Not only does Brazil have its own fashion industry, some Brazilian models are among the top supermodels of the world. Of the five top paid models in the world in 2007, three were Brazilian:
The best paid:
1. Gisele Bundchen 
(1980- ): $33 million (2.6 million crowns), the top paid and richest model in the world. She is worth about $150 million (12 million crowns) and has appeared on over 500 magazine covers. She left Victoria’s Secret in 2007. From Rio Grande do Sul. She is German on both sides of her family. 1.80 m. WHR 0.67.
4. Adriana Lima (1981- ): $6 million (a half million crowns). Spike TV in America says she is the hottest girl on the planet. More on her below. She is from Salvador, Bahia. She is part Swiss, black and native Indian. 1.78 m. WHR 0.69.
5. Alessandra Ambrosio (1981- ): $6 million. People magazine says she is one of the 100 most beautiful people in the world. From Rio Grande do Sul. She is part Italian, part Polish. She has wanted to be a model since she was eight. 1.78 m. WHR 0.67.
Kate Moss of Britain is #2 and Heidi Klum of Germany is #3.
Here is who I think are the most beautiful Brazilian models, of the ones I know of. Some no longer model, but they have all modelled at some point:
The most beautiful:
1. Taís Araújo (1978- ), from Rio, became the first black actress to appear as a main character in a telenovela on Brazilian television. She is a presenter on the television show “Superbonita”, about how to be beautiful! More.
2. Adriana Bombom (1974- ) is a Carnival queen from Rio. She she was once one of Xuxa’s helpers. What a body! More.
3. Ildi Silva (1982- ) is a television actress from Bahia. She was discovered on the streets of Salvador and became a model. More.
4. Rojane Fradique (1986- ) is a fashion model from Bahia in the north where most people are black. She is tall (1.82 metres), extremely thin but looks like a work of art. In 2003 she placed second in Brazil in the Elite Model Look contest and 15th worldwide. More.
5. Raica Oliveira (1984- ) is a model from Niteroi, near Rio. She now lives in New York with her mother. She has been on the runway in Paris and Milan and in many fashion magazines and makeup ads. She is friends with fellow Brazilian models Adriana Lima and Ana Beatriz Barros.
6. Adriana Lima (1981- ) She has modelled for Victoria’s Secret and Maybelline. She is friends with Raica Oliveira. More.
7. Fernanda Tavares (1980- ) is a supermodel from Natal.
8. Camila Pitanga (1977- ) is a Brazilian model and television actress from Rio. Best known in Brazil as Bebel on the telenovela “Paraíso Tropical”. Ildi Silva, listed above, plays a secretary on the same show. Her father is black, her mother is white.
9. Lucy Ramos (1982- ) is a model and television actress. She is best known for her role in the show “Sinhá Moça”. She was born in Recife in Pernambuco. More.
10. Marina Montini (1948-2006) was a beauty from Rio in the 1960s and 1970s. She was so beautiful that men painted pictures of her, especially Di Cavalcanti. Her heavy drinking brought her to an early end at age 58.
See also:
Abagond 
Gisselle, like most famous (and non-famous, alike) white women looks scary w/o makeup.
Adriana Lima …very racially ambigious. “Exotic” but not that pretty to me. It’s all subjective though.
The Afro-Brazilian ladies are very pretty in their own right though. Do Afro-Brazilians have a lot of visible within Brazilian media? I remember watching a documentary and one beautiful Afro Brazilian model was complaining about how all the fashion media there almost go towards a more Nordic look. She went to a magazine stand and gave that claim some credibility.
Who are the rest of the highest paid models? Is Naomi high up there?
LikeLike
The fashion industry in Brazil is racist. Most fashion models are white even though half the country is black or mixed. It is hard for Afro-Brazilian models to get work, but since the 1990s they have broken into advertising.
Rojane, the darkest model listed above, had to pretty much leave Brazil to find work. So did Suyane, not listed here, who is part black, part native Indian. She is beautiful, but not in a white way:
LikeLike
The list of the best-paid models comes from Fortune magazine. They only seem to list the top five. Tyra was the top model in 2006, her last year in the business. Naomi was not in the top five in either 2006 or 2007.
LikeLike
Its so funny I find, that we non-Brazilians all believed(at least I did) that Brazil was a melting pot, every culture, non-racist, beautiful people et cetera, et cetera, yet its just as racist as everywhere else(if not more so). It seems that they have so much black history and culture, that the elite are trying to run away from it or something. Sad
LikeLike
Same here: I thought they were less racist too, but it is just that the racism there is different.
LikeLike
Yeah, it defintely seems to be a European/color hierarchy in Brazil. Sad because the African culture there is so deep and vibrant. I don’t think any culture, outside of Subsaharan Africa, that doesn’t have a degree of anti-black prejudice.
LikeLike
Yeah, it defintely seems to be a European/color hierarchy in Brazil, from what I gather. Sad because the African culture there is so deep and vibrant. I don’t think any country, outside of Subsaharan Africa, that doesn’t have some degree of anti-black prejudice.
LikeLike
there is a beautiful model by the name of Emanuala de Paula, that is getting lots of work. she has recently become part of the Victoria Secret ad campaigns.
LikeLike
There needs to be more afro or mixed brazilians in the media. Same for the rest of Latin America. I swear sometimes when you watch Univision or Telemundo, you’d think brown people didn’t exist at all.
LikeLike
Yes, I have heard of Emanuela de Paula. She is number ten on my list of the most beautiful black Brazilian models:
https://abagond.wordpress.com/2007/10/23/black-brazilian-models/
LikeLike
The white and light skinned women on this page are making the most money. And people think racism does not exist in Brazil. It sickening.
LikeLike
It is not easy to identify a single cause of egsima. It however appears to result from a combination of genetic and environmental factors. Some of the more common factors contributing to egsima flare-ups include sudden changes in temperature, exposure to harsh chemicals, certain types of perfumes and stress. It has also been substantiated that the disease is linked to other atopic disorders, such as seasonal allergies and asthma.
LikeLike
Call me crazy but I don’t even think Giselle Bundchen is all that great looking. When I’ve seen photos of her without makeup and lighting(they’re all over the internet), she looks no better than average.
Adriana Lima on the other hand, she deserves every penny she earns. If there were an objective definition of “exotic”, she would be it.
LikeLike
@tulio:
I agree with you. I don’t think Giselle is all that great looking either. I saw a program on tv that she was the woman who brought back curves into the modelling industry. I thought, “Curves? What curves?” She has none – no waist, hips. And she had cosmetic surgery on her nose and breast implants. I think she’s overrated imho.
LikeLike
Call me crazy but I don’t even think Giselle Bundchen is all that great looking. When I’ve seen photos of her without makeup and lighting(they’re all over the internet), she looks no better than average.
I have to agree with you. I remember hearing all about Giselle before I ever saw her. It was “Gisele is stunning!”, “Gisele is so sexy!” I thought she was going to be a knock-out. Then I saw photos of her and I was more confused than I’ve ever been. She looks like the average white female I see on the street. Especially without the make-up. Her and Kate Moss. I just think it is the Victoria’s Secret model and Brazilian (read: “exotic”) thing that men (I say men because women don’t seem to care much for her) are attracted to.
I agree with you. I don’t think Giselle is all that great looking either. I saw a program on tv that she was the woman who brought back curves into the modelling industry. I thought, “Curves? What curves?” She has none – no waist, hips. And she had cosmetic surgery on her nose and breast implants. I think she’s overrated imho.
Lol, leigh! I was just going to talk about this “curve” business and the nose job. If anything she is one of the bonier models; you can even see it in her face. For sure overrated, and I don’t say that about many models.
LikeLike
The funny thing is that people consider Giselle to be “Latin” when she’s as kraut as they come.
LikeLike
Giselle is nothing but hype. I never understood her appeal. Personally, I think she looks manly.
LikeLike
Her face really does look masculine, but for some reason that’s a desired feature in the high fashion industry. I tend to fancy women with soft, rounded facial features. I don’t like women with long heads, chiseled looking jaws, angular noses, prominent cheek bones and that kind of thing you see on runway girls that make them look masculine. Yeah, and my refrigerator has a better hip to waist ratio, btw. That girl looks like she needs to eat! 🙂
I’d hire Leigh to model my clothes before Giselle.
LikeLike
@tulio:
I’d hire Leigh to model my clothes before Giselle.
Thanks. However, I’m afraid I’m not model material. lol! I’m only 5’3″. 😉
LikeLike
Well in that case nevermind! 😛
5’3″ isn’t unusually short for a woman.
LikeLike
“That girl looks like she needs to eat!”
Tulio, that is ignorant! There is such a thing as a high metabolism.
LikeLike
@tulio
Adriana Lima on the other hand, she deserves every penny she earns. If there were an objective definition of “exotic”, she would be it.
On the other hand, I don’t find her “exotic” at all. Of course, what’s considered exotic varies from culture to culture, but no, I don’t see Adriana as “exotic” or “unusual” at all. She is a beautiful woman, but when I see her image, my unconscious self thinks “just a usual model”, not “oh, an exotic mixed woman!”- and not because I evolved to the stage where I don’t see the race. I honestly thought she was white. More beautiful than Gisele, but more-or less ordinary.
Does this sound harsh or racially insensitive? Please warn me.
I’m 5’3″. I think they require models to be at least 5’7”? Not that I’m interested in fashion industry :P, I’ just saying they don’t accept short girls.
And yes, some women (well, people) have high metabolism and are naturally thin. Nothing wrong with that. The only problem is: if being thin is set as the only beauty standard, thousands of women who don’t fit the picture will try to fit it by heavy dieting, plastic surgery, etc.
LikeLike
Adriana certainly isn’t considered exotic-looking in Brazil. She’s just white by our standards. A very pretty white, perhaps, but white.
LikeLike
I do consider her white. Well, I mean, I thought she was white. Abagond says she is considered mixed (brown) in Brazil (does this mean she could be seen as black in America)?
I don’t find her “exotic” or unusual looking, either. She is very beautiful, but I know plenty of girls who share her features and they are white.
LikeLike
Adriana Lima would not be considered white in England, she doesn’t have the English rose complexion. Dusky, exotic, yes, but not white.
LikeLike
Well, this is another proof that race is social construct and not biological fact. The same human being is considered both white non-white, depending on the society.
LikeLike
Mira, when I get a tan, I’m considered “brown and mixed” in Brazil. “Brown and mixed” is the polite social default status for everyone.
In order to understand Brazil, people need to understand that colors/races are shifting and contextual, not written in stone as they are in the States.
But Adriana is whiter than, say, 80% of the population which means 80% of the time, she’s going to be seen as white…
I know I’ve been here a long time when I hear someone call Adriana “dusky and exotic” and want to giggle. That’s not at all how most Brazilians would describe her.
LikeLike
Not sure if this of any significance
I note that there are no ‘indigenous Indian’ type in the list – sorry I do not know what is the appropriate name to call them
LikeLike
Mira,
I’m 5′3″. I think they require models to be at least 5′7”?
Modeling agencies usually require a minimum height of 5’9″. Although some may cut you a little slack if you’re 5’8″ with a long neck. 😀 I know because I’m 5’7″ and agencies tell me I’m too short.
LikeLike
That’s the thing about modelling in high fashion. You have to fulfill the height requirement. It’s too bad. I know many beautiful yet “short” women.
LikeLike
Found this interesting NY times article titled:
Off Runway, Brazilian Beauty Goes Beyond Blond
http://www.nytimes.com/2010/06/08/world/americas/08models.html?ref=fashion
LikeLike
Oh, wow! So the NYTimes finally discovered that we’re a mixed nation!
Extra! Read all about it!
Do you know how out of touch that journalist is? Read this bit here:
Yet Brazil is not the same country it was in 1994, when Gisele Bündchen, the world’s top earning model, was discovered in a tiny town not far from here. Darker-skinned women have become more prominent in Brazilian society, challenging the notions of Brazilian beauty and success that Ms. Bündchen has come to represent here and abroad.
Taís Araújo just finished a run as the first black female lead in the coveted 8 p.m. soap opera slot.
Xica da Silva first ran on Brazilian T.V. in… wait for it… 1996.
So that’s some change, huh! In 1994, Gisele was Queen, but after much struggle, Taís is going to dethrone her after 16 years of power. Let’s completely ignore the fact that the sign of Taís’ ascendency is a telenovela that aired FOURTEEN years ago but which is qualified as “just finished” here.
Of course, if the journalist in question didn’t MAKE news, there wouldn’t be any. So now we suddenly have supposed racial progress based on the Taís vs. Gisele dichotomy – never mind the fact that both women were popular AT THE SAME TIME.
LikeLike
Good points Thad…
Still though: the dreaded Xuxa Factor is still in full effect. I’m sure you can relate to this one. Certain men in Brazil see a girl with blond hair and immediately her attractiveness score jumps up. Change to darker hair and it goes away.
The white washing concept of beauty is definitely in effect culturally in Brazil. There are so many beautiful women there that are not proportionately represented in the Fashion World of Brazil. So sad… If all of the morena “aspiring models” and and beyond were in Europe, you would see a lot more accurate representation of Brazil’s majority population.
LikeLike
Oh, no doubt CoL!
When I looked out over the freshmen women I used to teach at a working class university in Rio de Janeiro, I’d see that 90% of them had straightened their hair and at leat half of them had lightened it in soem way or another. This is the Geração Xuxa as adults.
LikeLike
When referring to Rojane Fradique, Abagond, u say she is from the north but if she is from Bahia, that is in the Northeast. Most people are brown(mixed) in the north and in the northeast, not black.
Plus, in the case of Brazil, let’s not forget the true inhabitants of the lands and their genetic contribution to the mixed(brown) people; the Brazilian Indians.
LikeLike