Meet Priyanka Chopra, the Model Breaking New Ground at Guess

Breaking news in the fashion world: Bollywood star Priyanka Chopra has been tapped as the new Guess Girl, a modeling gig that until now, has never been filled by an Indian woman, according to a story published Monday in Women’s Wear Daily.

"I’m like their first brown model,” Chopra told the publication, adding: “For a global fashion brand, for them to move their campaign into a global space, for me it's an honor." The campaign, a series of black-and-white photos shot by photographer Bryan Adams, show Chopra lounging in a Mediterranean villa and will debut in the December issues of Harper’s Bazaar, Nylon, Elle, and The Wall Street Journal, among others.

Scoring Chopra is a huge coup for Guess, which has largely relied on the blond bombshell ideal: Tousled platinum hair, blue eyes, pouty lips, and overflowing cleavage. Past Guess Girls have included Claudia Schiffer, Anna Nicole Smith, Kate Upton, and Paris Hilton, among others.

And while you may not know much about the 30-year-old beauty, she has an impressive resume. "I didn't know anything about show business, she told E! News on Monday. "I was an academic. I wanted to be aeronautical engineer, build planes, work at NASA … I wouldn't go to the moon, I'd make the space shuttles." So, that didn’t happen, but at age 17, Chopra became the youngest woman to win the Miss World 2000 pageant, then starred in a string of Bollywood movies. In 2012, Interscope Records released her debut single “In My City,” which earned her a People’s Choice Award for "Best International Debut" at the World Music Awards. And she was dubbed “The Hottest Girl of 2011” by Maxim magazine.

Yet, despite her wild success as a model and actress, Chopra still expressed her disbelief at being selected as the face of Guess, telling WWD, that being a Guess Girl was "something that I would have never thought of." Here's to more diverse surprises from the fashion world!