The Mail on Sunday

“Alice Gibb possesses the kind of looks that inevitably invite comparisons with Lily Cole - although it's not a good idea to mention that to the 17-year-old schoolgirl currently being hailed as the British supermodel's "successor".

Ridiculously tall ("I'm 6ft and half an inch and still growing"), with long red hair and a slightly medieval air (her eyelashes and eyebrows are so fair they are virtually invisible), Alice is rather bemused by her success and slightly irritated by the way in which she has been tagged "the next Lily Cole" (she is, she says, "the first Alice Gibb"). But it isn't just in the area of looks that Alice echoes Lily. While the highly academic Lily has a deferred place at Cambridge, last summer Alice achieved nine A-star grades at GCSE (plus an A in advanced maths) and is in the process of studying for A-levels in maths, English, French and history at the private Portsmouth Grammar School near her home in Hampshire.

A model student: Alice Gibb is currently being hailed as Lily Cole's 'successor' and echoes her in looks and brains. Alice achieved nine A-star grades at GCSE

Add to that an imminent grade 8 exam on the piano (we meet at the end of an impressively frantic practice session at her home) and it's hard to imagine how this sweet and rather shy girl has managed to find time for photo shoots with Mario Testino (she is in the current Burberry ad campaign alongside Agyness Deyn and Lily Donaldson) let alone stints on the catwalk in New York, London, Paris and Milan.

"I think there are girls at my school who might be jealous, but actually I don't know why because modelling isn't that amazingly glamorous.

"You have to sit around for hours waiting for fittings, for example, and they never have shoes big enough for me at catwalk shows so I always have blisters on my feet.

"But my friends don't see the bad things; they just hear that I stayed in an apartment in New York by myself and they say, 'Wow, that must have been so cool!' when actually it was a bit lonely," she says with a hesitant smile.

The 17-year-old schoolgirl is '6ft and half an inch and still growing'

Switching between school and catwalks is not an easy task, nor is it one that Alice ever really thought she would have to master.

Although friends and relatives had always told her she could be a model, she had never believed them.

"I was a bit apprehensive about the idea - it just wasn't my world - and I wouldn't have gone to any agencies if it hadn't been for a friend at school who wanted to be a model.

"My dad took the two of us to London when we were 14 and said to me, 'I don't think anyone will like you, it's just a bit of fun.'

"But the first agency we went to - Premier, which eventually signed me - really liked me, and every other agency took Polaroids of me but none of my friend.

"It must have been difficult for her, but we are still good friends," she says with a grin, before adding, "and, of course, Dad was amazed."

It isn't difficult to see that Dad is a pivotal (and absolutely adored) figure in her life.

The consultant neurologist has raised Alice and her elder sister Katy, 19 (who is studying medicine at Sheffield University), on his own since their mother Helen, who was a nurse, died of breast cancer a little over ten years ago.

It cannot have been easy for William to care for his young daughters, and Alice is full of praise for his achievement.

"It's quite amazing how he has managed to bring us up," she says.

"He had no idea how to look after us when Mum first died, but he's brilliant now. He cooks dinner every evening and supervises homework and everything."


Alice achieving cool Brit status in the new Burberry ad campaign

But there is one area in which her father's parenting skills failed to impress his daughter.

Until Alice was discovered (she was just 14 when she was photographed by Mario Testino for Vogue for her first modelling job), she didn't know anything about fashion.

"My dad didn't have much idea about dressing girls. I usually got my sister's hand-me-downs and when he did buy me anything new it was always in a garish shade because he absolutely loves bright colours.

"I remember him buying me a pair of brilliant orange corduroy trousers and a yellow denim skirt and matching jacket. Terrible, terrible?" she says with a peal of laughter.

Alice concedes, though, that her father's lack of interest in fashion and his emphasis on the importance of studies has played a big part in keeping her size 8 ("and growing") feet on the ground, ensuring she has a healthy contempt for the dangers that young models can face (unsuitable men, drugs and, most particularly, eating disorders).

"My dad makes sure I eat sensibly when I am at home, and my agents at Premier are always saying to me, 'Have you eaten today?' or, 'Time for something to eat, Alice,' when I am working," she says.

"But I am aware that a lot of models do have eating disorders - some of them never seem to eat anything at all.

"When I was in New York recently I overheard a girl at five or six in the evening saying quite proudly that all she had eaten that day was an apple. That's bad. I really love my food."


Alice as a child. Her mother died of breast cancer a little over ten years ago

Being propelled into such a competitive - and often decadent - world at such a young age has not corrupted Alice.

In fact she possesses a gentleness and an unworldliness that is rarely encountered in the modelling profession.

She doesn't, for instance, have a boyfriend - not just because so few of the boys at her school "are my height" but also because she finds them "immature". Besides, as she quickly points out, there is little time for anything apart from her schoolwork and her modelling.

Her most high-profile photographic job so far is the Burberry campaign, with its cast of 'cool Brits' (including actors Alex Pettyfer and Eddie Redmayne, Sting's daughter Coco and Bryan Ferry's son Merlin) picked by the brand's creative director Christopher Bailey.

"The Burberry photo shoot was cool and there were some really nice guys," she says.

"I haven't done shoots with guys before and I found them much easier to talk to than the boys at school."

Alice - like Lily Cole before her - has managed to establish herself as a successful model while still attending school full time.

But turning down jobs (which Alice admits is a little frustrating) because she has school the next day has not held her back.

On the contrary, her agents at Premier - who are encouraging her to continue with her studies - believe it has only added to her appeal.



Alice has a health contempt for the dangers that young models can face - unsuitable men, drugs and eating disorders

They predict a huge future for Alice as a catwalk and photographic model (there is even talk of acting roles) and she plans to spend her gap year modelling full time.

Already, working only in the school holidays and at weekends, Alice has appeared on the catwalk for Marc Jacobs, Louis Vuitton, Alexander McQueen, Alberta Ferretti and Jil Sander, and has become a favourite of photographers Mario Testino and Steven Meisel.

"It can be exciting backstage at the shows, but it's also sometimes totally nerve-racking.

"In Paris I opened for Alexander McQueen and I was really scared. The collection was full of mad hats and I had on a grey suit with this metal contraption on my head," she says.

Practical and prudent (all her earnings go straight into the bank), Alice prefers high street to designer (she wears Topshop for our interview) and claims the only expensive item in her wardrobe - which is rather more muted than it was when her father was in charge - is a Marc Jacobs handbag (a gift from the designer).

She is unsure what she will study at university and uncertain as to whether modelling will be her ultimate ambition (although she is sure she won't ever follow her father and sister into medicine).

In fact, for now her hopes for the future are more in line with a schoolgirl than a supermodel; she would like a distinction in her grade 8 piano exam, she would like to give up maths after this summer's AS levels ("although I don't think the school will let me"), and she would like her father to remarry "at some point soon" because she worries about him being lonely when both she and her sister are at university.

"My dad is as proud of us as we are of him.

"He was very surprised by my modelling success at first, but he thought it would be a good thing for me to do, just as long as it doesn't interfere with my schoolwork.

"He is always saying, 'It's so important to get really good exam results.'

"And that's my main priority now, because I would hate to let him down."