Gisele Bündchen

Early life

Gisele Caroline Bündchen was born on 20 July 1980 in Horizontina, Rio Grande do Sul, Brazil, one of six sisters and a fraternal twin, to university professor Valdir Bündchen and bank worker Vânia Nonnenmacher; her grandfather Walter Bündchen had been mayor of Horizontina. She was enrolled by her mother in a confidence-building modelling course in 1993, discovered by Elite Model Management scouts at a São Paulo shopping mall, and placed second in the Elite Model Look competition, moving to São Paulo in 1995 and debuting at New York Fashion Week in 1996.

Breakthrough and a defining decade, 1998–2007

After being rejected 42 times in London, Bündchen was cast by Alexander McQueen in 1998, beginning an 11-season run of consecutive Dolce & Gabbana campaigns that ran through 2003, alongside Missoni, Chloé, Valentino and Versace. In 1999 she fronted her first American Vogue cover, which the magazine framed as "the return of the sexy model," and won VH1/Vogue’s Model of the Year award. In 2000, Rolling Stone named her "The Most Beautiful Girl in the World," she appeared on 37 international Vogue covers that year, and she signed a multi-year Victoria’s Secret contract, wearing the $15 million Red Hot Fantasy Bra as she stepped back from general runway work to focus on campaigns and the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. She wore the $12.5 million Sexy Splendor Fantasy Bra in 2005 and took a supporting role in The Devil Wears Prada in 2006.

Peak earnings and industry recognition, 2010–2018

Bündchen closed Balenciaga’s runway show in 2010, her 11th American Vogue cover appearing that April, and fronted eight Vogue covers in 2011 alone — the most of any model that year — with her Vogue Brasil "Amazon" cover becoming the magazine’s best-selling issue at 70,743 copies. By 2012 she had appeared on roughly 120 Vogue covers and was named to Time’s "All-Time 100 Fashion Icons" list. She became the face of Chanel Les Beiges makeup in 2013 and Chanel No. 5’s spokeswoman in May 2014, followed by an Under Armour deal that September; in June 2014–June 2015 she set a Guinness World Record as the highest-earning model. She was Forbes’ top-earning model every year from 2005 to 2016, and published the bestselling memoir "Lessons: My Path to a Meaningful Life" in 2018.

Recent record, 2021–2025

Bündchen left IMG Models in February 2021 after 22 years, with her twin sister Patricia becoming her manager. She returned for Victoria’s Secret’s "Icons" campaign in 2023, and received a Fashion Awards Lifetime Achievement honour in 2024. She announced a pregnancy with partner Joaquim Valente in November 2024, gave birth to their first child together — her third overall — in February 2025, and married Valente in Surfside, Florida, on 3 December 2025.

Why is Gisele Bündchen ranked #102?

• Fronted Frame's Spring 2024 campaign, Arezzo's Summer 2024 campaign, and Elisabetta Franchi's Fall/Winter 2025 campaign.
• Has said she no longer walks runways — 'I never said I would retire, just that I would no longer do runways' — and now works campaigns exclusively.

Confidence: High confidence · evidence reviewed. Scores may change when a source is corrected or new work enters the current window.