'''Gisele Caroline Nonnenmacher Bündchen''' () (born July 20, 1980) is a Brazilian supermodel.
[Gisele Bündchen's name is of German origin. In German it is pronounced (as transcribed in IPA). However, Brazilian Portuguese pronunciation is usually (see http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rTAMpq-P4CI this video clip for the Brazilian pronunciation) Bündchen has said it does not matter to her how people pronounce her name.] Her image has appeared on countless billboards and magazine covers. Gisele is the spokesperson of more than 20 brands internationally.
[http://www.forbes.com] She has been declared the highest paid model in the business — a title that she has commanded for five consecutive years — and she earned $30 million between June 2005 and June 2006.
[http://www.forbes.com/lists/2006/53/2VPP.html] Her personal fortune is valued at 150 million dollars, and she is in the Guinness Book of World Records as "the world's richest supermodel".
Biography
Gisele was born in the southern Brazilian town of Horizontina, to German-Brazilian parents. She has five sisters: Raquel, Graziela, Gabriela, Rafaela and her fraternal twin Patrícia (who was born five minutes after Gisele). She originally wanted to be a professional volleyball player and had considered becoming a member for the Brazilian team, Sogipa.
She was already 170 cm when she was 13. Her friends, in school, used to call her "Olívia Palito" (Portuguese for Olive Oyl, Popeye's skinny girlfriend), and "Saracura" (a Brazilian type of shorebird). Her "discovery" took place at the age fourteen on a school trip to São Paulo while eating a Big Mac when she was scouted by a modeling agent.
A year before that her sisters Patrícia and Gabriela and she had taken a model course instructed by Dilson Stein, to correct their posture, at their mother's insistence.
[http://supermodels.nl/giselebundchen/about] This course was designed for teenagers aspiring to become models. In 1994, Stein took Gisele and other girls to São Paulo to give them an opportunity to walk in a big city and to be evaluated by Brazilian Elite agents. Gisele was selected by them for a national contest, in which she came in second. Later in Ibiza, Spain, Gisele came in fourth in the world contest.
In 1996 Gisele moved to New York City to begin her modeling career, debuting at Fashion Week. Since then, her image has been featured in a variety of advertising campaigns including several seasons for Dior, Balenciaga, Dolce & Gabbana, Missoni, Versace, Céline, Givenchy, Bulgari, Lanvin, Guerlain, Valentino, Ralph Lauren, Earl Jean, Zara, Chloé, Michael Kors, and Louis Vuitton. Gisele represents several Brazilian brands such as Vivo, C&A, Multiplan, Colcci and Credicard.
Grendene has put out her own line of sandals, called Ipanema Gisele Bündchen, which have sold more than 100 million pairs since
