Page 24 - Protagonist 108

PROTAGONIST / MADE IN BRASIL

O ver time, i have learned to recognise the Mario Testino (no doubt over-doing it somewhat for his own
signals my body gives. It always tells me if ends…), one of the most acclaimed and popular fashion and
it is worth doing what I do. I listened to my portrait photographers and one of the first photographers
body and realised it was time to stop.” Why? to immortalise Gisele Bündchen and take her into the élite
The journalists in the room asked, along of models. The first fashion show to place her firmly in the

with the fashion world as a whole, voices cracking with Hall of Fame was in 1998. Gisele had just turned 18 and was

disappointment. “I’m asking you why I shouldn’t. I see no chosen as the leading star of Alexander McQueen’s fashion

reason to carry on being a model.” A statement that left show: a baptism of fire, or rather of water.

no room for replies. Whilst the signals her body has been The show was entitled Rain, the long catwalk was
sending out to the world for 20 years now (notching up 1,000 soaked with fake rain for the show. “She was the
covers that we know of, 450 fashion shows and a turnover of only one who managed to walk the whole length
40 million dollars a year: according to Forbes, she has been

the highest paid model for nine years in a row...) point in in an incredibly natural way on those towering heels,” the

altogether a different direction, Gisele Bündchen’s decision fashion hacks gushed, in spite of the fact that they were

to end her catwalk career, having just turned 35, not only quite used to seeing lots of girls on towering heels. From

marked the end of her “on stage” career, but the end of an then on she was a legend. In 2001, she was one of the Pirelli

era that changed the perception of female beauty radically. calendar girls, a key achievment for every beauty aiming to

That long period which started in the ‘80s go down in history; from 2000 to 2006 she

and has gone down in history as the “age } With a 44 million was the angelic ambassador par excellence
of the super models”. A magical moment for Victoria’s Secret who opened and closed
heightened by the perfect cluster of Claudia dollar turnover per
the brand’s keenly awaited fashion shows.

Schiffer, Naomi Campbell, Eva Herzigova year, she has been A professional over-exposure which fed
and Christy Turlington first, and then, just the world’s best-paid media curiosity for her private life, where
when it looked like it was all over, Gisele model for 9 years Gisele Bündchen was doing nothing to
appeared. She was virtually the only one to go unobserved: for five years she was the

pick up the baton of that cumbersome legacy official girlfriend of Leonardo DiCaprio

and manage it with all the astute inspiration of the most with whom she had a stormy fairytale romance. A period

hard-nosed manager, representing perfect beauty, no ifs, no of romantic highs and lows was followed by (apparent)

buts. Gisele is an atypical Brasilian: the German origins of conjugal happiness: just for a change, Tom Brady is the

her parents are apparent. Not just in her surname but also highest-paid champion American football player. Benjamin

in her profile, that ice-cool expression and the body which was born (he is now 6), followed by Vivien (3): “We want a

at first sight seems bony. But perhaps it is this very atypical big family, just like mine was. When you grow up in a big

quality that has allowed her to change while remaining family you feel safer and protected. You know there is always

loyal to herself with the passing of the years, styles and someone there to watch your back.” This normalisation

trends. She started out in the fabled way of all top models: of the top-model-turned-mother and manager of her own

she was discovered “by chance” at 14 by a talent scout from success is a recent development. At least it was until the

Elite Model Management while having lunch with her five announcement made above. Hers is a story in images, and

sisters at a McDonald’s in San Paolo. Just a few months later one which is celebrated (here, too, in a definitive way)

(“I had never seen a fashion show, I didn’t even know that in the tribute-volume Taschen has dedicated to her. It

modelling existed as a job...”, she has said), she won the gathers together shots, many well known, some private and

Elite Model Look competition for emerging models. Her 180 surprising, taken by 300 renowned photographers who have

centimetres and her unusual features did not go unnoticed, portrayed her in the last two decades: David LaChapelle,

yet whilst all things pointed towards a rosy future, something Juergen Teller, Inez&Vinoodh, Mert Alas & Marcus Piggott,

wasn’t quite right. “Nobody liked her, nobody wanted her. Steven Meisel, Mario Testino, Peter Lindbergh, Irving Penn

I had a struggle getting her into my work because nobody and many other companions on this long journey through

thought I was right. “Too much this, too much that. Too beauty. It is a pleasure for a chosen few: just one thousand

much nose, breast, waist...”, they were all obsessed,” explains limited edition copies. Bye bye, Gisele...

Opposite page, an intense close-up of Bündchen today, in a portrait by Paulo Vainer. In 2015, Gisele turned 35, marking exactly 20 years
in her career. Last April she announced she was retiring from the runway, whilst she is continuing to run
her business (she has her own lingerie range, Gisele Bündchen Intimates) as well as being a UN ambassador for environmental protection.

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