Jessica Stam (born April 23, 1986), also known simply as Stam, is a Canadian model.

Stam was born in Kincardine, Ontario and grew up on a farm alongside her six brothers. She came from a religious family and attended Sacred Heart High School in Walkerton, Ontario. Her original intention was to become a dentist.

Stam was discovered in a local Tim Hortons coffee shop by Michèle Miller (an agent at the International Model Management agency in Barrie, Ontario) who found Stam on the way back from Canada's Wonderland (a theme park just outside Toronto)

Stam won the Los Angeles Model Look Search in 2002.[citation needed] Photographer Steven Meisel jump-started her career and soon after cast her in every advertisement campaign of his.[citation needed] "I guess I'm his muse", she has said.[1] She has appeared on the cover of UK & German Vogue and in advertisements for Marc Jacobs, Anna Sui, Giorgio Armani, Vera Wang, Valentino, Miu Miu, Gucci, Prada, Dolce & Gabbana, Versace and Holt Renfrew, Dior, BCBG Max Azria, Lanvin, Roberto Cavalli, Bulgari, H&M and DKNY. In 2004, Stam appeared in the short film Agent Orange. She was once sued by New York Model Management in 2004, because of a breach of contract.[2]

Fashion designer Marc Jacobs created The Marc Jacobs Stam, a bag inspired by and named after her. For the Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in 2006 she opened the fourth runway theme "Pink". The appearance also included a featurette showing a Victoria's Secret commercial shoot and what a model sees when walking the runway. In the January 2006, she appeared in the Rochas ad campaign, shot and directed by Bruno Aveillan.

For Spring 2006 Ready-to-Wear, Stam walked a total of 64 shows combined during the New York, Milan, and Paris Fashion Weeks. During Paris's Spring/Summer 2007 Haute Couture fashion week she walked for Chanel, Christian Lacroix, Christian Dior, Givenchy, and Jean Paul Gaultier. She currently stands at number five on the "Top 50 Models" rating at models.com, tied with model Agyness Deyn. In the May 2007 issue of American Vogue she was featured on the cover with fellow models: Doutzen Kroes, Caroline Trentini, Raquel Zimmermann, Sasha Pivovarova, Agyness Deyn, Coco Rocha, Hilary Rhoda, Chanel Iman, and Lily Donaldson as the new crop of supermodels.
Jessica Stam modeling for Michael Kors, February 2008.

In July 2007, earning at an estimated total of $1.5 million in the past 12 months, Forbes named her fifteenth in the list of the World's 15 Top-Earning Supermodels. Currently she stars in campaigns for Bulgari, Dior, Lanvin and Escada. She also appears in the F/W 2007 Christian Dior, DKNY, Miss Sixty, Loewe and Roberto Cavalli ad campaign. She has also walked in the 2006 and 2007 Victoria's Secret fashion shows. For F/W 08 Stam can be seen in ads for Giorgio Armani "Onde" fragrance, Dolce & Gabbana and Bulgari. She has appeared in an advertisement for the Ricci Ricci fragrance by Nina Ricci.

In 2009 she returns as the face of Bulgari and in March she appears on the cover of Tokyo Numéro.


FRP Salutes Jessica Stam as one of the Top 50 models of the last decade.