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Isabeli Fontana Profile |
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Birth Date: July 4, 1983
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Birth Place: Curitiba, Paraná, Brazil
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Birth Name: Isabeli Bergossi Fontana
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Height: 5'9"
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Biography |
Isabeli Bergossi Fontana (who occasionally simply goes by
"Isabeli") was born on July 4, 1983, in Curitiba, in the
Paraná region of Brazil. She has two siblings; brothers
Harrison and Heric. By the time she was merely 12 years of
age, Isabeli told her mother that she wanted to become a
model.
In 1996, she was a finalist in an Elite Model Look Contest
in São Paulo, and the following year, at the age of only 14,
she traveled from her native Brazil to Milan, to start
working as a model. This move helped Isabeli see her home as
those from other countries see it; "Everyone wants to know
about Brazil," she admits.
In 1999, when she was 16, Isabeli appeared in the Victoria's
Secret catalog. This generated a bit of a stir in the
fashion world, since Victoria's Secret reportedly violated
its policy of only hiring models that were 21 or older. But
such controversy helped, rather than harmed, Isabeli's
prospects, especially in an industry that worships youth to
extremes. A case in point: Isabeli revealed that when she
was 16, clients complained that she looked too young; when
she was 17, they thought she looked too old. C'est la vie in
the world of fashion.
Nevertheless, she landed work with such world-famous labels
as Valentino, Versace, bebe, and Ralph Lauren, strutting
down fashion runways from New York and Paris to Milan. She
appeared in international editions of well-known magazines
like Vogue, Marie Claire and Elle, and also worked on a
campaign for M. Officer, a hot, up-and-coming design house
in Brazil, in which Isabeli was photographed in provocative
poses that kept everyone guessing. She was also one of the
models to appear in the coveted Sports Illustrated swimsuit
edition in 2002 and 2003.
Isabeli now lives in New York with her fiancé, fellow model
Alvaro Jacomossi. Despite the hustle and bustle of her new
home, Isabeli doesn't get caught up in Manhattan's flashy
nightlife. She goes to movies with Alvaro (though she's not
big on TV) and enjoys music, especially her "three R's":
rock, reggae and rap.
With a promising career and a comfortable lifestyle, a model
on the verge of superstardom could lose her head. Not so for
Isabeli. Knowing that the career of a model is a short one,
she's already looking to the future. She recently became a
mother and she's even thinking of taking up acting, though
she doesn't have the time to take classes yet. Isabeli is
also prudent enough to invest some of her modeling earnings
so that she can buy a house in Alvaro's hometown. |
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Other
Information |
Has a son named Zion, born 2002, from her first marriage to
Álvaro Jacomossi.
She has two brothers: Harrison and Heric.
Is expecting her second child, due October 2006. |
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