Gisele Bundchen's famously vixenish look is nowhere to be found in her new ad campaign for Balenciaga. The Brazilian-born, sun-dappled supermodel known around the globe as just "Gisele" is rendered barely recognizable in the campaign for the designer label's spring 2011 collection. In the ads, she ditches her beachy golden locks for a shorter 'do that bizarrely resembles her husband Tom Brady's grown-out Bieber shag. Gone also is the glamorous, va-va-voom attire we're used to seeing on Gisele; instead the bombshell has been replaced by an androgynous alter ego, sporting a buttoned-up blouse, vest and heavy Gwyneth-in-"Royal Tenenbaums" eyeliner.
Photographer Steven Meisel shot the campaign; the creepy-looking guy next to Gisele in the photo to the right is male model Yuri Pleskun, WWD.com reports.
We have mixed feelings on this: While the photos are a bit unsettling, it's somewhat refreshing to see Gisele take a risk and do something different. The look of Balenciaga is not overtly sexy; describing his moody spring line, designer Nicolas Ghesquiere told Style.com, "It's a reaction to a certain kind of sexiness. It's about individuality." Last September, he recruited Gisele to walk the runway at Paris Fashion Week as an unexpected touch.
Balenciaga is a favorite of arty fashionistas like the Olsen twins who eschew Kardashian-esque bandage dresses for avant-garde, "man repeller"-type ensembles. If Mary-Kate Olsen were hired for this campaign, we would yawn and say, "next." The fact that Gisele took part is definitely unusual, and makes the happy-go-lucky supermodel more interesting to boot.
So we don't forget, any picture of her?