Why don’t we care about Gisele?

Vanity FairA recent Forbes survey found that Brazilian supermodel Gisele Bündchen is the highest paid model in the industry, a title she has held for several years. Though she raked in $25 million, she actually made $35 million the year before. Is Gisele losing her touch?

Today we found out another interesting bit of news. Gisele graced the covers of both the May issue of Vanity Fair and the April issue of Harper's Bazaar and they were the magazines' worst-selling issues of the year. "It might be that she's losing her looks," said Vanity Fair spokeswoman Beth Kseniak. We, however, have another theory.

People don't care about Gisele. And it's funny, because at face value, we really should. She's gorgeous, she's been the spokesperson for many coveted designer brands, she's a Victoria's Secret Angel, she's always posing naked, she dated A-list actor Leonardo DiCaprio and recently married pro football player Tom Brady. She's highly regarded as the best supermodel of the last decade. So why aren't we interested?

Now let's take a look at Kate Moss. She clocked in third on the highest earning model list, making $8.5 million this year. She's on the cover of infinitely more magazines, has a popular clothing line for Top Shop, has been the darling of many high-end and low-end brands for the past 15 years, and maintains a fascinating though at times scandalous and substance-addled love life. Oh and did we mention she's 35 years old--that's ancient in the modeling world!

Clearly we can't measure how well Gisele sells luxury items to see if she's worth her paychecks, but when it comes to magazine covers, perhaps fashion books should stick to Angelina Jolie, Beyonce, Reese Witherspoon or some other Hollywood starlet. A cover story on a beautiful, popular actress, (preferably one willing to reveal juicy secrets about her marriage, diet, or sex life) will still sell magazines and generate buzz through internet blog pickups. Do we want to read about what a model does during her free time? Maybe once upon a time, when that model was Cindy Crawford, but now, not so much. Gone are the days when models sell magazines. That goes for Gisele too. [Gawker]