Street Angel

Alessandra Ambrosio toughens up in this season’s coolest leather and denim, and talks about her meteoric rise to supermodel and supermum status.

- Alison De Souza

Scroll through Alessandra Ambrosio’s social media feeds and you’ll see the tongue-in-cheek #forever on vacation hashtag popping up everywhere. She does not mean it literally, of course—you don’t become the world’s eighth-highest paid model (she is said to be worth US$60 million) and a veteran Victoria’s Secret Angel by taking a whole lot of days off. But the sentiment has become something of a personal philosophy for the 33-year-old Brazilian beauty; a happiness hack she uses to get the most out of every moment, even when she is hard at work.

Speaking to Harper’s BAZAAR Singapore from her home base in Los Angeles, Ambrosio says her definition of happiness is, simply, “being present in the moment—doing something you like and having a good time.” And, crucially, she feels this can happen anywhere. “I love spending time with friends and family, especially my kids,” she says of Anja, seven, and Noah, four—her children with fiancé Jamie Mazur, 35. “But I like to enjoy myself even when I’m working.”

Thus, even in the middle of a long fashion shoot, or in the thick of her take-no-prisoners exercise regime leading up to the annual Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show—which took place recently in Paris—Ambrosio has figured out how to slow down and savour the moment.

This ability is, in part, a product of her Brazilian heritage. “In Brazil, people are just naturally happy. They might not have a lot but they’re just happy with what they have, because life is to be celebrated; and I grew up in that culture.”