PAULO WHITAKER/Reuters /Landov Gisele Bündchen has taken her final bow walk.
The model made her final trip down the runway during Sao Paulo Fashion Week today, where husband Tom Brady and multiple other family members turned out to watch her strut for the Brazilian brand Colcci.
And the choice seems like a natural one: Gisele has said that it was her dream to finish her runway career in her home country of Brazil, and she has a strong relationship with Colcci, having been a brand ambassador and collaborator for years.
The brunette beauty's catwalk looks from the brand's spring 2016 collection included an intricately detailed white trapeze halter dress over a black bra, fierce gladiator sandals laced up her now-legendary legs.
The model posted a sweet farewell note on Instagram this morning, alongside a shot from her first runway show (when she was just a wee teen!): "I am grateful that at 14, I was given the opportunity to start this journey. Today after 20 years in the industry, it is a privilege to be doing my last fashion show by choice and yet still be working in other facets of the business. #firstrunway #14yearsold," she captioned the nostalgic snap.
Really, it's the end of supermodel era—Gisele's career spans more than two decades, a time period in which she dominated every range of catwalk you could possible imagine (she also brought back the age of the supermodel, which itself had been in semi-retirement since the likes of Naomi Campbell, Kate Moss and Linda Evangelista). From haute couture fashion weeks to the Victoria's Secret catwalk, there was no realm of the runway world where Gisele wasn't prevalent.
Last year alone, she starred in as many as 16 fashion campaigns and again earned Forbes' title as the highest paid model in the business, raking in $47 million before 2014 was said and done. And while teen supermodels are the catwalk queens of the moment (yep, we're talking besties Gigi Hadid and Kendall Jenner), Gisele is a classic who can walk alongside them—like she did for the Chanel spring 2015 presentation—as a show-stopper, veteran and runway visionary at once.
While rumors of her runway retirement have been buzzing for quite some time, Moda Estadão broke the news of her imminent exit back on March 13. Luckily, Gisele will still make time for fashion campaigns and brand partnerships, so we haven't really seen the last of her modeling reign yet.
As for why she's packing up her catwalk heels, well, Bündchen left it to what she's known for: That body (and a good deal of intuition).
"Automatically my body tells me if what I do is worth it, and it asked to stop," she revealed to Folha de Sao Paulo, as Yahoo reported. "I respect my body, it's a privilege to be able to stop."
We respect that sentiment, Gisele. Thanks for keeping the catwalk alive all these years!