Elle Loves Gisele

Elle Loves Gisele..

ELLE MACPHERSON may have been the first model to become a brand when she launched her lingerie collection 21 years ago, but the model who is now a billionaire brand is the one she most admires.

"I love the way Gisele looks," Macpherson told us at her Intimates lingerie label's tenth birthday party at Selfridges yesterday. "She is obviously totally my DNA taste. She's also really natural looking. She's growing her brand; she's staying true to herself; she's versatile; she's also a great mum: she's a cool girl. I like what she represents. And there's a naturalness and a wholesomeness about her. And I understand - from the Eighties and the Nineties - those were the kind of girls who were successful. I relate to her. Shegets dressed up when she has to for work, but other than that she looks unbelievable in a pair of jeans."

SEE GISELE'S STYLE HERE

And it seems women relate to Macpherson too, since her lingerie brand - which some warned her British women, who " get their knickers at M&S," would never buy - has become a multi-million pound business, evolving as her life and body did to include "maternity bras, larger cup sizes, and sleepwear that isn't see-through".

And as a female entrepreneur, who rarely models now, does the media's obsession with her looks - and her infamously glamorous school run attire in particular - bother her?

"The Elle effect!" she laughed. "Look, I try to dress appropriately for what I'm doing - and most of the time, it's periods of the year when I'm shooting Britain and Ireland's Next Top Model. It's a fashion-forward programme so I have to dress appropriately: that's the nature of the business. The alternative is to go to school in workout clothes, purposely dressed down, then go home and get changed, which adds an hour to my day. I don't want that! I want to be able to pick my kids up at the end of the day! I appreciate that people are interested in what I do, and I am a public figure - and this modern society is quite appearance-orientated. Rather than fight it I say ok, great; go and buy lingerie, that's about appearance as well."

And buy it they did, at the party co-hosted by Australian comedian Tim Minchin - who performed a song he wrote about Macpherson before a rendition of Happy Birthday that brought tears to the supermodel's eyes.

"I suddenly felt so grateful that I've been able to do a job that I love for as long as I have," she said earnestly. "Through all the economic ups and downs, and through all my own ups and downs: marriage, and divorce, and relationships, and kids  - that all the time I've had this constant, this beautiful brand. I feel so grateful and it's quite extraordinary. I don't know many people in my business who've had a brand that's been going this long and I'm very appreciative."

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SOURCE: VOGUE - LAUREN MILLIGAN 16 November 2011