Gisele Bündchen in lingerie with a barbell: why this is not just a cover

On the cover of i-D for September 2026, 46-year-old Gisele Bündchen stands in Victoria’s Secret lace lingerie and lifts a barbell. Photographer Collier Schorr shot her in black and white for the “Mother Issue” — and this is not a random frame.

The supermodel who once made Victoria’s Secret synonymous with glamour now demonstrates strength in the same lingerie, but after the birth of her third child. She shares with the magazine that she trains with weights three times a week, has added Pilates and yoga, and most importantly, sees this not as an obligation but as a privilege.

The choice of precisely such an image for the “motherhood” issue looks like a precise calculation. Bündchen returns to the image that made her a legend in the 2000s, but now this image speaks of something else: not of sexuality for show, but of a body that endured childbirth at 45 years old and continues to work. The magazine and the model together emphasize: motherhood does not cancel strength, but amplifies it.

In the interview, she speaks directly about priorities. She turns down 99 % of offers because she doesn't want to miss her daughter's volleyball matches or her son's DJ sets. Her family with Joaquim Valente and three children have become the main filter. These are not just words—it is an explanation of why she agreed to this specific shoot and precisely now.

Comparison with the past is inevitable. In 1998, Bündchen already modeled for i-D, but back then it was a completely different story. Today's shots are not nostalgia, but a continuation: the same confidence, just with different experience behind her. She is doing pull-ups for the first time in her life and speaks openly about it at 46 years old.

For readers and viewers, such an image works as a mirror. It shows that a body after childbirth can be strong and desirable, and motherhood is not an end, but a new chapter. Bündchen does not pose as a "young mother"; she poses as a woman who decides for herself how to look and what to show.

The question remains how much this gesture will become a template for others: who else will dare to combine lace, a barbell, and a conversation about children in a single frame.