Gisele Bundchen Represents Older Women in New Versace Ad
The supermodel, who is married to Tom Brady, is just 37 years old.
Photo via AP/Andre Penner, File
Gisele Bundchen, 37, is old.
No, not old enough to join AARP. No, not as old as her over-the-hill husband, Tom Brady. No, not old enough to spend her afternoons playing mahjong and humble-bragging about her grandson, who was just elected eighth-grade class president and whom she is just so proud of.
But, at 37 years old, Bundchen is old enough to be a “senior supermodel” in the eyes of a fashion world obsessed with the fountain of youth.
Bundchen appears in a new Versace ad campaign celebrating the iconic brand’s 40th anniversary along with fellow geriatrics Naomi Campbell, 47, Cindy Crawford, 51, and Christy Turlington, 48. The ads also feature a new generation of younger models like Crawford’s daughter, 16-year-old Kaia Gerber.
“The campaign represents the link between past and present. You need to know who you are, and where you are coming from, to build your future,” Donatella Versace said in a statement, according to the Boston Globe.
Though 37 is far from over-the-hill, featuring adults—rather than teenagers and early twentysomethings—in a campaign is progressive within the context of the fashion industry. But it may not mean that much in the long-term. As pointed out in a 2015 Guardian article, such occasional forays outside typical model lines are often merely a shtick: “It just means the industry wants to give itself a little pat on the back for being so deep it can occasionally deal with an older or bigger person without actually vomiting all over its quilted Burberry jacket.”
Bundchen was also recently unseated from her longstanding position as the world’s highest earning model by 22-year-old Kendall Jenner, but given that Gisele is clearly still a force in the fashion world, we’re guessing she’s not shedding too many tears over it.
