Adriana Lima: Bio and Career Highlights

Adriana Lima is a very popular Brazilian model. She was born on June 12, 1981 and is currently married to Marko Jarić, a Serbian NBA basketball player and has two daughters. Her second daughter was born only a few months before she opened the 2012 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show.

She has been a Victoria's Secret Angel since 2000 and served as spokesmodel for Maybelline Cosmetics from 2003 to 2009. She first got her start in the modeling world at the age of 15 when she won first place in Ford's "Supermodel of Brazil" contest. She went on to compete in Ford's "Supermodel of the World" contest where she placed an admirable second. She did not sign a modeling contract with Ford Models, a prestigious modeling agency. Instead she signed with Elite Model Management and quickly began walking the runway for the top fashion designers of New York, Paris, London and Milan and was consistently chosen as the face of several advertising campaigns.

What is so fascinating about Adriana Lima is that she is of mixed Brazilian ancestry and has a very exotic, sexy look. In the early years of her career, her decision to remain a virgin until she married made her appear even more desirable to the general masses. She married at the age of 27. How a virgin can exude so much sensuality in print advertising is beyond me!

Even though her modeling portfolio is quite extensive (Versace, Guess, Blumarine, Valentino, Vogue magazine covers, GQ magazine covers, etc.) we all know her best for her work with Victoria's Secret. She has opened the Victoria's Secret annual runway shows and individual segments more than any other model and has done extensive television commercials and various promos for the brand throughout the world. Adriana Lima pretty much IS Victoria's Secret.

Here is a breakdown of her VS fashion show appearances:

FEB 1999 (webcast)
MAY 2000 (webcast) (Walks in 3 of 4 Segments)
NOV 2001 (aired on ABC) (First televised Victoria's Secret Show. Walks in 3 of 4 Segments, Closes the Show!)
NOV 2002 (aired on CBS) (Walks in 3 of 4 Segments, Closes the Show!)
NOV 2003 (Walks in 3 of 5 Segments, Opens the Show!)
Year 2004 (Participated in Angels Across America - no fashion show this year)


VSFS 2005:
Sexy Shadow Dreams, 2nd Segment
Sexy Delicious, 5th Segment (Opens!)
Sexy Things, 6th Segment


VSFS 2006:
Coquettish Fetish, 2nd Segment (Opens!)
Come Fly With Me, 3rd Segment (Closes!)
Winter Wonderland of Glacial Godesses, 6th Segment


VSFS 2007:
Blade Runner, 1st Segment (Opens the Show!)
Sureally Sexy, 5th Segment (Closes!)
Deck the Halls, 6th Segment


VSFS 2007: Blade Runner Segment, Adriana Opens the Show!


VSFS 2008:
Glamour Goddess, 1st Segment (Opens the Show!)
The Modern, 3rd Segment
Black Tie Holiday, 6th Segment
*Wears $5 million bra.


VSFS 2008: Glamour Goddess Segment, Adriana Opens the Show!


VSFS 2009:
ABSENT - out on maternity leave to have little Valentina.


VSFS 2010:
Tough Love Segment, 1st Segment (Opens the Show!)
Game On, 2nd Segment
Heavenly Bodies, 4th Segment
*Wears $2 million bra.


VSFS 2010: Tough Love Segment, Adriana Opens the Show!

.:whatcha ... whatcha waiting 4?:. by divadeluxor featuring charmed jewelry

VSFS 2011:
Superangels, 2nd Segment (Opens!)
Passion, 3rd Segment (Closes!)
Put a Spell on You, 5th Segment


VSFS 2012: Adriana Lima Backstage

VSFS 2012:
Circus, 1st Segment (Opens the Show!)
Angels in Bloom, 6th Segment


VSFS 2012: Circus Segment, Adriana Opens the Show as Ringleader!

Tyra Banks: Bio and Career Highlights

Now that the 2012 Summer Olympics are underway, I am feeling all patriotic. As I root for my fellow American athletes in volleyball, boxing, swimming and gymnastics, I also reflect upon the work of American models in the world of Victoria's Secret. I have just recently featured a short bio with career highlights for American model Chanel Iman. But let's take it back to old school Victoria's Secret ... let's take it all the way back to the era of Tyra Banks.

I did not really start paying attention to Victoria's Secret until Tyra Banks graced their runway and landed on several of their covers. Tyra Banks is the first African-American model to land not only a Victoria's Secret catalog cover, but also to land a GQ cover as well as a Sports Illustrated Swimsuit cover. Her career skyrocketed into mega-supermodel stardom when she landed that famous 1996 SI Swimsuit cover with Valeria Mazza both dressed in leopard-print swimwear. Victoria's Secret followed SI's footsteps and placed Tyra Banks on the cover of their 1997 VS Swim catalog also dressed in a leopard-print bikini. Imitation truly is the best form of flattery. Here are the pics from both of these features that I love so much:

I guess I didn't get the memo . . . by divadeluxor featuring a VS Pink fragrance

Tyra Banks got her start simply by walking down the street. She was spotted by a modeling scout who asked her to participate in an upcoming fall haute couture fashion show in Paris and the rest is history. Once she hit the Paris runway, other designers eagerly wanted her in their runway shows as well booking her for 25 shows her first time in Paris!

Tyra Banks was born on December 4, 1973 in Inglewood, California near Los Angeles. Tyra is beautiful both inside and out and has such a lively personality. She was and still is very successful in many television shows. Currently she is still producer and host of the very successful and popular America's Next Top Model. She also had a talk show named The Tyra Banks show which she won two daytime Emmy Awards for Best Talk Show-Informative in 2008 and 2009.


She has made many television cameo acting appearances. I just loved her on the Fresh Prince of Bel-Air as Will Smith's girlfriend. Her television acting led her to the big screen and one of her best movie performances was in the 1995 movie "Higher Learning." This was her first movie role. She went on to star in the movie "Coyote Ugly" and "Life Size." She had a small acting role in "Love and Basketball" and has acted in several other movies. She wrote a successful beauty book encouraging young woman to embrace their own beauty. She even recorded a song and dabbled a bit in singing. She has been featured in many music videos and is perhaps one of the most successful business women out of the original 1990's Victoria's Secret angels. She is the second African-American woman to receive a long-term Cover Girl contract. Her list of accolades go on and on and on!

Tyra Banks broke many racial barriers and continues to collaborate with others to promote beauty diversity. She is still the most popular African American Victoria's Secret model even though she retired from modeling in 2005 to pursue her career as a talk show and t.v. personality. Noone commands that Victoria's Secret runway the way Tyra Banks did. Here is a breakdown of her VS fashion show appearances:

FEB 1996
FEB 1997
FEB 1998
FEB 1999
MAY 2000 (Walks in 2 of 4 Segments)
NOV 2001 (First televised Victoria's Secret Show. Walks in 3 of 4 Segments)
NOV 2002 (Walks in 3 of 4 Segments, Opens the 3rd Segment)
NOV 2003 (Walks in 3 of 5 Segments)
2004 (Participated in Angels Across America - no fashion show this year)
NOV 2005 (Last appearance before announcing her retirement from lingerie modeling. Walks in 3 of 6 Segments, Opens 2nd Segment, Closes 6th Segment, Closes the Show!)

VSFS 2005: Segment 6, Sexy Toys

.:give me some room, I'm coming through:. by divadeluxor featuring racerback tank

Chanel Iman: Bio and Career Highlights

Chanel Iman Robinson is a very popular American model known as simply Chanel Iman. She first got her start in the modeling world as a young teen at the age of 13 in 2004. Her big break came when she was 15 years old in 2006 and placed 3rd in the Ford Supermodel of the World Contest and soon thereafter signed an extended agency contract with Ford Models, the world-renowned modeling agency who already was representing her. The relationship with this prestigious agency lasted until 2010 when she switched to Supreme Management.

What intrigues me the most about Chanel Iman is her 1/4 Korean ancestry (her mother is 1/2 Korean and 1/2 African American and her father is African American). In many of her features, her asian ancestry is apparant and gives her a very attractive look. She landed the cover of Vogue Korea in 2008 which she and her mother proudly celebrated as her first solo Vogue cover.

She was born on December 1, 1990. Many online sources incorrectly report her birthday as being either November 30, 1989 or November 30, 1990 but according to her official website (chaneliman.com), her date of birth is actually December 1, 1990. She was born in Atlanta, Georgia and raised in Los Angeles, California. More specifically she grew up in Culver City, California which is a small suburbia town in western Los Angeles County in very close proximity to the city of Los Angeles. Culver City holds a special place in Chanel Iman's heart and is the location of the fabulous clothing boutique called The Red Bag Boutique which she opened in 2010 in co-ownership with her mother.

Many of Chanel Iman's fans remember her from her appearances in Teen Vogue. February 2007 and July 2007 she appeared on the cover of Teen Vogue along with Karlie Kloss and Ali Michael. She appeared again on the cover of Teen Vogue for the November 2009 issue along with Jourdan Dunn. What a fabulous cover and memorable editorial.

I can go on and on about the fashion runway shows that Chanel Iman has walked in, opened and closed as well as the plethora of magazine covers that Chanel Iman has been featured on ... but this is only a short bio. Her modeling portfolio is quite extensive and impressive. She has landed advertising campaigns for Rosa Cha, Bottega Veneta, The Gap, DKNY, Ralph Lauren, Express, DSquared2, Diane von Furstenberg and Victoria's Secret. It was first rumored that Chanel Iman became a contracted angel in 2009 when she first began to work with Victoria's Secret. She did sign a 3 year commitment with Victoria's Secret at this time but did not become a contracted angel until 2010.

Speaking of Victoria's Secret, Chanel Iman has walked in the last 3 shows (2009, 2010, and 2011). Here is more of a break down of her VS fashion show appearances:

VSFS 2009:
All Aboard, 2nd Segment
PINK Planet, 3rd Segment

VSFS 2010:
Game On, 2nd Segment
Heavenly Bodies, 4th Segment (Opens Segment!)
PINK, 6th Segment (Closes Segment and Show!!)

VSFS 2011:
Ballet, 1st Segment
PINK, 6th Segment

Chanel Iman not only works the runway with a fierceness that reminds me of Naomi
Campbell and Tyra Banks but she also works the camera just like a true supermodel! Here are my favorite Victoria's Secret lingerie photos of Chanel Iman taken in 2011:

~ and here's to you ~ by divadeluxor featuring a Victoria's Secret bra

.:let 'em talk, let 'em hate ... they talk from a distance I wish they would come and f*ck with this:. by divadeluxor featuring VS hoodies

.:there can be miracles when u believe:. by divadeluxor featuring Victoria's Secret bra