In August 2012 she was 1 of 4 fashion people and the only model to be ranked on the Forbes list of “The World’s Most Powerful Women” at #83. She ranked in the top 10 of the Forbes list of “Entertainment’s Highest-Paid Women” in 2012, at #8.
In July 2007 Forbes magazine named her the world’s top-earning model. By 2008, she continued to dominate the Forbes list of the world’s highest-earning models, and appeared on the magazine’s list of the Top 20 Richest Women in Entertainment. During 2009–2010, she was the top earning supermodel. In 2010, she retained the top spot as Forbes’s highest-earning model. On May 2011, Forbes ranked her as the world’s top-earning model for the fifth consecutive time. Her earnings climbed over the previous year, thanks to an economic boom in Brazil, coupled with a 10 per cent surge in the value of the Brazilian real against the dollar. Also in 2013 she ranked #3 on the 16 most successful female entrepreneurs list by Forbes.