Jessica Stam
Jessica Stam is a professional fashion model. She was born in Kincardine, Ontario in Canada on April 23, 1986. She grew up on a farm and had six brothers. She was brought up in a religious family and was a student at Sacred Heart High School nearby in Walkerton, Ontario in Canada. She intended to become a dentist until she was discovered in a Tom Horton's coffee shop in her neighborhood by an agent at the international Model Management Agency in Barrie, Ontario named Michèle Miller.
Once discovered, she quickly won the Los Angeles Model Look Contest in 2002. Her career was sparked by photographer Steven Meisel, who helped cast her in every advertising campaign that he shot following that. She has been referred to as his muse. She has also been featured on the covers of Vogue in the UK, in Turkey and in Germany. She has also been featured in adverts for designers like Anna Sui, Marc Jacobs, and Giorgio Armani among others.
In 2004, Stam was cast in a short film titled “Agent Orange”. Because of her appearance in the film she was sued by her agency, New York Model Management, due to a breach of contract.
In 2006, Stam walked a total of 64 shows between Fashion Weeks in Paris, New York and Milan. Unfortunately she fell in the show for Chloe wearing pumps that have been since described as “ridiculously high”. Her fall earned her first spot in New York Magazine's “Top Five Runway Falls”. In January of that year, she also appeared in an advert campaign for Rochas. This campaign was shot and directed by Bruno Aveillan.
She has been frequently described by those in the industry as a “doll face”. She was named by Forbes in 2007 as the fifteenth in the World's 12 Top-Earning Supermodels. Her earnings topped out at $1.5 million alone in the past 12 months.
Stam was featured on the cover of American Vogue in 2007 as one of the “World's Next Top Models”. This skyrocketed her into fame. She then walked in the Spring/Summer 200 shows for Christian Lacroix, Christian Dior, Chanel, Givenchy and Jean Paul Gaultier.
In July 2007, earning at an estimated total of $1.5 million in the previous 12 months, Forbes named her fifteenth in the list of the World's 15 Top-Earning Supermodels.
To date she has been featured in campaigns for Dior, Lanvin, Escada and Bulgari. She was also featured in the 2006 and 2007 shows for DKNY, Christian Dior, and ads for Giorgio Armani's “Onde” fragrance and the 2006, 2007 and 2010 Victoria's Secret Fashion Shows. The Wall Street Journal showed Stam in their article focusing on “How to Walk Like a Model”. She also taught a DKNY intern her runway style.
She took a brief aside and returned in March 2009 on the cover of Tokyo Numéro and as the face of Bulgari She was the star of the Fall campaign for Fendi, shot by Karl Lagerfield and the face of the Nina Ricci fragrance “Ricci Ricci” in Summer 2009. She starred in the fall Fendi campaign, shot by Karl Lagerfeld. She starred in Nina Ricci's new floral fragrance named Ricci Ricci for summer 2009.
Because of her massive success with Nina Ricci, was chosen to model in Ricci's Spring 2010 campaign. She then made the transition from modeling to designing as she collaborated with designers like Rag & Bone. She also co-designed a capsule collection with Rachel Roy, which was launched in October 2011.
CoverGirl named Stam its face in 2011, and teamed up with the makeup artist Pat McGrath. She showcased the brand's Lip Perfection.
Stam has represented Peacejam as an ambassador and spoke at the 2013 Social Innovation Summit. She is currently an ambassador for Korean Cosmetic Brand and VDL Cosmetic.
In her personal life, she has been linked both to Aaron Voros of the New York Rangers and Anthony Kiedis of the Red Hot Chili Peppers.