Her face has graced billboards, magazine covers and and advertising campaigns across the world but, with allegations of cocaine addiction and lesbianism, has Kate Moss fallen off the catwalk? Women's Editor Lindsay Jennings reports on the rise, and possible fall, of a supermodel.

IT was while she was travelling through JFK airport in New York that Sarah Doucas spotted her. The gawky teenager with her almond-shaped eyes and innocent heart-shaped face was with her parents. Sarah, the founder of the Storm modelling agency, went over for a chat, business card in hand.

Kate Moss was aged just 14. But even the experienced Doucas must have been surprised by the way in which the career of her young prodigy took off. One minute she was on the cover of The Face magazine, the next across the likes of US Harper's Bazaar.

On the catwalk, the skinny lass from Croydon, Surrey, came to epitomise the look of "heroin chic". Not since Twiggy in her Sixties heyday had such an undernourished look taken off, and Moss was at the forefront of it. No-one could deny the beauty of the wide-eyed Moss, but with the figure of a "child-woman", Moss soon became the leader of the superwaifs.

Throughout the Nineties, Moss went on to grace catwalks across the world, and to work for the top fashion houses, from Versace and Chanel to Gucci and Dior. When the world was hearing about how cool Britannia was, Moss was the British epitome of cool.

It was an image which slowly began to be reinforced by her choice of friends. They were cool too. Like a modern day playground queen, Moss, now 31, aligned herself with friends who were the successes of the day - from Brit-pack actors to rock and roll stars and their wives.

The work and the millions, meanwhile, kept on coming. She became the face of Burberry, Chanel, Dior, Rimmel and H&M. Even when she turned 30 - once seen as a retirement age for models - her status as a fashion icon was as secure as ever, whether she was pictured in a High Street waistcoat, shorts and Wellington boots at Glastonbury or in a Christian Dior gold number at a premiere. She could switch from grunge chic to red carpet glitz with ease.

FASHION editors were desperate to copy her look. A new haircut sparked a flurry of visits to the hairdressers; if Kate was going for the gamine crop, then locks would tumble across the world.

But with her rock and roll friends came a rock and roll lifestyle and it is this for which Moss has been in the news of late. With her choice of friends - Davinia Taylor, Sadie Frost, Jude Law, Pearl Lowe - Moss was never going to be staying in on Saturday nights, eating pizza, swilling Chardonnay and watching Bridget Jones's Diary on DVD. But her alleged antics have exposed some of the more sordid aspects of her hard partying.

Just who helped lift the lid on Moss's world last week, prompting pictures of her allegedly snorting cocaine in a west London recording studio and followed at the weekend by claims she took part in wild orgies, is the subject of frenzied scrutiny and debate. The revelations have come as no surprise to the national media and to those who knew of Moss's excesses, but the extent of the allegations has come as a shock to those outside showbiz circles.

The reason her alleged drug taking has been kept quiet so long is, in part, because she is so fiercely protected by her friends. Her trusted inner circle, dubbed "Kate's gang", is a group she has honed over the years. Many have described Moss's personality as being "mesmerising" and "magnetic" and she has succeeded in establishing herself at the centre of her group, collecting footballers' wives, pop stars, actors and even literary types, counting Janet Street Porter as one of her friends.

Last night, her many friends were leaping to her defence. Former model Twiggy said she was appalled at the media's treatment of Moss.

'ILOVE Kate, I think she is a brilliant, brilliant model. And I think these undercover guys, (what they did) is not journalism," she says. "What they did is disgusting, completely out of order. She is still the greatest."

Her cool persona has been underlined by the sense of mystique she has created around her. The enigmatic Moss rarely gives interviews to the media and, unlike most celebrities of today, cannot be found posing next to huge marble fireplaces or gushing about a loved one in the pages of glossy magazines. Aside from her modelling work, most snaps of her are taken by the paparazzi on the streets or stumbling out of clubs in the early hours with her friends.

Another reason her hedonistic lifestyle has been kept quiet could also be a result of her successfully suing the Sunday Mirror in 2001, after it printed a story claiming Moss had allegedly collapsed into a coma after taking cocaine at a fashion show. It appears now, however, that the tide has turned and Ms Moss has become fair game as far as the tabloids are concerned.

The fashion houses who employ her - paying her a collective £4m a year - will have known, even encouraged her rock and roll lifestyle for the cool edge it brought to their own clothing. Moss admitted to David Bowie in Q magazine two years ago that she used to take drugs, but that she didn't any more and only drank. But there is a difference between flirting with rock chic and being too closely associated with the sleazy side of it. The fashion houses are now facing calls to sack Moss. Rimmel, in particular, must be considering its options, given that most of its customers are teenage girls.

So, just where has it all gone wrong? Some believe that Moss has been on an increasingly self-destructive streak since her four-year relationship with actor Johnny Depp fell apart in 1998. Her friends, however, have been reportedly concerned by her on-off relationship with self-confessed crack and heroin addict, Pete Doherty. Doherty, the former frontman of rock band The Libertines and now lead singer with Babyshambles, was once jailed for burglary and was stopped last month at Oslo airport with both heroin and crack cocaine in his possession.

But whether it is her own inner demons which have led to her fall from grace or her choice of friends and boyfriends, there is no doubt the revelations have threatened Moss's lucrative career. So far, clothing chain H&M has announced it is standing by her, but whether or not the other fashion houses follow suit is likely to depend on the publication of any further reports.

England footballer David Beckham faced a similar angst-filled time at the height of lurid allegations regarding his former assistant Rebecca Loos when his family-man image took a battering. But ultimately he came through the media furore and kept his contracts.

What may count against Moss is her apparent inability to accept that she needs any help and her lack of a public apology. She did not book herself into the Priory clinic as soon as the allegations hit, and is believed to have been in New York since.

THE only sacrifices she appears to have made is in dumping Pete Doherty, citing worries over his self-destructive streak. It could be seen as a way of distancing herself from the wild ways of the singer, but the couple have had a habit of splitting up and falling into one another's arms again, and she may also be planning a reconciliation when the media's gaze has left her.

There is also another shadow looming on the horizon in the form of Moss's ex-partner Jefferson Hack, co-founder of trendy magazine Dazed and Confused and the father of her two-year-old daughter, Lila Grace. The model may soon find she has a custody battle on her hands and a visit from her local social services. Hack has already indicated he will fight for custody if the images of Moss apparently snorting cocaine turn out to be accurate.

But for a girl who changes her image frequently, setting trend after trend, can she turn round her tarnished reputation now that she is being deemed fair game by the tabloid press? Maybe it is a feat only achievable if she leaves her showbiz life behind.

In the words of Ms Moss herself: "I don't think it (fashion) is the best industry for young girls. It can really f*** you up."