Get ready to immortalize this fashion moment: Gisele Bündchen, the world's highest paid model, sashayed away during her final runway show after 20 years in the business and the audience went wild.
The scene at the Colcci show at São Paulo Fashion Week was indelible. The 34-year-old supermodel, who was visibly emotional, bid adieu to the runway as the audience cheered, dozens digitally captured the moment on their flashing smartphones and at one point, she got a round of applause from her fellow fashion show models--and some love from her husband, New England Patriots Quarterback Tom Brady, who was sitting front row.
A video posted by Maytê Carvalho (@mayte_carvalho_) on Apr 15, 2015 at 6:32pm PDT
Her retirement announcement has been big news in her home country of Brazil, hyped up by an underlying desire to showcase a successful homegrown star. After two decades of conquering the fashion industry, Bündchen returned to her homeland and stomped for the last time at the Colcci show, a Brazilian brand she's been working with for a decade.
I am grateful that at 14, I was given the opportunity to start this journey. Today after 20 years in the industry, it is a privilege to be doing my last fashion show by choice and yet still be working in other facets of the business. #firstrunway #14yearsold Sou muito grata por ter tido a oportunidade, aos 14 anos, de iniciar esta jornada. Hoje, após 20 anos nesta carreira, é um privilégio estar fazendo meu último desfile por escolha própria e ainda continuar trabalhando em outras facetas da indústria. #primeirodesfile #14anos A photo posted by Gisele Bündchen (@giseleofficial) on Apr 15, 2015 at 7:18am PDT
Earlier in the day, Bündchen, who netted $47 million before taxes and fees in 2014, officially announced her retirement on her Instagram with a throwback photo, seen above, of her first runway show. She was 14 years old at the time.
"I am grateful that at 14, I was given the opportunity to start this journey,” she wrote. “Today after 20 years in the industry, it is a privilege to be doing my last fashion show by choice and yet still be working in other facets of the business.”
In a report by Folha de Sao Paulo and picked up by Yahoo!, the model says she decided to call it quits after she had “learned to listen” to her body.
"Automatically my body tells me if what I do is worth it, and it asked to stop,” she said to the publication. “I respect my body, it's a privilege to be able to stop.”
Not that her career will be impaired in any way from here on out. Bündchen is still the most visible and successful of models. She was crowned the highest paid model by Forbes in the last eight years alone.
Her endorsement deals last year ranged from Under Armour, Chanel, David Yurman, H&M and 12 others. The Brazilian beauty’s last major catwalk was at Chanel’s spring/summer 2015 show, where she led a march of models, proselytizing feminism.
"I don't see how to continue [modeling on the catwalk],” she said. “And stopping will leave room for other projects I have for myself."
Moments from her final show can be seen below.
[nggallery id=22196 layout="list"]
Additional reporting by Brittany Levine