Tiffany has just returned to London after spending the last two months out in Hong Kong modelling for Harper’s Bazaar, the international fashion magazine. Oh, and while there she also shot an advertorial for Gucci and Armani make-up and sashayed down the catwalks for Kookai and Chopard.

It has been a very fruitful year for me and I have had many lucrative jobs... it has been the best year of my life

Cynics who thought Britain’s Next Top Model was just another pipe dream to lure thousands of teenage wannabes and that Tiffany would disappear from the fashion radar, appear to have been proven wrong.

She looks different to the girl all Malta rooted for last year when the country was gripped by Tiffany-fever following the weekly programme on Living TV channel. She now has a different air about her – more confident, more alluring.

Gone is the blonde pixie haircut, which she was given during the show – very much against her will. Instead, her hair is shoulder-length and in a luscious chocolate-brown colour, but even she admits now that “it was worth chopping off those locks”.

That new look and her determination had proved to be winning factors which crowned her winner of the sixth series of BNTM, exclusively through British public voting.

Over this past year the fashion capitals of have been her work-base. She has worked for various international magazines such as Grazzia, Cosmopolitan, Vogue and Company. She will be featuring in Harvey Nichols’ Christmas online campaign and has taken part in a fashion film with Nick Knight for Show Studio, an award-winning fashion website.

She also found time to model for her favourite charities: Canine Partners and Dogs Trust.

“It has been a very fruitful year for me and I have had many lucrative jobs… it has been the best year of my life,” she said.

Today the 19-year-old cites Jimmy Choo – the fashion designer known for his handmade women’s shoes – as one of her mentors. “I have met Jimmy a few times. He is a very wise man and always gives me invaluable advice on modelling. I love his shoes and the other day he gave me a signed pair which I am saving for a very special day,” she said.

Mr Choo inspired her and encouraged her to start her own swimwear label, which she is planning to launch next year.

“I love fashion and coming from Malta I think swimwear reflects who I am.”

It is still early days but she said she is at a stage where she is studying the different market possibilities for the label.

Tiffany is still in contact with BNTM presenter and producer, supermodel Elle Macpherson.

“She calls me to see how I am and to give me advice,” she said.

The year is over but her one-year modelling contract with Models 1 , the programme’s big prize, has been renewed:

“I am represented by the best agency in Europe and I always have a choice in what work I wish to do.”

She said it has been a very chic and glam year: “I’ve been invited to many exclusive events and parties, and have worn some of the highest quality garments and travelled to many places.”

However, it requires a lot of dedication and hard work: “Having to shoot in cold climates can be frustrating.”

The BNTM programme did not quite prepare her for the real modelling world:

“I don’t think you can be 100 per cent prepared but I was lucky enough to model in Milan before BNTM so I had a very good idea of what it would be like,” she said.

Her main low-downs are the English weather and being away from my family, “who I love dearly, though still see regularly”.

She is still based in London: “I recently moved to a beautiful house in Hampstead and I love it here. I will always be based in London but I am planning on travelling as much as possible.” In fact, she’s soon off for a week to the Moroccan desert for an editorial shoot and after that she has stints in Australia and Japan.

No wonder, then, that apart from the odd Kinnie billboard advert here and there, we hear little of her. Any chance of her being lured to Malta? “I was very happy to work with Revlon and Maltese magazines but unfortunately I have been very busy internationally and have been focusing more abroad but I would like to do more campaigns in Malta,” she said.

Amazingly she is very low-key about her achievements. You get the sense that her feet are firmly planted on the ground when she’s off the catwalk, and despite the celebrity exposure, she still is as unpretentious as she was this time last year.

A year after the programme, is modelling still the career she wants to pursue? Without pausing she says: “Definitely.”