The 34-year-old fashion icon could pocket anything in the region of €24 million to €39 million in the next few years thanks to the expansion of the Topshop chain into the booming Chinese market.

The store's CEO Philip Green has reportedly asked the model to spearhead the launch of Topshop in Shanghai with the collections she designed for the chain, with further plans to open more outlets in Beijing and Hong Kong.

Moss has already bagged almost €4 million by lending her name to the range which was inspired by her own wardrobe, and her bulging bank account was supplemented further when the collection was transferred to Barney's department store in New York last year.

But the Chinese deal could send Moss's earnings soaring, given the sheer volume of potential sales in a new market with a population 22 times greater than that of the UK and Ireland -- and where the young population has an insatiable appetite for Western fashion.

Even though China's economic growth has reportedly declined slightly this year, there is every belief that the market will remain the global economic powerhouse of the 21st century.

The country's GDP currently ranks fourth behind the US, Japan and Germany based on 2007 figures and, just this week, Albert Keidel of the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace predicted that the Chinese economy will have surpassed that of the United States by 2035.

For Kate Moss, this lucrative side project marks the latest phase in her remarkable comeback following the potentially ruinous drug scandal that engulfed her just three years ago. In September 2005, a British tabloid published front-page pictures that allegedly showed Moss snorting cocaine at a recording session of Babyshambles, the music act fronted by her then-fiance Pete Doherty, himself a notorious drug abuser.

Within weeks of the scandal breaking, "Cocaine Kate" began losing some of her biggest contracts: Chanel and Burberry both dropped her, as did H&M, which had to reshoot its entire campaign for a range designed by Moss's friend, Stella McCartney. Moss is said to have lost out on some €5m for that gig.

However, she managed to cling on to some major contracts (notably Dior), and soon apologised for her behaviour without acknowledging that the cocaine pictures and stories were accurate. Moss then dumped Doherty, checked into rehab in the US and, though she was questioned by the police, was eventually cleared of all charges in June 2006 due to lack of evidence.

Since then, Moss has earned more money than ever before, having landed over a dozen plummy deals with huge labels such as Versace, Bulgari, Agent Provocateur and Rimmel. Forbes magazine puts her annual earnings at over €7 million (second only to the world's richest model, Gisele Bundchen), while she boasts an overall fortune close to €58 million.

She has her critics -- the designer Roberto Cavalli said last week that he doesn't think Moss "has what it takes to be a true star" -- but there's clearly something about Moss that accounts for her success and worldwide industry appeal.

"She's simply iconic," says model agency boss Celia Holman Lee. "Within the industry, she seems to be loved. Photographers say that she's the best because she transforms herself for the camera. They tell me that if you want a certain look, you find it with Kate Moss."

Indeed, her unusual looks seem to be central to her iconic status. Discovered at age 14, Moss came to pioneer the waif-like 'heroin-chic' trend of the early 1990s, a look diametrically opposed to that of the glamazon supermodels who dominated the industry up to that point.

"Kate Moss was so different when she first arrived on the fashion scene," says Jen Stevens, editor of U Magazine. "At the time the catwalks were filled with six-foot goddesses and then suddenly along came this short, pretty ordinary girl from Croydon. It was this 'difference' that drew everybody's attention and upon which she managed to build a career."

Her personal troubles have also given her extra pop-cultural cache. "Maybe it's because she's fallen so low and fought her way back up again," Holman Lee says. "She's shown a vulnerable side that people can relate to.

"For some particular reason, she survived a scandal that I personally thought would do horrific damage to her career. She's a bit like Bill Clinton: look at what he got up to, but he still came back, stronger than ever."

Right now, Moss's private life appears to have steadied. She lives in London with her young daughter Lila, 5, and is in a relationship with musician Jamie Hince (the pair reportedly want to marry at a friend's farm here in Ireland).

That doesn't mean she has shed her wild girl image entirely. "I am still acting like a 17-year-old," she says in the 'Ageless' edition of this month's American Vogue. "I definitely haven't become middle-aged. I've got a house and a daughter, but I still like to have fun."

But all modelling careers have a sell-by date, and there were rumblings about Moss's industry mortality just this week when she failed to make Grazia's list of the world's best-dressed women (she was fifth last year).

However, this new Chinese deal shows that Moss is following the savvy lead of catwalk comrades like Christy Turlington and Elle Macpherson, who distilled their Zeitgeist-surfing global popularity into successful business ventures that would ensure their future earnings long after their pulling power declined (see panel).

Having said that, Holman Lee predicts that Moss's name will remain on the books for some time to come. "She could keep designing, be it sunglasses, bags, boots, jewellery," she says. "I think there's a lot of shelf life left in Kate Moss yet."