The boyfriend thing is undeniable. I hate to say "she is where she is because of who she dated" but those high profile relationships certainly paved the way for her to get noticed. Same thing happened with Gisele and Leo, and I see the same thing happening with Kaia and Jacob Elordi. Adriana had brief flings with Lenny K and that Prince from that tiny microstate, but nothing otherwise. And Ale has never seemed interested in dating anyone famous.
Now to the latter point, I really struggle with Adriana's and Ale's decision to stay with VS as long as they did. I am mostly inclined to side with you and believe that they overstayed their welcome and should have left earlier, probably right after they got the dual fantasy bras. That would have been a perfect goodbye. However, the only real work they did after that was walking in the show, and it brought the brand and themselves attention. To me what was more damaging are the early years they spent dedicated to the brand. 2003-2006 I know for a fact Alessandra was shooting with VS every single day except holidays. She barely had any work outside of that. The restrictive contract is one of the reasons Isabeli never accepted her angel contract. But if it weren't for VS, would Ale and Adriana be as large as they are today? I don't know, and I suppose we'll never know. Miranda and Rosie were smart enough to jump ship, but they really don't even model these days. And even if it might be rare, Ale and Adriana are still booking covers and editorials.
I think it's important to compare them to their contemporaries, and especially the Brazilian ones. Out of the the Brazilian "wave" there are only 5 top models that are still relevant today:
-Gisele
-Isabeli
-Raquel
-Adriana
-Alessandra
Caroline Trentini came later, but I would add her too to the list. The other Brazilians of their generation have moved on: Ana BB, Caroline Ribeiro, Fernanda T, Fabiane N, Mariana W, Ana Claudia Michels, Raica, Leticia B, Michelle Alves, etc. And even among the non-Brazilians, let's take Karolina Kurkova. She was a much bigger model than Adriana and Ale combined, and yet right now she's not doing any better. We have Mariacarla Boscono who's still working at an iconic pace, but she doesn't have 10% of the same recognition as Adriana/Ale. On the more commercial side we had Marisa Miller, who doesn't do anything anymore. The fact is that short of becoming a TV actress/personality, Adriana and Ale have held onto the job of "model" for a really long time.
The truth is this industry sucks, and it's really hard to navigate. I'm happy Adriana and Ale are still around and have proven their longevity. I used to remember the comments about how they were commercial, GQ/men's magazine, swimsuit pinups and nothing else. And I think the past 2 decades they've proven their versatility and the fact that they are indeed good iconic models in their own right. I think if there's one thing I regret is how when they were huge with VS, everyone in the fashion community looked down on VS. The HF community thought being commercial was the worst thing in the world. That's why Heidi never had much of a fashion resume. But look at the world now with the Hadids and Kendall, it's a completely different ballgame. Candice had less of a fashion pedigree than Adriana/Ale before she joined VS, but the VS allowed her to transition to fashion. Same with Miranda (even though she decided to just be an organic billionaire housewife).
I get upset sometimes that Adriana and Ale don't have the same fashion impact nowadays than let's say Candice/Irina but they are also 6-8 years older than them, about to be 40. Their lives are in different places, and they may never get the big 4 Vogue covers that we all want, but booking those just doesn't mean what it used to. Even the photoshoots these days are all so blah, they have no budget, there's no glamour, no fantasy. Everything looks the same because there's no money to invest in the sets/hair/makeup and all the things needed to produce iconic images anymore. It's all about that IG influencer lifestyle, and everything is becoming democratized and beautiful gorgeous girls aren't in Vogue. Nowadays, people want to see themselves in Vogue and so I think it's a lot harder to sell a cover star like Adriana or Ale who don't have much going on aside from being gorgeous. Ale I noticed has decided to branch out into ocean sustainability and go the Gisele Earth mother route, but again, you need to give these magazines something to promote (an upcoming album, book, YouTube channel, whatever) and I think Ale and Adriana are pretty happy being hot millionaires. At this point I kinda wish they would buy their covers, God knows the magazines need the money! Anyways, just my two cents, end of rant. Thank you for reading.