Gisele Bündchen retires from the runway

She has been the face of beauty brands like Chanel’s Le Beiges range and Dolce & Gabbana perfume, The One (pictured here). In 2013, she was named the brand ambassador for Pantene.

As she announced her retirement recently, supermodel Gisele Bündchen acknowledged that most people don’t get to quit at 34. But then again, most of us didn’t start working at 14. About her ramp career, Bündchen said, “Automatically my body tells me if what I do is worth it, and it asked to stop. I respect my body, it’s a privilege to be able to stop.”

Click through for the career highlights of one of the world’s most recognised faces and highest paid models

A 17-year-old Bündchen shot to international fame when she walked for Alexander McQueen’s 1998 rain-themed spring/summer show. Oh and she practically invented the "horse walk", that stomping movement when the model lifts her knees and kicks her feet out in front.

In April 2015, two decades after she started her career on the ramp, Bündchen announced her retirement at the Sao Paolo Fashion Week. She did her last show for Colcci, a homegrown high street brand. She posted a shot from their latest campaign to her Instagram recently.

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In 2000, she modelled the most expensive piece of lingerie in the world ($15 million), Victoria’s Secret’s Red Hot Fantasy bra. One of the highest paid models in the world — Forbes Brasil put her total career earnings till 2014 at $427 million — she is also an entrepreneur of Gisele Bündchen Intimates, a lingerie brand she started in 2011.

By 2001, Bündchen was hot property on the ramp and in print. She was shot for the Pirelli calendar by Mario Testino. 

In 2014, she became the spokeswoman for Chanel No. 5, a campaign shot by Baz Luhrmann. It was also the year that Forbes Brasil ranked her fifth in a list of the 100 most powerful celebrities in Brazil—ahead of her were soccer star Neymar and author Paulo Coehlo.

When King Karl had his models march in a feminist protest for Chanel SS 2015, Gisele Bündchen led the charge, megaphone in hand. Off the runway, she is officially (through the UN) and personally (at home and her blog) committed to environmental issues and gives generously of her time and money to various charitable causes, like the Red Cross, and relief missions, like for Hurricane Katrina and the earthquake in Haiti. She was named in the most generous celebrities’ list of 2012.