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Fernanda Tavares

By SARA TEMPLETON

Brazil is a country of some 155 million people, and also happens to be the fifth largest country in the world, bigger than Australia in fact.

And, while that's where the geography lesson ends, it comes as no surprise that so many of the most wanted models come from Brazil.

Sure, it's a massive country with many people living there, but like Australia, the locals have a love affair with both sport and the beach, and it's possible these two things combine to create great beauty. Or something like that...

Fernanda Tavares, a good friend of fellow Brazilian top model Gisele Bündchen, who is just two months her senior, has been making waves in the fashion industry of late, proving just how much designers love seeing their work modeled by the South American ladies.

At age 22 (circa 2003), it would be fair to say Fernanda has got plenty more catwalking left in her yet, and with such a naturally beautiful face - not to mention a figure that doesn't scream 'feed me' - her future is very bright.

Born in the north-eastern Brazilian provence of Rio Grande Do Norte on September 22, 1980, Fernanda was appearing in local shows at the age of nine, her talent shining through early. Perhaps it was this early exposure to the industry, albeit in a much more friendly capacity, that has helped her to become the professional that she is today.

Anyway, moving right along, and some suggest that she won an Elite Look of the Year contest at the age of 13, which is almost unheard of.

Following this, however, she was spotted by a number of talent scouts. A year later she was invited by said scouts to go to Sao Paulo for some test shoots.

Everything went like clockwork and Fernanda Tavares started scoring a number of smaller contracts and, as her portfolio increased, so did her reputation.

In 1998, by the age of 17 she was already appearing on the covers of fashion magazines -- L'Officiel Paris, Marie Claire Deutsch + US and Vogue Paris -- having signed up with the Marilyn Modeling Agency in both New York and Paris, arguably the two biggest fashion epicentres of the world, followed by Milan, of course.

In '99, Fernanda had appeared in just about every top fashion mag across the globe: Marie Claire, Elle, Vogue, Cosmopolitan, Harper's Bazaar and Allure. Many of these she appeared in multiple times in various countries, specifically Brazil, the UK and US, France, Germany and Italy.

She also started signing advertising contracts with big name fashion labels - for example Louis Vuitton, Nine West, Absolut, Atelier Versace, Giorgio Armani and Marella.

Her star truly on the rise, by early 2000 she was one of the most sought-after catwalk models on the planet, having already strutted for the likes of Prada, Kenzo, Emanuel Ungaro, Versace, Valentino, Christian Lacroix, Missoni, Chanel and Paco Rabanne.

Fernanda states that her favourite photographer is Mario Testino, and she was once paid the sum of one million US dollars to pose nude for a Guerlain frangrance ad. That's pretty good for one print photo!

One of her most famous roles has been for Victoria's Secret, where she lined up with the likes of Adriana Lima, Alessandra Ambrosio, and her good buddy Gisele Bündchen at the 2000 fashion show in Cannes to show off what was, back then, the latest range of lingerie.

At the end of the day, Fernanda Tavares is more than just 'another' Brazilian lass - she's an upbeat, level-headed and very sexy role-model. Her hobbies are listed as jogging, swimming and trainspotting (we made that last one up, to be honest) and while Gisele may be the numero uno Brazilian model at present, we still think Fernada Tavares is a star.