Stella Maxwell

Stella Maxwell walked her first Victoria's Secret Fashion Show in 2014 and was named one of the brand's Angels the following year. Born in Brussels on 15 May 1990 and raised there, in Australia and in New Zealand, she holds British and Irish nationality, and her lingerie career is tied almost entirely to Victoria's Secret, from the last years of the televised show to its revival.

Brussels, Canberra, Wellington

Maxwell lived in Brussels until she was 13 and attended the European School in Woluwe. Her family then spent a year in Canberra before settling in Wellington, New Zealand, when she was 14. She finished school at Queen Margaret College and went on to the University of Otago in Dunedin.

Scouted at a Dunedin newsstand

She was scouted while working at a newsstand as a student, by a modeling agency in Dunedin. She has since been represented by The Society Management, Elite Model Management and the Kate Moss Agency. Her designer work has included campaigns for Alexander McQueen, Karl Lagerfeld, Roberto Cavalli, Chanel, Fendi and Versace, and runway shows for Marc Jacobs, Tommy Hilfiger, Moschino, Dolce and Gabbana, Chanel and Miu Miu. She has been on the covers of the German, Turkish, Spanish, Thai and Japanese editions of Vogue.

Stella Maxwell as a Victoria's Secret Angel

Her show debut came in 2014. In 2015 she became an Angel, one of the small group of models under contract to the brand who carried its campaigns and the televised show. She joined at a late point in that format's life. The show was still televised every year, and it went on hiatus after 2018. Maxwell was one of the faces of those final seasons, alongside Angels such as Lily Aldridge and Behati Prinsloo.

Maxim, 2016

In 2016 she topped Maxim's Hot 100 list. The ranking was a men's-magazine honor rather than a fashion one, but it showed how far the Angel role reached beyond the fashion trade. She has also been a brand ambassador for Max Factor, and in 2021 she appeared in Beck's music video for "Chemical."

The 2025 return

Victoria's Secret paused its show after 2018 and brought it back in 2024. Maxwell was not in the 2024 cast. In 2025, seven years after her last appearance, she returned, walking in the segment titled Hot Pursuit.

Earlier versions of this entry described her as walking four consecutive shows from 2015, called the Maxim ranking "Sexiest Woman Alive," and discussed her private relationships. The show record begins in 2014, the Maxim title was the Hot 100, and private life falls outside this museum's profiles.

Last updated October 7, 2026