Gisele at Rio Carnival

As one of the world's most famous Brazilians, it's only fair that Gisele Bundchen should be the star of the show at the Rio Carnival. Whilst the rest of the fashion world had its eyes firmly fixed on Paris, the home-loving supermodel partied at the world-famous event with her parents, friends and husband Tom.

Bundchen wore a short gold dress with matching headdress as she appeared on a float in the city's famous Sambadrome. Her mother Valdir and sisters-in-law Nancy and Julie Brady joined her atop the giant float from the Vila Isabel Samba School, which - appropriately for the Pantene spokesmodel - had the theme "Hair".

The supermodel admitted on her Twitter page that she had been taking samba lessons in the run up to her appearance, in order that she could keep up with the city's samba fans. Bundchen travelled to Brazil a month ago for Sao Paulo Fashion Week, where she appeared on the Colcci catwalk alongside Alessandra Ambrosio and Ashton Kutcher.

Source: Lauren Milligan