About Me
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It all started in July 20, 1980. Mr. Valdir and Mrs. Vania Bündchen were having their third and fourth kids. The two girls that had just been born already had two sisters (Raquel and Graziela), and were about to have 2 more (Gabriela and Rafaela), in the next years. The names of the two babies were PatrÃcia and Gisele Bündchen. Gisele Caroline Bündchen was born in Horizontia, Rio Grande do Sul, a very small town (17000 inhabitants), in the extreme south of Brazil. Gisele and PatrÃcia were twins (not identical, and Gisele was born first). Actually, Gisele was born in a town called "Três de Maio" (Horizontina didn't have the infra-structure to make a surgery in a woman who was having twins). Nobody knew, but that small baby called Gisele was going to change fashion world forever, not far from then.
In pre school "Escola Evangélica Frederico Jorge Logemann" Gisele already was a small girl, very thin. In mid school, Gisele used to be called "OlÃvia Palito" (Olive Oyl - Popeye's skinny friend), "Somaliana" (person from Somalia) and Saracura (kind of snake - "trumpet-creeper"). Her school friends used to make fun of her, because she was tall and thin: "there was a time where that used to bore me a lot, make me really sad". "Gisele was a little weird" admits Roberta Wojahn, neighbor and friend. She liked to play Volleyball, and had even thought of becoming a professional, but as we saw, that didn't work out: "All she wanted to be was a volleyball player", says her mother, and Gisele confirms: "I dreamed of being Ana Mozer, Fernanda Venturini" (Brasilian volleyball players), and play for Sogipa. She was a really agitating kid: "I was like a monkey. Until I was around 7 years old, I used to run on the streets in my underwear".
In 1993, Gisele, 13 years old and almost 1,70m height (5'7"), joined Dilson Stein mannequin course to correct her posture, with PatrÃcia and Gabriela, because her mother insisted. The course was for teenagers who wanted to be a model. In May 1994, Stein took 50 girls in a bus to São Paulo, for two reasons: to give them a chance to walk in a big city and to let them be evaluated by brasilian Elite bookers (agents). Zeca Abreu and Liliana Gomes, from Elite were there to check out the group, warned by Stein, so it wasn't a casual discover. Zeca and Liliana asked Gisele "Do you want to be a model?" and she answered "No way". "I didn't see that as a real thing. The guy was pissing me off. I just wanted to go to Playcenter".
On the next August 20, Gisele was playing Volley for Sogipa, in Porto Alegre. People from Elite "kidnapped" her and took her to the contest Look of the Year, the Rio Grande do Sul phase. She was already enrolled in the contest, and she tried to escape. With no bath she was taken to the contest, in a borrowed dress. "I got there and it was a chock. The girls were wearing make up and long dresses and I was there, dirty, wearing a kneepad. I didn't want that, I didn't want to catwalk". Gisele came between the five finalists. Then, she went to São Paulo. Her clothes were, now, a little bit more appropriated; most of them borrowed from her friends Melissa and Karina Costa. She came in second in the national Elite Look of the Year contest - Claudia Menezes, from Bahia, was the one in the first place. In the world contest, in Ibiza, Gisele came in fourth, but no one (including her), admits that as official, because she never got a trophy. In another version, she would have come in sixth. Then, Gisele started to change. "I started to like the idea of being independent".
After that, Gisele did a few jobs in Japan, some editorials (go to Japan is something almost every model has to do when she is starting her career). After that, disappointed with the lack of jobs, Gisele went back home, in Horizontina. In the beginning of 1995 Gisele made the decision of going to São Paulo. Her father, Valdir, didn't like it, but he finally agreed. He went with her to São Paulo, talked to the staff in Elite and met the apartment she was going to live in, with five other girls. In February Gisele, 14 years old, made two bags of clothes and took a bus to São Paulo.
In São Paulo things weren't easy. "In the beginning, I had to go to the tests by subway. I didn't have money for a cab". She started to know the entire São Paulo by bus and subway. "I know São Paulo just using bus and subway". "I wanted to be independent when I was 14!".
In São Paulo, Gisele finished the second year in high school, in a public school. She used to live in an apartment, paying rent, sharing it with other girls. Monica Monteiro, her ex-booker in Elite and her agent in Brazil for IMG, used to give Gisele a ride to go to school. Because Gisele had almost no jobs at that time, she used to help Monica by filling forms and answering phones. Sometimes, Gisele used to stay over in Monica's house, and her husband, AloÃsio Lima, had to sleep in the couch, so Gisele would sleep with Monica.
She took the tests with other 100 girls. The guy looked at her book, looked at her face and said "Thank you very much". It was a "no". And there were a lot of "no's". The reasons why she was denied were her nose "too big", her body "too thin", eye "is this or that", "she is not right for the job". Even today Gisele doesn't like her nose very much. "But I wouldn’t let this bunch of people let me down. I wouldn't get five "no's" and give up. I'm not that kind of person. I go after what I want no matter what".
Gisele went to New York in December, 1996, but she came back right after. "I got there, I made a show-room for Calvin Klein and L'Oreal. The new girls didn't have much chance. I stayed there for two weeks and came back to São Paulo". In May or June, 1997 she decided to go to New York, this time to stay. "I wanted to prove myself that I could to be a model". She was living in an apartment in the 3rd Avenue, with five or six girls and she didn't speak English. "I was living with five other girls, and they didn't like me very much". There was a time when the girls taught her the word "asshole" and told her to tell people when she met them. "I spent all day memorizing: asshole, asshole, asshole. I arrived at the entrance of my building and said to the doorman: 'Good morning, asshole'. He didn't say anything". She was only warned about the word by her booker. "When I discovered the meaning I wanted to kill the girls".
Gisele tells that in the first days she was in New York, she looked at the sky to make wishes to shooting stars and she got frustrated when she found out she couldn't see the stars among the skyscrapers of New York. Gisele used to do that in her home town, Horizontina. In the next day she got her left wrist tattooed with a small star. "Then I can make wishes looking at my arm".
Working her way into the fashion world, Gisele made 30 castings in London, "but they always implicated with my nose". "Nobody liked me. I did only two catwalk jobs in the beginning". When Gisele worked for Alexander McQueen, John Galliano and Givenchy, people started to pay attention to her. In the end of 1997 she met the stylist Martine Sitbon, and in July 1998 she was in Vogue America cover. "The first cover, in July Vogue, was a big step in my career". From then on, Gisele's Schedule started to become busier. Alexander McQueen started to refer about Gisele by "the body". Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana liked Gisele so much that they had her opening and closing their shows. "Do you know what is like to get in Milan when you are just a girl, without any experience, among a bunch of supermodels and they put you to open Dolce & Gabbana shows" asks Monica Monteiro.
In 1998, in the next season, Gisele shone in Milan, Paris and London, walking about 60 times in the runway. Living in a two-floor apartment in TriBeCa, Manhattan, and traveling all around the world, Gisele started to be in every important magazine's cover, work with the most famous photographers and make lots of advertisements. One of these advertisements was one for Missoni, one of the first important ones. Then, she had all the doors wide open to her.
The way to the top really started in 1999, when Gisele did something never done before. She was in all the important covers, editorials, fashion shows and advertisements. All in one shot. In November 1999 there was Gisele Bündchen, 19 years old, next to the fashion divas (like Naomi Campbell, Claudia Schiffer and many others) in Vogue America Millennium Edition cover. In that same end of year, Gisele, again, proved the world that she was the most famous and important model of the moment. She won the "Model of the Year" award, in Vogue Fashion Awards.
Gisele had already changed the fashion world forever qith her perfect curves and sculptural body, maybe without even realizing it. In her infinite beauty and lovable modesty Gisele told the world, without using any words, that anorexic models were loosing their space to the models with perfect bodies, full of curves. And we ask "Gisele, are you the most beautiful woman in the world?", and she answers in a childish little way that makes a grown man cry "no, that's impossible!". She is only proving she is wrong.
In the year 2000 many things happen to Gisele's career, many important things, which helped to consolidate her as a supermodel. The fashion magazine editors started to call Gisele an übermodel. "Über" in German means "over". That means Gisele was considered one of the best models ever. No other model had been called like that. Also in 2000 Gisele signed maybe the most important contract in her entire career. It was a millionaire contract with Victoria's Secrets, for five years. Gisele started to wear all the Victoria’s Secret’s lingerie, be in all the fashion shows and fill the pages in the catalogs. In 2000 VH1/Vogue Fashion Awards Gisele didn't win any awards...that's because she was the host. Next to Cuba Gooding Junior she made jokes and passed the throne to Carmen Kass, as the model of the year.
In September 2000, the Rolling Stone magazine had, for the fourth time, a model in its cover. After Claudia Schiffer, Cindy Crawford and Laetitia Casta, there was Gisele Bündchen. The fourth model ever to be in a Rolling Stone cover, a space famous for having the greatest rock and pop stars icons. And the title, written in white over a blue background was: "The most beautiful girl in the world". Few would disagree.
And some might ask "why Gisele?" or "what does she have that no one else has?". The answer could be "Gisele has the perfect combination". To be a model it's required much more than just a cute face and a flawless body. It's also required a lot of hard work, a lot of determination and a lot of luck (why not?). And what's the best definition of luck if it's not Gisele's father definition: "luck is a combination of opportunity and hard work". Gisele saw the opportunities and had the intelligence and the courage to go after it. Monica Monteiro also tries to explain: "She is all she is because of the education she had from her family, which is an example. And there's also the fact that she is such a good person".
In the beginning of 2001 Gisele announced to the world what she called a "retirement". It was an exaggeration. She was thinking about her life quality. "I have been a slave of my work for five years, now I want some time for me. I will only work for the ones who like me". In that "ones" was included Dolce & Gabbana. She also have done some works for Christian Dior. She was still working for Victoria's Secrets and, in Brazil, she had an exclusive contract for the department store C&A.
In the year 2004 Gisele in like everything else she does worked her butt off to secure her first ever feature film role in the comedy "Taxi". Gisele really enjoyed working on the movie and said " I can get used to this job" Gisele has a role in the upcoming Meryl Streep movie "The Devil Wears Prada" where she plays Serena The Talking Clacker.
As i am sure most of you can understand Ms. Bundchen has a very busy schedule so she will not be able to check her mailbox on a daily basis so please be patient in getting a response back if you decide to contact Gisele.
Victoria Secret Fashion Show 2006
Part 1
Part 2
Part 3
Part 4
Part 5
Part 6
Part 7
Part 8
Gisele on Regis and Kelly Promoting The Victoria Secret Fashion Show 12/5/06
Gisele on The Ellen Show promotiong the Victoria Secrets Fashion Show
