Gisele Bundchen

In 1993, Gisele Bundchen, 13 years old and almost 1,70m height (5'7"), joined Dilson Stein mannequin course to correct her posture, with Patrícia 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 Bundchen 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".

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".

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 Bundchen. 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. 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.