In Vogue: The 2000s Podcast Debuts with Episode 1, “Gisele: The Model of the Decade”

Listen to the first episode of In Vogue: The 2000s podcast now.

The aughts are everywhere on the runways in the 2020s. Our new podcast In Vogue: The 2000s digs deep into the era, exploring the people and trends that made this period so resonant. The series debuts with a look at Gisele Bündchen, whose bombshell curves and sunniness put paid to the waif, and ushered in a new beauty ideal that contributed to the broader and more inclusive standards that we are starting to see today.

When Bündchen arrived on the scene in 1998, casting directors weren’t quite sure what to make of the (relatively) curvy, happy Brazilian. It seems fair to say that Bündchen was similarly confused. “I literally felt like an ET. I was, like, ‘Holy cow, like, wow.’ ” Modeling,” she explains, “wasn’t a dream of mine. It was, like, an opportunity showed up, I saw it as a way of helping my family, and, I was, like, ‘Let me try out.’ ”

She did, and within a year a paradigm shift had occurred that had Vogue heralding “The Return of the Sexy Model,” and casting Bündchen in a memorable story, “The Return of the Curve,” photographed by Irving Penn and written by Philip Weiss. “The irony of Gisele being put on the cover of a curve issue,” states Nicole Phelps, reminding us of the importance of context, “is that she was just as thin as the waifs that preceded her, but she was tall, she had breasts, she had a derriere, and that made her different enough to signify this idea of curves.” And, not insignificantly, Gisele projected genuine happiness and comfort in her skin, something which she attributes to her Brazilian heritage.

Gisele managed to remain grounded despite her growing influence because she is genuine. “I think where Gisele has stood out is that she was always Gisele. She always was a larger than life personality,” remarks Anna Wintour. Plus, Gisele had, and has, a broad appeal that bridged fashion and commercial work, which at the time remained separate camps. That Victoria’s Secret’s most famous angel was also fashion’s most in-demand model, and a celebrity, was remarkable at the time. “She really took on the mantle of the supermodel and lived it and dressed it and married Tom Brady. I mean, she was the complete package,” says Wintour.