Isabeli Bergossi Fontana (born 4 July 1983) is a Brazilian model known for her work with brands like Victoria's Secret.

Early life

Fontana was born in

Curitiba Curitiba () is the capital and largest city in the state of Paraná (state), Paraná in Brazil. The city's population was 1,948,626 , making it the List of cities in Brazil by population, eighth most populous city in Brazil and the largest in ...

, Paraná,

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, to Maribel Bergossi and Antonio Carlos Fontana. She is of Italian descent, and states that a grandmother had some Portuguese roots. At just 13 years of age she made it to the finals of the 1996 Elite Model Look. The following year she moved from Brazil to

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...

, Italy.

Career

She has been in a number of runway shows since the early 2000s along with supermodels

Gisele Bündchen Gisele Caroline Bündchen (, , born 20 July 1980) is a Brazilian fashion model. Since 2001, she has been one of the highest-paid models in the world. In 2007, Bündchen was the 16th-richest woman in the entertainment industry and earned th ...

, Carmen Kass,

Angela Lindvall Angela Lindvall (born January 14, 1979) is an American model and actress. She was first discovered by an IMG scout when she was 14 years old, and was immediately signed with IMG New York. She took a brief break from modeling but returned when sh ...

Ana Beatriz Barros Ana Beatriz Barros El Chiaty (born 29 May 1982) is a Brazilian model, known for her multiple appearances in the ''Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue'' and for her work with Intimissimi, GUESS, Bebe, Victoria's Secret, Chanel cosmetics, and Jennife ...

Julia Stegner Julia Stegner (born 2 November 1984 in Munich, Bavaria, West Germany) is a German model. Early life Stegner, the daughter of Günter Stegner, the Director Central and Eastern Europe for LSI Corporation, and Erika Stegner, an accountant, was rai ...

, Izabel Goulart among others. In 1999, at the age of 16, she appeared in the

Victoria's Secret Victoria's Secret is an American lingerie, clothing, and beauty retailer known for high visibility marketing and branding, starting with a popular catalog and followed by an annual fashion show with supermodels dubbed Angels. As the largest ret ...

lingerie catalogue. The shoot caused controversy, as Victoria's Secret stated that they would not use models younger than 18. Soon after the Victoria's Secret shoot, she was signed by

Versace Gianni Versace S.r.l. (), usually referred to as Versace ( ), is an Italian luxury fashion company founded by Gianni Versace in 1978 known for flashy prints and bright colors. The company produces Italian-made ready-to-wear and accessories, as w ...

Ralph Lauren Ralph Lauren, ( ; ; born October 14, 1939) is an American fashion designer, philanthropist, and billionaire businessman, best known for the Ralph Lauren Corporation, a global multibillion-dollar enterprise. He has become well known for his co ...

and Valentino. Since 1999 she has modeled for '' Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Issue'', ''

Marie Claire ''Marie Claire'' is a French international monthly magazine first published in France in 1937, followed by the United Kingdom in 1941. Since then various editions are published in many countries and languages. The feature editions focus on wo ...

'', '' ELLE'', ''

Vogue Vogue may refer to: Business * ''Vogue'' (magazine), a US fashion magazine ** British ''Vogue'', a British fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Arabia'', an Arab fashion magazine ** ''Vogue Australia'', an Australian fashion magazine ** ''Vogue China'', ...

'', ''

Harper's Bazaar ''Harper's Bazaar'' is an American monthly women's fashion magazine. It was first published in New York City on November 2, 1867, as the weekly ''Harper's Bazar''. ''Harper's Bazaar'' is published by Hearst and considers itself to be the st ...

'', ''

Numéro ''Numéro'' is an international fashion magazine published by Paul-Emmanuel Reiffers. It has a circulation of 80,000, and the French edition reached its 100th issue in February 2009. The magazine covers international fashion, beauty, design, h ...

'', ''

i-D ''i-D'' is a British bimonthly magazine published by Vice Media, dedicated to fashion, music, art and youth culture. ''i-D'' was founded by designer and former ''Vogue (magazine), Vogue'' art director Terry Jones (i-D), Terry Jones in 1980. The ...

'', ''

Arena An arena is a large enclosed platform, often circular or oval-shaped, designed to showcase theatre, musical performances, or sporting events. It is composed of a large open space surrounded on most or all sides by tiered seating for spectators ...

'' and many others. Fontana has been the face of a variety of advertising campaigns including

Shiatzy Chen Shiatzy Chen () is a Taiwanese luxury fashion house founded in 1978 by Wang Chen Tsai-Hsia (王陳彩霞) and her husband Wang Yuan-Hong. Its style is described as "neo-Chinese chic", combining the aesthetics of Chinese clothing and handicraft ...

, Armani Jeans,

Chanel Chanel ( , ) is a French high-end luxury fashion house founded in 1910 by Coco Chanel in Paris. Chanel specializes in women's ready-to-wear, luxury goods, and accessories and licenses its name and branding to Luxottica for eyewear. Chanel is ...

Bulgari Bulgari (, ; stylized as BVLGARI) is an Italian luxury fashion house founded in 1884 and known for its jewellery, watches, fragrances, accessories, and leather goods. While the majority of design, production and marketing is overseen and exec ...

, Colcci, Disritmia,

Dolce and Gabbana Dolce & Gabbana (), also known by initials D&G, is an Italian luxury fashion house founded in 1985 in Legnano by Italian designers Domenico Dolce and Stefano Gabbana. The house specializes in ready-to-wear, handbags, accessories, and cosmetic ...

, Emporio Armani, Enrique Martinez,

Escada Escada SE is a luxury women's designer clothing company headquartered in Munich, Germany. The company is owned by Regent, L.P., an international private equity firm led by investor Michael Reinstein. The company was founded in 1978 by designe ...

, H&M, Helena Rubinstein, Hugo Boss, Hussein Chalayan,

Leonisa Leonisa is a Colombian clothing company manufacturing and selling lingerie, shapewear, swimwear, underwear, and activewear for both men and women. History Leonisa was established in November 1956 by the Urrea brothers, Joaquin Eduardo and Juli ...

Massimo Dutti Massimo Dutti () is a Spanish fast fashion clothing retailer specializing in cashmere and wool products, established in 1985 and owned by Spanish multinational company Inditex. Overview Despite the Italian name, "Massimo Dutti" is not a fashion ...

Mango A mango is an edible stone fruit produced by the tropical tree ''Mangifera indica''. It is believed to have originated in the region between northwestern Myanmar, Bangladesh, and northeastern India. ''M. indica'' has been cultivated in South a ...

M. Officer, Nicole Farhi,

Oscar de la Renta Óscar Arístides Renta Fiallo (22 July 1932 – 20 October 2014), known professionally as Oscar de la Renta, was a Dominican fashion designer. Born in Santo Domingo, he was trained by Cristóbal Balenciaga and Antonio del Castillo. De la Renta ...

, Peter Hahn,

Philips Koninklijke Philips N.V. (), commonly shortened to Philips, is a Dutch multinational conglomerate corporation that was founded in Eindhoven in 1891. Since 1997, it has been mostly headquartered in Amsterdam, though the Benelux headquarters i ...

, Revlon,

Roberto Cavalli Roberto Cavalli (; born 15 November 1940) is an Italian fashion designer and inventor. He is known for exotic prints and for creating the sand-blasted look for jeans. The high-end Italian fashion house Roberto Cavalli sells luxury clothing, perfu ...

, Rosa Chá,

Saks Fifth Avenue Saks Fifth Avenue (originally Saks & Company; Colloquialism, colloquially Saks) is an American Luxury goods, luxury department store chain headquartered in New York City and founded by Andrew Saks. The original store opened in the F Street and ...

Tommy Hilfiger Thomas Jacob Hilfiger ( /hɪlˈfɪgər/; born March 24, 1951) is an American fashion designer and the founder of Tommy Hilfiger Corporation. After starting his career by co-founding a chain of jeans/fashion stores called People's Place in upst ...

Triton Triton commonly refers to: * Triton (mythology), a Greek god * Triton (moon), a satellite of Neptune Triton may also refer to: Biology * Triton cockatoo, a parrot * Triton (gastropod), a group of sea snails * ''Triton'', a synonym of ''Triturus' ...

, Valentino,

Vivara Vivara is a satellite islet of Procida, one of the three main islands in the Gulf of Naples. (The other two are Ischia and Capri.) Geography Vivara flanks Procida to the south-west and is connected to it by a bridge. Vivara is a crescent-shape ...

and others. Photographed by

Steven Meisel Steven Meisel (born June 5, 1954) is an American fashion photographer, who obtained popularity and critical acclaim with his work in ''Vogue'' and ''Vogue Italia'' as well as his photographs of friend Madonna in her 1992 book, ''Sex''. He is n ...

, she was presented on the September 2004 cover of American ''

'' as one of the "Models of the Moment". She featured as a 'Face of the Moment' in May 2009's US ''

''. Fontana can be seen in the spring/summer 2011 campaigns for

, Uniqlo and

Ann Taylor Ann or Anne Taylor may refer to: *Ann Taylor (writer, born 1757) (1757–1830), English writer *Ann Taylor (poet) (1782–1866), English poet and children's writer, daughter of the above *Ann Taylor (actress) (born 1936), British actress, hostess a ...

. Fontana had been the face of

Viktor & Rolf Viktor & Rolf is a Dutch avant-garde luxury fashion house founded in 1993 by Viktor Horsting (born 1969, Geldrop) and Rolf Snoeren (born 1969, Dongen). For more than twenty years, Viktor & Rolf have sought to challenge preconceptions of fashion an ...

's fragrance ''Flowerbomb'' in 2014 as well as Bvlgari's Goldea from 2015. In 2008, Fontana made her debut on the

Forbes ''Forbes'' () is an American business magazine owned by Integrated Whale Media Investments and the Forbes family. Published eight times a year, it features articles on finance, industry, investing, and marketing topics. ''Forbes'' also re ...

''The World's 15 Top-Earning Models'' list at place 11, having earned $3 million. She has appeared in the

Pirelli Calendar The Pirelli Calendar, known and trade-marked as "The Cal", is an annual trade calendar which has been published by the UK subsidiary of the Italian tyre manufacturing company Pirelli since 1964. The calendar has a reputation for its choice of ...

on a number of occasions, including in the 2011 calendar, which features models posing as Greek and Roman gods, photographed by

Karl Lagerfeld Karl Otto Lagerfeld (; 10 September 1933 – 19 February 2019) was a German fashion designer, creative director, artist and photographer. He was known as the creative director of the French fashion house Chanel, a position held from 1983 ...

. In 2011, she was part of the

Miss Universe 2011 Miss Universe 2011 was the 60th Miss Universe pageant, held at the Credicard Hall in São Paulo, Brazil on September 12, 2011. At the end of the event, Ximena Navarrete of Mexico crowned Leila Lopes of Angola as Miss Universe 2011. It is the ...

judging panel.

Personal life

In her youth, Fontana attended a Catholic school in the Portão district of Curitiba. She is often seen making the

sign of the cross Making the sign of the cross ( la, signum crucis), or blessing oneself or crossing oneself, is a ritual blessing made by members of some branches of Christianity. This blessing is made by the tracing of an upright cross or + across the body with ...

in footage. Nevertheless, she is a non-practicing Roman Catholic. She was married to model Álvaro Jacomossi but they divorced in 2004. Their son, Zion, was born in 2003. Fontana married actor and model

Henri Castelli Henri Lincoln Fernandes Nascimento (born February 10, 1978), known as Henri Castelli, is a Brazilian actor. Career Castelli was hired by Rede Globo in 1998 to make a small participation in the miniseries Hilda Furacão and in the telenovela P ...

on 10 December 2005, and their son, Lucas, was born on 23 October 2006 in

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for 'Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaWC a ...

. Fontana and Castelli divorced in 2007. She was engaged to

Rohan Marley Rohan Anthony Marley (born 19 May 1972) is a Jamaican entrepreneur and former football player. He is the son of reggae artist Bob Marley and Janet Hunt, and father of model Selah Marley and football player Nico Marley. He was born during his fa ...

but the engagement ended in early 2013. In 2021 she gained Italian citizenship due to her Italian ancestry. A quote from an Instagram post of hers: "Now I can say I'm officially Italian yeeehhhh I am now part of the European Union! @rotunnocidadania helped me to go after my ancestors !!"

Filmography

References

External links

* *
Askmen.com profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Fontana, Isabeli 1983 births Living people People from Curitiba Brazilian people of Italian descent Brazilian people of Portuguese descent Brazilian female models Brazilian Roman Catholics Citizens of Italy through descent Women Management models