High Street Kate

There are not many people who could make a navel-baring fake fur ski jacket, liberally applied lilac eyeshadow and white Wellingtons look desirable. But Kate Moss somehow manages it.

Showing off a figure that will make other new mothers weep with envy, 29-year-old Moss has become the new face of Zara.

It is an unlikely alliance. Moss is the coolest of all the supermodels, whose own wardrobe is stocked with designer outfits. Zara is the high street chain store that specialises in catwalk-inspired clothes for a wider market.

Moss scaled back her modelling work 11 months ago after the birth of her daughter Lila and usually doesn't get out of bed for anyone other than Mario Testino photographing for Burberry, or Mert & Marcus for Missoni.

In a coup for Zara, she appears wearing a spaghetti-strapped and sequin-bedecked cocktail dress; in another shot she poses in a daringly short and riotously pattered op art dress.

The pictures, by photographer Alfonso Ohnur, will appear in every Zara store, starting in London this week, to promote its autumn collection.

It is not the first time a high street giant has turned to a major star to add gloss to its product. Madonna is appearing in adverts for Gap, clad in cords, vest top and an armful of diamonds. Jerry Hall and Helena Christensen have both modelled for H&M. Jade Jagger has fronted campaigns for both H&M and River Island.

However, hiring Moss is a departure for Zara, which has made extraordinary inroads into the UK fashion market without having to advertise.

Instead, it has chosen to rely on word of mouth to sell its wares and uses customer feedback to decide what to stock in which store.

Prices are kept low and turnover is speedy, meaning that shoppers rarely get bored with the clothes.

The formula seems to be working - Zara profits and sales are rising 30 per cent every year and a new branch opens every week somewhere in the world.

The value of the Zara group means founder Anancio Ortega is now Spain's richest man, with a fortune estimated at several billion pounds.

In 1998 few people knew what Zara was. Now, with 19 stores open in the UK and eight more to come before 2004 (including a huge site in Bluewater), Zara has become a TopShop for grown-ups - the place we go for a fabulous dress, well cut trousers, or a riff on the latest, greatest accessories from Dior or Balenciaga.

Now that Moss is wearing it, we are only going to like it more.