She's been hailed by ROLLING STONE Magazine as THE MOST BEAUTIFUL GIRL IN THE WORLD and confirmed her status in December 1999 as the most wanted face in fashion, when she was named VOGUE-VH1's MODEL OF THE YEAR.
Born on the 20th of July, 1980, in Horizontina, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, Gisele Caroline Bundchen grew up closely tied to her five sisters.
The arrival of Gisele on the international fashion scene, in 1996, was seen by many in the industry as the beginning of a new move away from the look-of-the-moment trend of harsh, edgy images into a softer, sexier phase. Actually, VOGUE credited Gisele's work in the fashion industry as 'The Return of the Sexy Model'.
The road to becoming today's most requested model came as mere chance for Gisele. Although Gisele had set her sights on a career as a professional volleyball player or a veterinarian, she was discovered by Brazilian model scouts at the age of 14 while eating a hamburger in a diner during a school trip in Rio de Janiero.
Despite her father's disagreement with her career choice, Gisele moved to the city. Two years later, she found herself in New York City.
Since her debut, she has been the face of a variety of advertising campaigns including several seasons of Christian Dior, Balenciaga, Dolce & Gabbana, Missoni, Versace, Celine, Givenchy, Bvlgari, Lanvin, Guerlain, Valentino, Ralph Lauren, Earl Jean, Zara, Chloe, Michael Kors, Louis Vuitton, and Victoria's Secret. Bundchen is also the face of several Brazilian brands like Vivo, Brazil's leading mobile company, Multiplan, Colcci and Credicard. After C&A Brazil hired her and started their television commercials, sales increased by 30%.
In May 2006, Bundchen signed another multi-million dollar deal, this time with American giant Apple Computer. She starred in an advertising campaign to promote the new Macintosh line through the Get a Mac advertisements. She has her own line of sandals with shoes company Grendene, called Ipanema Gisele Bundchen. Forbes puts her on 53rd of their list of the most powerful celebrities of 2007 due to the success of her popular shoe line, Ipanema. Custom Ipanema flip-flops sell for as much as $230 a pair. She is also the owner of a hotel in the south of Brazil, the Palladium Executive.
On May 1, 2007 it was announced that Bundchen had ended her contract with Victoria's Secret. The New York Post's Page Six reported that Bundchen had left Victoria's Secret because it wouldn't raise her $5 million-a-year salary. In July 2007, earning an estimated total of $33 million in the past 12 months, Forbes magazine named her the world's top-earning model in the list of the World's 15 Top-Earning Supermodels.
