London - As hundreds of models have strutted down catwalks in New York and London this month for the fall fashion shows, one face has emerged from the crowd - British model Cara Delevingne.
At New York Fashion Week last week Delevingne, 20, walked in 13 shows, including Marc Jacobs and Oscar de la Renta, and in London this week she sashayed in various shows, for Burberry and Stella McCartney. Milan and Paris come next.
The catwalk success of the British model, whose strong eyebrows and snub nose are her defining features, has Britain's press stalking her every move and has drawn comparisons to the attention once garnered by fellow Briton Kate Moss.
Open a fashion magazine or the social pages of a newspaper and there is Delevingne, with the model gracing the March issue of British Vogue while also partying with the A-list crowd including singers Rihanna and Rita Ora.
She is plastered on billboards across London as the face of Inditex's high street chain Zara and has built a large social media following, by posting photos of her modeling, partying and napping, attracting 468,000 Twitter followers.
"She has this unique striking look, which is almost part Brigitte Bardot, but then mixed with an elfin quirkiness. There's a rarity about her look, which has put her on the map and into countless campaigns and runways," said Carmen Borgonovo, fashion director at online boutique my-wardrobe.com.
Moss, 39, and Delevingne do have something in common - the same scout.
Sarah Doukas, who spotted 14-year-old Moss at a New York airport in 1988, was the first to see the potential of Delevingne at a fashion show at her daughter's private school, Bedales. She signed her up to Storm Model Management in 2009.
But unlike Moss, Delevingne comes from a privileged background - as her attendance at the 30,000 pounds (S$57,486) a year school Bedales suggests.
She is the granddaughter of former English Heritage chairman Sir Jocelyn Stevens, founder of the 1960s pirate radio station Radio Caroline, and grew up in the wealthy London suburb of Belgravia with her father, a property developer, and her mother, a personal shopper. Her sister Poppy is also a model.
Delevingne first came to attention appearing in Burberry's 2011 campaign. She became the face of Burberry in 2012.
She was named Model of the Year at the British Fashion Awards last November and has continued to climb the ranks, rising to number 17 on models.com's Top 50 Models list from 25 before the start of this month's fashion season.
"Cara is one of those girls who combine energy, wit, enthusiasm and the kind of edgy beauty that marks her out from the general pool of beautiful models," says Vogue editor Alexandra Shulman in an introduction to the March magazine.
Fashion industry experts said with the fickleness of the fashion industry it remained to be seen whether Delevingne would challenge the success that Moss has enjoyed for over 20 years.
But they said part of the appeal of the model-of-the-moment is her personality on-and-off the catwalk, with Delevingne clearly having fun and trying to remain modest.
"I don't like Cara the model. I'm just Cara. And for some reason, these people keep hiring me," she told reporters backstage at the London Fashion Show.
