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VALENTINO: TOP MODEL GISELE

Born Gisele Bundchen in 1980, the woman who ushered in fashion's long-term Brazilian bombshell obsession made her fashion week debut in 1997, and inaugurated her loyal relationship with the house of Valentino not long after.

 

 

 

“For me, she is now the most beautiful woman in the world.”

So said Mr. Valentino of Gisele, the model so super-duper she’s known to one and all just by her first name. Born Gisele Bundchen in 1980, the woman who ushered in fashion’s long-term Brazilian bombshell obsession made her fashion week debut in 1997, and inaugurated her loyal relationship with the house of Valentino not long after. Who can forget the iconic image of Mr. Valentino walking down the runway of his Fall/Winter 1999/2000 fashion show hand-in-hand with Naomi Campbell and Gisele, each model clad in gowns of Valentino red? It was a passing of the torch moment, from one generation’s premier Amazon to the young lady who’d succeed her. The remarkable thing about Gisele is that, twenty years on, no model has emerged to take her singular place: She’s still reigns. 

 

Gisele’s collaboration with Valentino was fruitful, to put it mildly. Her campaigns for the maison are stunningly varied, ranging from a shot of her bathing in sunlight and petting a baby zebra as she stands, monument-like, in a gold satin gown, to the moody black-and-white shots of her in a menswear-inspired ensemble from Fall/Winter 2003-2004. And more. It’s been a fruitful friendship, too—just a few years ago, Gisele was arm-in-arm with Mr. Valentino again, at the Wall Street Journal’s Innovator of the Year Awards. By the time those photos were taken, in 2013, Gisele had renounced the runway and dedicated herself to motherhood (she has two children with NFL quarterback Tom Brady) and philanthropy; among her several causes, she’s particularly passionate about the environment, donating a percentage of her earnings to pro-environmental organizations each year. She still models, of course, but this lady is a model in more ways than one.

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