Jessica Stam Canadian Model From Kincardine

Early life

Jessica Elizabeth Stam was born on 23 April 1986 in Kincardine, Ontario, and grew up on a farm. She attended Sacred Heart High School in Walkerton, Ontario, and originally intended to become a dentist. She stands 179 centimetres tall. Her modelling career began after Michèle Miller, an agent with the International Model Management agency in Barrie, Ontario, spotted her in a local Tim Hortons coffee shop while Stam was returning from a trip to a theme park near Toronto.

Career

In 2002 Stam won the Los Angeles Model Look contest. The photographer Steven Meisel then took an interest in her and cast her in all of his advertising campaigns, and she has credited him with helping her become a successful model. She appeared on the covers of the British, Turkish and German editions of Vogue and in advertisements for Marc Jacobs, Anna Sui and Giorgio Armani, among others. In 2004 she appeared in the short film "Agent Orange". The designer Marc Jacobs named a handbag after her, known as the Marc Jacobs Stam.

Her visibility grew in 2006, when she walked in 64 shows across the New York, Milan and Paris fashion weeks. In January of that year she appeared in a Rochas campaign shot and directed by Bruno Aveillan. A fall on the runway at the Chloé autumn 2006 show in Paris, caused by her shoes catching on each other, was widely viewed online and was ranked first on a list of runway falls compiled by New York magazine. At the 2006 Victoria's Secret Fashion Show she opened the first "Pink" segment. She walked in the Victoria's Secret show again in 2007 and 2010.

In May 2007 she was one of ten models shown together on the cover of American Vogue under the heading "World's Next Top Models". During the spring and summer 2007 haute couture week in Paris she walked for Chanel, Christian Lacroix, Dior, Givenchy and Jean Paul Gaultier. That July, Forbes placed her fifteenth on its list of the world's top-earning supermodels, with estimated earnings of 1.5 million dollars over the previous twelve months. She went on to appear in campaigns for Bulgari, Dior, Lanvin and Escada, and in advertising for Christian Dior, DKNY, Miss Sixty, Loewe, Roberto Cavalli, Dolce & Gabbana and the Armani fragrance "Onde". The Wall Street Journal featured her in an article about how to walk like a model.

In March 2009 she was on the cover of Tokyo Numéro, and she starred in a Fendi autumn campaign photographed by Karl Lagerfeld and in a campaign for Nina Ricci's fragrance Ricci Ricci. She made a guest appearance in an episode of the CW series "The Beautiful Life". In 2010 she modelled the Nina Ricci spring campaign and appeared on the first cover of Vogue Turkey, published in March of that year. In 2011 she became the face of CoverGirl, working with the make-up artist Pat McGrath on the brand's Lip Perfection campaign.

Stam also moved into design. She worked with Rag & Bone on pieces for its spring 2010 collection and co-designed a capsule collection of jeans, a bag and a cardigan for Rachel Roy's label, which was launched in October 2011. Four pieces she designed and modelled for the lower-priced Rachel Rachel Roy line were released at Macy's in August 2010. Models.com lists her among its "Industry Icons", a category for models who have worked at the top level of the business for at least eight years and are still active. She has hosted the Yahoo! fashion show "The Thread" and the pre-show for Marc Jacobs.

Public roles

In 2012 Stam partnered with the organisations Many Hopes and Adopt Together to support foster children in the United States and street children in coastal Kenya. On 30 May 2013 she represented PeaceJam as an ambassador at the Social Innovation Summit held at the United Nations Plaza.