Move over Kate
Anna Coogan wonders if Cara Delevingne is this generation's answer to Kate Moss...
You can't have missed model Cara Delevingne, who is popping up just about everywhere these days – she strutted in 13 shows at New York Fashion Week alone, including Marc Jacobs and Oscar de la Renta. At London Fashion Week, she sashayed for Burberry, while next month she'll appear on the cover of British Vogue.
Now, it seems, the 20-year-old model is plotting world domination – according to British Vogue, she has recently registered her own company, Cara & Co.
In a separate move, she trademarked her own name and a range of products, including perfumes, handbags, nail files, umbrellas, key rings, and perhaps more peculiarly – walking sticks.
Her distinctive gamine face has seen her compared to Kate Moss, but it's her business savvy which could eventually see her on par with Moss, who is said to be worth in the region of €50m.
Hanging around with Rihanna and enjoying the party life has further seen Cara compared to the indomitable Ms Moss. Trademarking a name is an increasingly common move these days – Lady Gaga, Victoria Beckham along with Beyonce and Jay-Z are good examples. Cara's strong eyebrows and snub nose are her defining features, and the model has already attracted 468,000 Twitter followers.
"She has this unique striking look, which is almost part Brigitte Bardot, but then mixed with an elfin quirkiness," says Carmen Borgonovo, of the online boutique my-wardrobe.com.
She also shared the same model scout as Kate Moss. 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.
Cara is the granddaughter of Jocelyn Stevens, founder of the 1960s pirate radio station Radio Caroline, and grew up in London's wealthy Belgravia with her dad, a property developer and personal shopper mum. Her sister Poppy is also a model.