Schoolgirl Lily gets Vogue cover

Less than a year ago she was just another London schoolgirl - albeit one with unfeasibly long legs and the face of a porcelain doll.

Now, in one of the swiftest ascents to stardom of any young model, 16-year-old Lily Cole is gracing the cover of style bible Vogue.

Nine months ago the teenager from Notting Hill was chatting with friends in an Old Compton Street burger bar when she was spotted by Benjamin Hart, creative boss of agency Storm.

After initially running away, fearing she was being chased by "some dodgy guy", she agreed to sign for the agency that launched Kate Moss.

Now Cole, who is 5ft10in without heels, is being described as The Next Big Thing. She was given three days off school to appear at London Fashion Week and is poster girl for Anna Sui cosmetics, Moschino fashion, luxury brand Hermes, and her favourite store, Top Shop.

"She looks like Botticelli's Venus - I think she'll be huge," said fashion guru Isabella Blow. Designer Jasper Conran was similarly effusive, insisting Cole will be "very, very, very big".

The teenager, who took her GCSEs last year and is said to have received a scholarship for a private girls' school, wears a £180 gold Versace swimsuit for the Vogue cover. She appears with Gemma Ward, also 16, from Perth, who is being hailed as Australia's new modelling sensation.

Storm managing director Sarah Doukas said: "Lily has a talent that all great models have, in that she's very good at interpreting and defining different looks from designers and photographers. She is unique in that way." Indeed, demand for Cole is so high the agency turns down many contracts because she has homework.

A spokeswoman said: "We are holding her back because she is still at school and we don't want to build up her career too suddenly.

"There is a good feeling about Lily. She's got that X-factor. She's beautiful but a bit different."

Cole is poised to follow a long line of Londoners who became fashion superstars after being discovered by chance. Moss was spotted, aged 14, at New York's JFK airport as she prepared to fly home with her father. Naomi Campbell was 15 when approached while on a West End shopping trip, and Sophie Dahl was 17 when Isabella Blow saw her crying in the street after a row with her mother.

Cole, whose idol is Martin Luther King, has avoided the limelight so far, saying: "Sometimes I think I'd like to be famous... and sometimes I don't." She may not have a choice.