Internet success stories are a dime a dozen. For every Mark Zuckerberg, there's a Rebecca Black. But what's rare in the fashion world, is an internet sensation-turned-model whose success isn't based on looks, but on personality.
Fashion blogger, model, stylist and DJ, Bip Ling is that sensation. While the 22-year-old Londoner is strikingly pretty, she is reassuringly petite and certainly not tall enough for the catwalk. With her big doe eyes, open personality and a penchant for Minnie Mouse bows, Ling is far from your stereotypical vapid model.
But what does come across is her creative spirit - first revealed on her blog, bipling.com. Ling started it in December 2008 as a daily journal, offering her take on the world. Fun, upbeat, highly visual, quirky and original, it soon became an internet favourite. In February of last year, the blog got her a contract with Storm Models, which also boast the likes of Kate Moss, Cindy Crawford and Lily Cole.
In the year since, the little girl from London became the brand ambassador for US fashion chain Forever 21, modelled for the US, Russian and Brazilian editions of Vogue, starred in campaigns for Loewe and Nike, and styled behind the scenes at Clothes Show Live 2011. And that's not even mentioning her DJ gigs at some of London's most fashionable nightspots.
As one would expect, Ling chalks it all up to her blog, seeing it as the ideal medium in our current age for those seeking fame. 'Everybody should have a blog,' she says. 'Within a year it can blossom into something quite beautiful. Once you start a blog, it's hard to stop. If I haven't blogged by, say 3pm, I feel sick. I have to do it - it's like my baby - I have to feed it and nurture it.'
The blog also throws light on her family background. Her mother is the highly regarded Indian fashion illustrator, Tanya Ling, and her father, William, is the English owner of the Fashion Illustration Gallery in London. Following in the footsteps of her parents, she went to Central Saint Martins, but found herself drawn to so many art forms, that she couldn't make a choice. 'There were many options, but you had to specialise in one,' she says.