The Moment
Alessandra Ambrosio is back on her home turf, and the dress code is exactly what you’d expect from a Brazilian supermodel on vacation: tiny, bright, and absolutely unapologetic.
The 44-year-old former Victoria’s Secret Angel shared a new carousel on her official Instagram, posing in a colorful plaid bikini on a beach in Florianopolis, the island city in southern Brazil that locals lovingly call Floripa. The top is classic and cute; the bottom is a full-on thong, because of course it is.
In the photos, she’s dripping in layered necklaces, wearing oversized sunglasses, and alternating between sandy beach poses and splashing in clear water. One shot is from behind, all long legs and confident posture, like a postcard that decided to lean in and smirk.
Ambrosio tagged two of her friends on the trip, fellow Brazilian models Ludi Delfino and Cassie Lara, turning the whole thing into the grown-women-girls-trip many of us swear we’re going to take and then never actually book. She captioned it in Portuguese with a line that translates to something like the beautiful island, Floripa, sprinkling in tropical emojis for good measure.
This beach moment comes on the heels of another Brazilian getaway with her boyfriend, Australian jewelry designer Buck Palmer, who was reportedly playing unofficial photographer while she posed on the beaches of Pernambuco. When your partner is both supportive and good with a camera, that is what we call synergy.
The Take
I’ll be honest: every time a 40-plus celebrity woman posts bikini photos, you can practically hear the internet’s neck snap from all the whiplash. Half the comments shout goals; the other half spiral into think pieces about aging, surgery, and what women are “supposed” to look like.
But Ambrosio’s Floripa photos feel a little different, and not just because the bikini bottom is one tan line away from disappearing. This is a Brazilian woman on a Brazilian beach, living in a culture that has long treated swimwear like a second skin instead of a scandal. In that context, her thong bikini isn’t a stunt; it’s barely news.
From a pop-culture distance, though, it lands like a tiny plaid reminder that turning 44 does not mean you quietly migrate to tankinis and cover-ups. Ambrosio is a mom of two teenagers, in a long-term relationship, long past the runway grind that made her famous. She could easily retreat into what I call witness protection athleisure. Instead, she’s arching her back on a rock in a plaid thong and calling it Tuesday.
The vibe she keeps selling in interviews is simple: she loves life, loves her people, and loves a beach. It’s less I must maintain my model body at all costs and more this is the body I live in, and I’m taking it to the ocean. The difference sounds subtle, but for women over 40, it’s huge.
If the usual online bikini discourse is like a bad fluorescent dressing room, Ambrosio’s photos are more like a sunny hotel mirror with great lighting: same body, completely different feeling. She’s not pretending to be 22; she’s just refusing to apologize for being 44.
And let’s not ignore the best part: this is not some lonely, thirst-trap-in-a-mansion energy. She’s with her girlfriends, she’s with her boyfriend on other trips, she’s carting her kids to red carpets. It reads less like a vanity project and more like a woman who built a life that lets her work, parent, travel, and still have beach days where the biggest decision is plaid or solid.
Receipts
Confirmed
- Ambrosio, 44, posted a beach photo carousel on her official Instagram on a Sunday in January 2026, wearing a colorful plaid bikini and posing on the sand and in the water in Florianopolis, Brazil, with one shot clearly showing a thong-style bottom.
- She captioned the post in Portuguese with a phrase referencing the beautiful island of Floripa and tagged fellow models Ludi Delfino and Cassie Lara, confirming they were on the trip with her.
- Ambrosio has been dating Australian jewelry designer Buck Palmer since 2024; the pair have been photographed together on multiple Brazilian beach getaways, including a trip to Pernambuco where he was seen taking photos of her as she posed on the shore.
- In a March 2025 interview with a US entertainment magazine, Ambrosio described their relationship by saying they love life to the fullest, enjoy spending time together, and savor every little thing.
- She shares two children, daughter Anja (born 2008) and son Noah (born 2012), with businessman Jamie Mazur; the two were engaged in 2008 and publicly split in 2018.
- In October 2025, Ambrosio attended a Los Angeles film festival screening of the project The Secret Agent with Palmer and her daughter Anja, who made a rare red carpet appearance.
Unverified / Context
- There is no confirmed evidence that this trip is tied to a specific brand campaign or swimsuit launch; it appears, at least publicly, to be a personal vacation she chose to share.
- Any speculation about cosmetic procedures or how she maintains her physique is just that – speculation; she has not provided detailed public commentary beyond general wellness, fitness, and enjoying an active lifestyle.
Backstory (For Casual Readers)
If Alessandra Ambrosio’s name rings a bell but you can’t quite place it, here’s the quick rewind. She is one of the Brazilian supermodels who helped define the early-2000s lingerie era, best known for her long run as a Victoria’s Secret Angel, walking in wings that probably weighed more than her carry-on. Over the years she branched into fashion campaigns, TV appearances, and her own brand work, while raising two children largely outside the daily tabloid circus. After ending her long engagement to businessman Jamie Mazur in 2018, she has kept her dating life relatively low-key, with Palmer emerging as her first serious public partner in the years since.
What’s Next
So what does a thong bikini in Floripa actually mean for Ambrosio’s next chapter? In the short term, expect more beach content. When a woman is this comfortable in front of a camera, and her partner is willing to play photographer, the carousel is never just a one-off.
Professionally, she has shifted away from the non-stop runway grind into a mix of lifestyle projects, fashion collaborations, and selective appearances. This kind of sunny, carefree content fits neatly into that lane: it keeps her image active, reminds brands she’s still a draw, and stays on-message with travel, wellness, and fashion all in one frame.
On the family side, her daughter Anja’s rare red carpet outing in 2025 caught attention, if only because we’re suddenly aware that the kids of the 2000s supermodels are now tall, stylish teenagers. Whether Anja ever chooses to step into the spotlight herself is her call, but for now, Ambrosio’s public persona is still very much her own.
If there is a bigger cultural takeaway to watch, it’s this: more and more women in their 40s and 50s are refusing the idea that they need to shrink, cover, or quietly fade out of the frame. Ambrosio is doing what Brazilian women have done on the beach for generations – wear what they like and enjoy the sun – but she’s doing it in front of an audience of millions who have been taught to see that as radical.
Whether you love bikinis, live in linen, or never post a swimsuit shot in your life, the message underneath the plaid is the same: midlife is not an exit ramp from feeling good in your body. For Ambrosio, it looks like Floripa, friends, a boyfriend with a good eye, and a thong that does absolutely none of the heavy lifting.
Sources
* Alessandra Ambrosio’s official Instagram account, beach photo carousel posted from Florianopolis, Brazil, January 2026.
* Print and digital interviews with Alessandra Ambrosio published in March 2025 by a US entertainment magazine, plus widely syndicated photo coverage of her trips to Pernambuco and Los Angeles red carpet appearances in 2025.
Question for readers: When you see a 40-plus celeb in a tiny bikini, does it feel empowering, exhausting, or a little bit of both?
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