This story appears in V139, the Supermodel, Superhero issue: now available for purchase!

Gallantly poised and instinctively sexy, Gisele Bündchen unifies fashion’s most notable in a single expression. From her dawning archival covers on over 1200 magazines to her grand comeback at 42 for V’s May cover, Giselerama, Bündchen is an imperishable industry icon. Draped in avant-garde designs from fashion’s namesake couturiers – Schiaparelli, Louis Vuitton, Messika, Iris Van Herpen, Fendi, Chanel, Dior, Viktor & Rolf, Alexandre Vauthier, Balmain, Giambattista Valli, Armani, and Bulgari – Bündchen gives an emotional charge to contemporary collections, marking a new dialogue through the prism of couture. Through exploration of virtuoso savoir-faire looks and jewelry archetypes, designers urge to echo their advanced design acumen on none other than the most inimitable model muse around.

“I always talk about trying to achieve that state of creative innocence—of fighting to stay close to that person who fell in love with fashion and its possibilities, of not succumbing to cynicism or world-weariness. I hope that spirit comes through in this collection. I hope people who see it can tell what fun the team and I had making it. I hope the joy we felt, of creating things, of getting to make beautiful objects that people will always remember, is evident in every coat, dress, and accessory.”

— Daniel Roseberry, Schiaparelli Artistic Director

“Like a phoenix rising from the ashes to take flight or a dragon breathing protective fire, the Louis Vuitton woman exudes amazing strength, energy, and optimism. It is that very femininity–so emancipating and emblematic of the Maison–that I wanted to embody in spirit.”

— Francesca Amfitheatrof, Louis Vuitton Artistic Director Jewelry and Watches

“Ancient Egypt was a civilization that continues to fascinate all generations and cultures. It emanates a mystery, an almost magical aura that evokes eternity. It is also a world that instills a powerful and inspiring spirituality.”

— Valérie Messika, Messika Paris Founder and Creative Director

“[The] Ananda-Maya gown is made from three-dimensional white embroidery that expands asymmetrically from the center of the bodice into transparent white tulle that is plisséd and voluminously draped to float around the body, creating a dramatic patchwork of soft shadows.”

— Iris Van Herpen, Creative Director

“This season, I wanted to step away from Rome, or at least I wanted to place Rome in a global context. In this collection, we are looking at fragments of different cities, namely Kyoto, Paris, and Rome. The fragmentary nature of things is echoed throughout the collection, like snatches of memory or the impression of things past, present, and future.”

— Kim Jones, Fendi Artistic Director of Couture and Womenswear

“In this new collection there are suits [and] long dresses like Mademoiselle Chanel imagined in the 1930s: fitted to the body even though they have strong shoulders, and [they] are pleated like the wedding dress, for instance. Lace [is] inlaid, reworked, not embroidered, but repainted. The clothes remain light, feminine, and designed to be worn. I can’t see myself doing it any other way.”

— Virginie Viard, Chanel Creative Director

“The tree of life is a symbolic figure of great importance to me. I have indeed used it many times in embroidery and drawing. In this collection, it became the central motif around which I based my haute couture project, not only because of its extraordinary iconographic power, which inspired the Ukrainian artist Olesia Trofymenko, but also because of its profound meaning, which is of particular value in these complex times. It stands for what it is to be human.”

— Maria Grazia Chiuri, Creative Director of Dior Women’s Haute Couture

The current state of the world made us think of a masculinity that does not fit anymore. Structurally tailored looks from our ‘Power Dressing’ Haute Couture collection explore the dichotomy between illusion and perspective, tension and comfort, hard and soft. The power of transformation shapes [the] radical into [the] wearable.”

— Viktor Horsting and Rolf Snoeren, Viktor & Rolf Creative Directors

“When I build my collections, I always play with shape radicality as well as colors and fabrics. This collection’s colors were mainly beige, black, and blue. Klein and I felt that this bleached-snow denim look with blue and clear tones was like an oxygen bubble in the collection. This is the way I always conceive my collections, there’s a base of colors and punctuations so that the eye never gets bored.”

— Alexandre Vauthier, Creative Director

“For ten years, my team and I have been carefully melding Monsieur Balmain’s visionary ‘New French Style’ with the house’s distinctively modern, 21st-century outlook. By doing that, we’ve been able to create a singular and cohesive Balmain universe. Everything that comes out of our studio remains true to this house’s audacious, inclusive spirit and always-bold silhouette.”

— Olivier Rousteing, Balmain Creative Director

“‘The Instant’ is precisely the title of the new couture collection, [taking inspiration from] the moment when a woman dresses to go out in the evening to the clubs. And then the moment the next day, when she walks happily. How do you define these moments? You have to be grateful and live them to the full.”

— Giambattista Valli, Creative Director

“For me, Armani Privé has always been an opportunity to explore a freer and more inventive side of my creativity, without sacrificing the realism that defines me. In this collection, I wanted to push that research a little further, letting out its sparkling and magical side, which I amplified by applying embroidery and decorations to dresses with clean and minimal lines.”

— Giorgio Armani, Armani Privé President, CEO, and General Manager

“Being [that we are] Bulgari, the master of color gems, we love combining and mixing different colors between them but also, as in the case of this sautoir, playing with different shades of the same color. Here, a beautiful cushion-cut tanzanite is combined with an aquamarine tassel! With the final touch of the cone-shaped mother of pearl elements, the result is a very elegant and feminine necklace.”

— Lucia Silvestri, Bulgari Jewelry Creative Director

This story appears in V139, the Supermodel, Superhero issue: now available for purchase!