MODEL PROFILES: MILOU VAN GROESEN

Born in the Netherlands on April 8^th 1988, Milou van Groesen signed with Women Management in 2008.

Making an immediate impact, Milou was named ‘model of the week’ by www.models.com in April 2008. Switching to Supreme Management in mid-2008, she made her ready-to-wear debut that September, walking for designers such as Vera Wang.

2009 began with editorial work for Japanese Numero and Dazed & Confused, and Milou made her third agency move, signing up with NEXT Models. In the same year, Milou made her big campaign debut, appearing in the Autumn / Winter H&M campaign, appearing with her friend (and emerging new talent), Tao Okamoto. H&M has been one of the first (and best) at embracing fashion’s new international age. Featuring models of numerous nationalities are H&M’s calling card, making each campaign series feel vibrant and current. High-fashion’s drive to woo their newest, affluent customers from around the globe follows on from what retail chains like H&M and Benetton have known for years: diversity sells.

In early 2010, Milou made what would become a career-changing decision. Bleaching her hair and chopping it into a mullet, van Groesen completely transformed. Stepping away from the comfort zone of her long, blonde hair was a brave move for a model that could still be ranked as a newcomer. The change was significant: google any pre-2010 shots of Milou and she is hard to recognise.

The idea of personal transformation as a route to success is still potent within the modelling industry. Fifty years after Twiggy’s gamine crop made her a legend, the idea that a simple change of style can have a seismic effect on your career remains beguiling, and every now and then, another model is added to that very select list. Milou joins the likes of Agyness Deyn who form a small band of models that transformed their prospects virtually overnight. Van Groesen re-emerged in October 2010 to Paris Fashion Week acclaim, opening the S/S Balenciaga show. A new image and agency DNA propelled van Groesen onto the fast track.

In February 2011, Milou was photographed for French Vogue, appearing on the cover of i-D as well. She made her debut for Italian Vogue in March, photographed by Steven Meisel. The editorial, ‘Wasted Luxury’ proved to be a career-defining moment not only for van Groesen but newcomer Saskia de Brauw. Eccentrically styled, this was a shoot designed to make waves. The beautiful detailing of the clothes paired with the element of whimsy in the accessories was quintessential Italian Vogue: daring, unconventional but beautiful. Van Groesen, also appearing in the March issue’s beauty supplement with Julia Nobis, was now one of fashion’s hottest names.

Van Groesen nailed her first Vogue cover a month later, appearing for Japanese Vogue. Modelling with Bambi Northwood Blyth and Fei Fei Sun, this cover was a celebration of fashion’s newest and greatest talents.

The heady pace of Milou’s ascent continued through 2011 with an appearance in i-D and Chinese Vogue. The credits grew even weightier in Autumn, with the announcement that Milou would join Carla Gebhart, Liya Kebede and Juliane Gruner to become the face of Balenciaga’s latest campaign.

Finishing the year with editorials for W and Interview, Milou again reprised her star turn for H&M’s series of winter campaigns. The last editorial of 2011 for Milou was also one of the most meaningful. Photographed by V magazine, van Groesen posed with models also signed by DNA Models. Appearing alongside Anna de Riyk, Dree Hemingway, Emily Baker, Raquel Zimmermann and Siri Tollerod, it was quite clear why van Groesen had found a home with this agency. An agency that houses an eclectic mix of faces from the ultra-feminine Zimmermann to the super-edgy de Brauw, it is clear that DNA has no limits when it comes to beauty: DNA’s refusal to define itself as an ‘editorial’ or ‘classic beauty’ agency has been wholly to Milou’s advantage.

The backing of her agency, and their ability to see van Groesen not just as an edgy, editorial face, is one of the factors contributing to Milou’s biggest signing to date. This Spring, Milou becomes the face of Giorgio Armani. Already having made waves with its previous campaign face, Nimue Smit, the Italian label decided to defy convention again and go with someone entirely unexpected. In this campaign, Milou oozes a cool intelligence, becoming the essence of modern beauty. It is a great campaign that rewrites the rules on androgyny not being flexible enough to incorporate mainstream ideas of beauty. Milou, in this campaign, is very much her own woman but still exudes a sophistication that is pure Armani. Milou is by turns, seductive, enigmatic and feminine. She may have been a left-field choice, but this campaign has proved itself a definitive moment for both label and model.

Milou’s second big moment in this season’s rota of campaigns sees her appearing in Balenciaga’s Resort video. Directed by Steven Meisel, the video also features Jamie Bochert, Miranda Kerr, Zuzanna Bijoch and Louis Vuitton favourite, Nyasha Matonhodze. The repetitive theme of the video borrows from art-house cinema as readily as the pulsating music reminds us of Hitchcock’s nightmarish vision of modern America. A bold, off-centre choice in a season packed with girlish detail, this campaign confirms Balenciaga’s reputation as the thinking girl’s label.

Always dubbed as one of fashion’s androgynous girls, Milou’s career does not hang on a pivotal ‘what if?’ moment. If van Groesen had never gone for that bold haircut, she would still have made it to the highest levels of fashion. Watching her in the Balenciaga video and her confident performance for the Armani campaign, it is self-evident that van Groesen never lacked talent, and would have always become a success.

Her career speaks of a fashion industry that has learned to use beauty in a whole new way: androgyny is no longer permanent and fixed, but something that can break away and move into other areas of fashion. Milou’s work for Armani is a compelling argument of how androgyny can be not only flexible, but influential. The latest campaign invites us to rewire our opinions on a much-loved label. It remains a byword for tailored elegance, but the decision to hire Milou means that Armani now competes on an ideological level with the big hitters of fashion’s avant-garde.

The idea of transformation – the almost fairytale like way in which a model can change overnight from unknown to ingénue – is still one that captivates us. But Milou’s dazzling career is attributable not to a haircut, but to her growing sense of self-belief. Her haircut made have left her with nowhere to hide (it’s hard to imagine anything more visible than a peroxide crop), but this gave van Groesen the freedom to become the kind of model she always wanted to be. The act of transformation which should have pigeon-holed Milou into a career with purely edgy, editorial credits – has widened her horizons with campaigns and editorials that are defiantly, gloriously at odds with her image.

Milou’s transformation did not take place in the salon chair, but at a much earlier point. Her refusal to let her image dictate her career has made her a star: a career rich with credits from every corner of the industry was clearly always Milou’s intention. With bookings from H&M to Armani, van Groesen is well on her way to becoming fashion’s renaissance woman.

HELEN TOPE

MODEL PROFILES: NIMUE SMIT

Born in Holland on the 14^th January 1992, Nimue Smit is one of fashion’s best-kept secrets. A familiar face in campaigns from Chloe and Prada to Marc Jacobs and Topshop, Nimue joins a new wave of models who are changing the way we look at fashion.

Nimue signed with Women Management in 2008, debuting in Fashion Week that September. She made waves when Miu Miu signed her to walk in their show as an exclusive, and her only other bookings were with Marni and Miu Miu’s mother label, Prada. It may have been a very select season, but the quality of Nimue’s first bookings were strong indicators of where her career would lead.

Smit’s small but perfectly formed debut got the attention of the fashion press when that October she was profiled by www.models.com as a Top 10 Newcomer. Nimue went from small start to huge impact in early 2009 when it was announced that she would become one of the faces of the newest Prada campaign. A play on the theme of evolution, the images featured tons of snakeskin and those notoriously difficult 6” heels that challenged even the most practised runway model; it was one of Prada’s best collections. Nimue featured alongside Sigrid Agren, Viktoriya Sasonkina and Toni Garrn to make light work of Prada’s densely cerebral concept.

Also booking the Spring / Summer campaign for Topshop, Nimue had another big moment in January when she appeared in her first editorial for Italian Vogue. ‘Form Function’ takes Prada’s collection as a springboard to examine the concept of layering – in a way that only Italian Vogue can do. Nimue joined fellow newbies Karlie Kloss and Sessilee Lopez in tackling the magazine’s unique viewpoint. All three models excelled – and it is no surprise that both Lopez and Kloss have gone on to become major names within the industry.

Nimue’s editorial debut sent her career into overdrive, with three more editorial appearances in February. Modelling for Numero, Dazed & Confused and British Vogue, the snowball effect continued, with Nimue having her first major RTW season in February. Walking in 39 shows, the following month www.style.com labelled Smit a rising star.

In March, Nimue took to the pages of Italian Vogue again with an editorial photographed by Paolo Roversi. ‘The Power of White’ was an all-couture shoot, featuring nothing but white designs. The hazy, dream-like images are at the very highest level of high-fashion, and Nimue’s performance in this editorial is nothing short of extraordinary.

Smit’s clear ability to model haute couture led to her first couture season in July, walking for Valentino. Starts in couture don’t get much better, and Nimue’s delicate features proved the perfect foil for Valentino’s ultra-feminine designs.

Landing two high-profile Autumn / Winter campaigns (Alberta Ferretti and See by Chloe), Nimue’s star was rising fast. Her appearance in Italian Vogue’s September issue saw her develop even further. ‘Dream of a Dress’, with Paolo Roversi as photographer, was a special, one-of-a-kind couture shoot featuring Toni Garrn, Heidi Mount, Jourdan Dunn and Rose Cordero.

Using newly-revamped labels such as Givenchy Couture, this shoot is the type that Italian Vogue excels at; putting couture at the centre of the fashion experience - not portrayed as something merely exclusive. Showing grand clothes in creative, exciting ways, Italian Vogue goes a long way in terms of taking the fear out of couture, encouraging us to appreciate it without feeling automatically excluded.

Ending 2009 with another successful RTW show, Nimue’s standing within the fashion industry took a giant step up in early 2010 when she became the face of Giorgio Armani. Wearing a blue satin dress and black, bobbed hair, Nimue ushers in the new era of Armani. The label, previously seen as the cornerstone of conservative elegance, has undergone a revitalisation thanks to Giorgio’s launch of couture line, Armani Prive. Initially a scheme that was to be Armani’s pet project, Prive has become a tour de force in the world of haute couture, with that element of unbridled creativity that so neatly defines couture actively creeping into the Armani RTW lines. The label’s once predictable nature has given way to a freshness and vitality that makes us feel like we are seeing Armani for the very first time. Nimue’s edgy, high-fashion face would have once seemed out of step with Armani, but now her hiring seems like the obvious choice.

Nimue’s hard-to-ignore booking with Armani got her noticed all over again, and in September 2010 she appeared in over 50 shows, appearing for designers such as Lanvin, Sonia Rykiel, Calvin Klein, Jason Wu and Rodarte.

2011 saw Nimue switch from Parisian greats to London icons when she was signed by British label Mulberry to appear in their latest campaign. Working with Lindsey Wixson, the ‘indoor garden’ campaign was one of Mulberry’s strongest. Achingly pretty with chrysanthemums in shades of pastel, Mulberry’s theme of using oversized props started here – and is still regularly used, up to and including this current season.

Returning to Paris in January for couture season, Nimue made her editorial debut for American Vogue the following month. ‘Gangs of New York’ was a mammoth preview of Spring / Summer trends with Nimue appearing in modern neutrals by Donna Karan.

With two years’ experience behind her, Nimue continued to be a strong runway hire with a 45-show season in February. Filling the body of the year with editorial work for Spanish Vogue, Numero and Harper’s Bazaar, in late 2011 Nimue decided to switch agencies and move to NEXT Models. Already housing top names such as Anja Rubik, Caroline Brasch Nielsen and Kendra Spears, Nimue’s move to NEXT was the precursor to another great runway season in September, with Smit walking in 50 shows. Appearing in some of the most important shows of the season – Marc Jacobs, Rodarte, Jonathan Saunders – Nimue is securing her position as one of fashion’s go-to girls when it comes to interpreting the avant-garde. Although fashion may be exploring its softer side this season, there is still plenty of room for left-field thinking. Mary Katrantzou continued to impress with a collection based on ancient porcelain patterns and Rodarte brought a new poignancy and depth to prairie chic.

Contemporary fashion isn’t stuck for ideas and to present these new concepts as clearly as possible, designers need models who can translate. Nimue, as a regular fixture on the world’s runways, has become one of the industry’s most relied-upon models when it comes to fashion on the front line.

Even during the recession, where commercial faces flourished, Nimue has actively progressed from newcomer to rising star. Armed with a face that sits her squarely in the edgy category, Nimue has modelled for some of the largest brands in the business, transforming the way we think about them. Just as her game-changing appearance for Armani showed the Italian label’s willingness to explore its darker side, her softly winsome role for Mulberry injected the campaign with warmth and verve that has since become its signature.

The idea of matching a model’s look to a particular aspect of fashion is slowly giving way to a more democratic selection process. In short, if you have the skills, you get the job. It is this that may have inspired Armani to hire Smit in the first place – and the knock-on effect has seen the label branch out in terms of who it hires for campaigns. Their latest signing, Milou van Groesen, is another surprising choice. She doesn’t automatically suggest Italian relaxed elegance, but the sharp tailoring and blunted lines of the campaign turn a classic fashion concept on its head, bringing Armani bang up to date.

As we move into 2012, Nimue’s progress will be fascinating to watch. A front-runner at the S/S shows in September, it’s clear that designers consider her not only relevant, but downright exciting. Nimue’s status as a model that can help transform the way we look at long-established brands will make her well-placed to take advantage of fashion’s rapidly shifting landscape. As Armani comes into sleek, edgy focus and Mulberry trades on its sense of fun, the face of fashion increasingly alters as new designers join the party. Nimue’s ability to help us see old labels in a new light, makes Smit not only contemporary, but a completely new type of model altogether.

HELEN TOPE

MODEL PROFILES: LARA STONE

Born December 20th 1983, Dutch native Lara Stone is one of fashion’s hottest exports. Taken straight from Hollywood’s template of the femme fatale, Lara Stone is the very definition of a 21st century supermodel: bombshell meets mannequin.

She was first discovered in 1995, aged 12, whilst riding on the Paris Metro. But Stone’s career didn’t take off until she entered the Elite Model Look contest in 1999. She didn’t win, but Elite was so impressed with the 16-year-old that they signed her anyway.
Lara switched to agency IMG in 2006, and that January she debuted at the Autumn / Winter Givenchy couture show. She also made her ready-to-wear debut, walking for designers Cacharel, Miu Miu and Veronique Branquinho.

Lara also scored her first major campaign in 2006, managing to scoop an ad for Sisley. Photographed by Terry Richardson, it was the perfect match of photographer and model. If anyone knew how to photograph Lara’s curves and keep it centered in a sense of fashion, it would be Richardson.

The impact was immediate. Stone got the cover of French Elle in May, and was dubbed a favourite of French Vogue. Editor-in-chief Carine Roitfeld remarked that ‘sometimes a girl just touches you’. In an overcrowded industry, even a little ‘x factor’ goes a long way. It would soon become self-evident that Lara had star quality to spare.

October 2006 saw Lara’s busiest runway season to date, with appearances for Burberry, Chloe, Jil Sander, Lanvin and Prada. Her appearance at the S/S 2007 Karl Lagerfeld show also attracted press attention when she tripped on the runway. Even that glitch didn’t stop Lara’s progress: http://www.style.com/ named her (trip or not) their rising star of the season.

In 2007, Lara’s career went into overdrive. She became the face of Givenchy with Hilary Rhoda, signed a cosmetics contract with Calvin Klein and even replaced Kate Moss as the face of Calvin Klein Jeans. She also had the best RTW season of her career, with 62 bookings for the A/W 2007 season. Her appearances included Alberta Ferretti, Balmain, Burberry, Calvin Klein, Derek Lam, Givenchy, Gucci, Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, Prada, Roberto Cavalli and Stella McCartney. It was a resounding stamp of approval.

Lara’s aplomb on the runway sparked editorial fever, with magazines vying for her time. In March, she channelled Sixties icon Brigitte Bardot for a French Vogue editorial. In April, she shot their cover. May saw an editorial for British Vogue (photographed by Mario Testino) and July saw Lara’s first fashion shoot for Italian Vogue. In October, she did two editorials for Italian Vogue and finished off an incredible year with the December cover of Italian Vogue, photographed by Steven Meisel.

In 2008 Lara renewed her contracts with Givenchy and Calvin Klein Beauty, plus signing on to become the face of Just Cavalli. March saw Lara hit the cover of French Vogue again. Her status as French Vogue’s favourite was cemented by an extraordinary run of success, including being cited by them as a top model, along with four editorials; two in the May issue and two more in June.

In July, Lara scored the cover of W magazine, along with Vogue, the most influential fashion magazine in America. Taking on cover duty with Kate Moss and Daria Werbowy, the shoot dubbed ‘Summer Camp’ took the best new design talent (including Gareth Pugh and Rodarte) to Miami, shooting their designs to create an incredible 36-page layout. For Lara, this shoot by Bruce Weber was a career-making moment.

The noteworthy appearance for W landed Stone two more campaign slots: Hugo Boss Orange and Jil Sander. The combination of a face made for editorial and a body built for (sartorial) sin was proving to be an irresistible lure.

Her starring role in many of the top runway shows later that year confirmed her status, including opening honours for the Isabel Marant, Giles Deacon and Christopher Kane shows. Also walking for Balmain, Celine, Louis Vuitton, Marc Jacobs, Michael Kors and Zac Posen, Lara’s ability to morph from a fashion girl, to sex-bomb, and back again, charmed the industry. Taking adaptability to a whole new level, Stone undertook editorials for Japanese and French Vogue in October, and a month later, walked in her very first show for lingerie brand Victoria’s Secret. Fusing a high-fashion aesthetic with mainstream glamour? All in a day’s work.

Lara was rapidly becoming fashion’s newest superstar. To prove the point, French Vogue dedicated an entire issue to the Lara phenomenon in February 2009, with editorials shot by Steven Klein, Hedi Slimane, Peter Lindbergh and Patrick Demarchelier. The other recent example of this happening is with Natasha Poly’s multi-page homage in Russian Vogue.
Natasha and Lara make similar studies; viewed from a distance they should be one-trick ponies, asked to do nothing more taxing than smoulder and pout. But get closer and you see versatile, thoroughly capable editorial models that bring something extra to every assignment.

February was a good month for Stone as show season rolled around. She made a headline-grabbing appearance for Balmain. Rewriting the fashion rule that body-con tends to look its best on the super-slim; Lara appeared on the Balmain runway in a dazzling blue sequinned mini-dress.

Her curves were clearly visible, but she looked incredible. The trend that had up until this point stayed on the sidelines had now become fashion’s latest crush. The press lauded Stone for making the Balmain glamourpuss look finally achievable, and the high street dutifully picked up the thread, making copies of the Balmain / Lara look and sent the body-con trend into the stratosphere.

The show season didn’t end there either. Lara was chosen to close the Marc Jacobs show. Simply as good as it gets in terms of runway prestige; Lara put an end to the claims that her presence was a token gesture, a pacifier for those who questioned whether fashion had really got a grip on the body image issue. Lara wasn’t picked because of the potential for headlines, but like her appearance for Balmain, Lara was chosen because of her ability to enhance clothes without being a distraction.

Lara’s triumph on the runway was followed by yet more editorial scoops, including the cover of Japanese Vogue, spreads for W and French Vogue, and finally in May 2009, she got the cover of American Vogue. Shot by Steven Meisel, it was another modelling milestone done and dusted.
In August, the fashion bible W paid tribute to her in their issue, dubbing her ‘Fashion’s new IT Girl’, if there was anyone left who doubted it. The end of 2009 culminated with not one, but two, magazine covers. The first was another for Italian Vogue, and the second was for British Vogue.

The British December issue was named ‘The Girl of the Year’. Shot by Mario Testino, it was Lara in full fantasy mode. The cover shot was soft, dreamy and uber-feminine. It wasn’t just a celebration of Lara’s achievements, the cover was signposting the year (and decade) ahead. True to its word, fashion has got in touch with its softer side and Lara couldn’t be better placed to take advantage of this shift in fashion semantics.

If 2009 saw Lara as the girl of the year, this coming decade surely belongs to her as well. To date, she has appeared in S/S campaigns for Jaeger, Louis Vuitton, Prada Infusion D’Iris fragrance and H&M swimwear. Couple this with an upcoming A/W campaign for Giorgio Armani Cosmetics, and Lara’s run of success shows no sign of losing momentum.

Being curvier than her peers hasn’t left Lara out in the cold, especially in terms of those all-important, lucrative campaigns. Stone is, just in terms of numbers, way ahead of the pack. The calibre of those campaigns (including Chloe, Jil Sander and Prada) are indicative of her ability to appeal to a wider demographic.

When casting campaigns, design houses don’t only look to the names that are populating the world’s runways or filling the pages of Vogue. That certainly helps, but a great campaign model needs something extra. If it’s a sunny advert for swimwear, coming across as likeable is essential. If it’s selling a bottle of perfume, the model needs to have an allure that’s appealing, not off-putting.

Lara’s brand of sex appeal is aimed squarely at the grown-ups: its Brigitte Bardot meets Veronica Lake, with a dose of worldly-wise Jane Russell thrown in for good measure. Lara’s pitch-perfect ability to charm men and women into buying that perfume explains why she’s in such high demand.

The company you keep in the fashion world says a lot about you. Lara isn’t booking campaigns or features with marginal figures in the industry. Chanel, Givenchy, Prada, Calvin Klein, Giorgio Armani – these names are not exactly obscure references. Lara has worked with the greatest designers, editors and photographers in the business. She may not be the most prolific runway girl, but it’s quality over quantity.

What makes Lara different is that she has tailored her career to her strengths. Her personal stamp – a postmodern Bardot – has worked simply because there is no-one else quite like her. Some come close: the trio of Brazilian supers (Bundchen, Trentini and Zimmermann) all have the market cornered in doing campaigns that call for plenty of sizzle. But Stone is cut a little differently from the standard sex-bomb mould.

Lara is part of a small group of models who can do the blend of coy sophistication peculiar to brands like Prada. It’s a tough ask, and Lara’s strategy of being (and staying) true to herself has paid off. Prada loves different, hence why she is their campaign girl.

Lara deftly translates intelligent sensuality into something fashionable and covetable. She works so well as a marketing ploy because of her high-fashion connotations. There’s little chance of mistaking the Prada girl for an off-the-peg glamour queen.

As influential as she is now, in ten years’ time, expect to see Lara’s legacy throughout the modelling industry. The soft-sell approach to campaigns that clamour for sex-appeal will eventually reconfigure what we think of as ‘sexy’. Think smart, challenging and a little hard-to-read. A unique presence in contemporary fashion, Lara is undoubtedly a model of substance.

HELEN TOPE

MODEL PROFILES: JESSICA STAM

Born in 1986, Jessica Stam headlines a chorus of new models who are rapidly re-defining the term ‘supermodel’.

Jessica, a Canada native, was famously discovered in 2001 by modelling agent Michele Miller. Stam and her family were on their way home from an amusement park and stopped off at a coffee shop. This is where Miller spotted Stam and immediately recognised someone with serious modelling potential.

A year later, Stam took part in, and won, the LA Model Look contest. Her win secured interest from the fashion industry, and Stam became a bona fide fashion girl, working with photographer Steven Meisel who was so impressed, he dubbed her his muse. With a nod of approval from one of the world’s top fashion photographers, Jessica ended up opening the A/W Miu Miu show in Paris. Five years on, Stam still refers to it as the label that started her career.

Stam’s name went supersonic in 2005, with the announcement that Marc Jacobs would be launching a handbag called ‘The Stam’. An honour usually reserved for pop-culture icons, the Stam bag became an immediate fashion hit. The elegant quilted design with a chain draped from the handles became a contemporary classic, with the high-street stores clamouring to make their own version and bask in some of the reflected glory. More importantly for Jessica, it made her surname recognisable, even if many had trouble putting a face to the name.

Stam’s career was at an all-time high, with Jessica landing campaigns for companies as diverse as Giorgio Armani and H&M. At both ends of the fashion spectrum, Jessica was making an impact. But beyond the industry itself, Stam was relatively unknown. To be this famous within the fashion world, but virtually a stranger to the world at large, was crossing into new territory.
The fashion world had been used to models staking fame on a global scale: Evangelista, Turlington and Campbell were celebrities first, and models second. The term ‘supermodel’ coined in the Eighties, was applied to any model that was recognisable by one name. If I say ‘Cindy’, it is impossible to not follow with ‘Crawford’.

Models, right up until the early Nineties, if they were famous, they were very famous indeed. They routinely shot magazine covers – not celebrities as is now commonplace. Actresses made movies, models did the modelling. But with the advent of celebrity culture in the late Nineties, cover girls found themselves sidelined in favour of singers and actresses. No-one was being offered $10,000 to get out of bed and if they did, they were smart enough to keep quiet about it. The age of the supermodel was over.

However many campaigns Jessica managed to rack up, she remained a nameless face in the pages of a magazine. Her lucrative beauty and fragrance campaigns were, and remain, a speciality but Stam was still unknown to the public.

This state of affairs changed in November 2006, when Jessica was asked to walk in the Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show. The highly-publicised fashion event, broadcast yearly on U.S television, showcases the lingerie mega-brand by means of a famously sultry catwalk show that is watched by millions at home and millions more on the Internet.

Its popularity is incredible for a fashion event, and acts as a platform for models who might not ordinarily work the editorial circuit. Connected with names such as Heidi Klum and Tyra Banks, Victoria’s Secret has a degree of influence that cannot be overestimated. Being asked to walk in the show was a watershed moment. Jessica had an opportunity to make herself a visible presence – no longer a nameless fashion girl, but to become a modelling superstar.

Stam, in the moment she stepped onto the Victoria’s Secret runway, made her crossover from high fashion to the mainstream. Her approachably pretty face was perfect for the brand, and that stomping, editorial walk helped lend the lingerie a little high fashion cache too. The success of Stam’s appearance cemented the brand’s determination to use not only curvier models, but to celebrate the best and brightest of modelling talent working today.

It did Jessica’s career no harm either. People who had heard of (or even owned) the Marc Jacobs Stam bag could now confidently put a face to the name, and those who hadn’t were now introduced to what the fashion world had to offer.

With this success to push her forward, Stam’s progression became an irresistible force. In 2007, she became the face of Christian Dior and jewellers Bulgari, and opened the Valentino Couture show in Paris.

Stam’s career trajectory – from the truly cutting edge to the (fashion) girl-next-door - shows just how modelling has changed during the intervening years since supermodels were last considered cultural currency.

Despite Stam’s diverse range of campaigns, her fame is nowhere near the all-encompassing nature of Cindy Crawford’s, or Linda Evangelista’s. But instead of pursuing fame to even greater heights, Stam has thrived on this life, half in the shadows and half in the spotlight.
Stam represents the new-world vision of what a supermodel should be. A chameleon rather than a celebrity, Jessica has been so successful in crossing over to the mainstream without losing her edgy fashion credentials, that it has become obvious that the notion of the ultra-visible, ultra-famous supermodel is outdated and irrelevant.

The term ‘supermodel’ had to be re-defined for the new celebrity age. If models couldn’t out-perform celebrities, they had one more ace to play. They used their anonymity to become true fashion chameleons, adapting to any campaign or any designer’s vision. They went back to Modelling Basics – and the strategy worked. They did what celebrities couldn’t: they became someone other than themselves. Not hemmed in by their own image or ego, the creative possibilities were endless.

Stam’s success has ushered in a new, more discreet brand of supermodel. She is professional, competent and acutely aware of what the fashion industry wants - the type of insight that can only come from someone who is an insider themselves. Creating characters, a mood or a moment on camera is what models do. The subtle nuances of a good model are unattainable by a celebrity, however comfortable they may be in front of a camera. The reason why Jessica remains so in demand is because, first and foremost, modelling is a skill – some people fake it well, but possessing that instinct to create a magical moment on film is something that cannot be replicated, no matter how good the actress.

Celebrities may well have cornered the market in boosting magazine sales, but girls like Jessica are on a fundamental level, keeping the modelling industry alive, simply by being good at their job. Stam is part of a new generation who are carrying the torch for high-end fashion and all it represents. It is no coincidence that the fashion world has, within the past five years, turned its back on ‘bling’, preferring to embrace the softer side of sartorial: tailoring, elegant and timeless chic. Trends still come and go, but not with the clockwork ferocity they once did. Fashion is looking for something, and someone, that will last. There is a lot to be said for the model that is in it for the work, not the ego boost. The clothes-horse girls of the fashion industry are its lifeblood: they are ultra-adaptable, hard-working and don’t take themselves too seriously.

Unlike their celebrity counterparts, Jessica and her peers are less concerned with their image, than getting on and getting the job done – no tantrums and no excuses.

HELEN TOPE