MODEL AND FASHION: Gisele Bundchen

Gisele Bundchen

Bündchen was born in the Brazilian town of Três de Maio and grew up in Horizontina, Rio Grande do Sul. She is of German heritage from both her parents, Vânia Nonnenmacher, a bank clerk pensioner, and Valdir Bündchen, a university teacher and writer. She has five sisters – Raquel, Graziela, Gabriela, Rafaela and her fraternal twin Patrícia, Bündchen's junior by five minutes. Bündchen speaks Portuguese as her native language. She also speaks Spanish and English. She commented "I was born in Horizontina, a town in the back-country of (Brazilian) state Rio Grande do Sul. The town was once mainly colonized by Germans. In the school which I attended, learning German was actually obligatory from third grade on. But being out of touch with the language for such a long time, I unfortunately forgot it...] I belong to the sixth generation of my family in Brazil. Originally, Bündchen wanted to be a professional volleyball player and considered playing for the Brazilian team, Sogipa.[citation needed] While in school, Bündchen was so thin that her friends used to call her "Olívia Palito" (Portuguese for Olive Oyl, Popeye's skinny girlfriend) and "Saracura" (a type of Brazilian shorebird).[citation needed] In 1993, a then-13-year-old Bündchen joined a modeling course with her sisters Patrícia and Gabriela, at their mother's insistence. The following year, Bündchen went to São Paulo on a school excursion to give them an opportunity to walk in a big city. In a shopping mall, with her friends, Bündchen was discovered by a modeling agency.[citation needed] 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 world contest, held in Ibiza, Spain. Then she moved to São Paulo to launch a very successful modeling career and become one of the best paid models in Brazil. By 1995 she had already started traveling abroad for her first international assignments. In 1996, Bündchen had her first important New York City break at Fashion Week.

Gisele Bundchen

Vogue editor Anna Wintour crowned her the "model of the millennium," that same year Vogue 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. 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 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 memorable 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 posed for Missoni, Chloé, Dolce & Gabbana, Valentino, Gianfranco Ferré, Ralph Lauren and Versace campaigns. In addition, she made the cover of the French edition of Vogue, and Cult fashion magazine i-D also added her on its cover, profiling "A Girl Called Gisele." An article on Vogue magazine's on-line encyclopedia of models stated "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." By the year 2000, her going rate was reportedly already up to $7,000 an hour. 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." 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 and in December 2009 she appeared alongside of 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,[citation needed] 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 has been featured both in the Pirelli Calendar 2001 and 2006 and in broader market publications such as TIME, Vanity Fair, Forbes, Newsweek and Veja, more than 600 magazine covers throughout the world. A total that is only second to Princess Diana's. By 2000, her record breaking $25 million 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 Russell James Retrospective book. In 2000, she opened the spring 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 11 consecutive campaigns with the brand. In 2006–2009, she returned as the face of the brand's fragrance titled "Dolce & Gabbana The One". 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.

Gisele Bundchen

Her involvement with socio-environmental causes began years ago when she spent time with an Indian tribe on the Xingu River in the Amazon Rainforest. During her visit, Gisele witnessed the problems faced by the tribe due to water pollution and deforestation. After returning home, she called a footwear company she had been working with for years, Grendene. She worked with the company to use her flip-flop line to call attention to environmental causes and raise funds to sponsor environmental projects, especially forest and water related projects in the Amazon and Atlantic Rainforest. In 2008, she returned to her homeland to help make a difference, and together with her family, Gisele and her father launched Projeto Água Limpa (Clean Water Project) in her hometown of Horizontina. The project aims at implementing sustainable environmental management and promoting the recovery of riparian vegetation and the micro basins of the region. On 8 June, 2009 the first native trees were planted – around 40,000 saplings were planted during the first phase of the projects. From fashion to fanfare, Gisele finds a way to share her environmental passion in various aspects of her life. Aside from designing footwear to raise awareness, Gisele also 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 hit the red carpet to co-host the Rainforest Alliance’s annual gala to honor leaders in sustainability. In 2006 Bündchen became the face of American Express Red, part of the Product Red initiative to send a percentage of monies earned from the financial transactions of this credit card to Africa's HIV/AIDS victims. In 2009, she appeared in 30 covers of the international issues of Elle magazines wearing (Product) Red clothing and posing with products from companies who support the same cause. Bündchen has also supported a variety of environmental causes, including clean water initiatives, environmental sustainability,[15] and preservation of South American rainforests. In addition, Bündchen has helped raise money for cancer research and treatment, victims of Hurricane Katrina, and the 2011 Tohoku earthquake and tsunami. Gisele opened The Luz Foundation in 2007, a grant-making organization advocating the empowerment of young girls and a place where she donates a percentage of her money to help with different projects that come along. On 20 September 2009, she was designated Goodwill Ambassador for the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). In January 2012, Gisele made her first official visit to Africa as UNEP Goodwill Ambassador. Every year Gisele chooses a charity, to which proceeds of sales from her sandals are donated, with the 2011 donation going to ISA – the Socio-environmental Institute. May 2011 Gisele was named Harvard’s 2011 Global Environmental Citizen in recognition of her eco-efforts. 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 Gisele was the clear winner beating Former Beatles Paul McCartney and Miguel Bose. In November 2011, Gisele made a surprise visit in Boston to patients at the Jimmy Fund Clinic at the Dana Farber Cancer Institute. In 2011, Gisele was added to The Giving Back Fund's list of celebs who made the largest donations to charity. January 13 2012 Gisele visited Kenya on a goodwill mission. the Brazilian supermodel went to the East African country to experience firsthand the reality of energy poverty. As part of the visit, Bundchen spent a day with a family in the village of Kisumu and helped them tend to tasks such as carrying firewood to their hut – while also making sure to highlight the dangers of using firewood inside homes that do not have energy. She was also seen dancing with the locals and visiting various homes, as well as teaming up with UK NGO Practical Action during the course of her stay.