She has been heard to say, “If people don’t like my hair, then they don’t have to book me.”

Rules are there to be broken, or so it seems for Alice Dellal, whose looks and career fly in the face of conventional modeling wisdom. We’ve all heard that for a model to succeed, it’s best to be a blank slate–but not for Alice. The London it girl and fashion rebel rocks her own unique style with copious amounts of tattoos and piercings, standing at just 5'5" (tiny for such a successful model) with that infamously half-shaved head.

Alice was born in Brazil in 1987 to mother Andrea, a successful Brazilian model, and father Guy, who worked as a bodyguard for Mick Jagger’s then-girlfriend Jerry Hall and is the son of property magnate Jack Dellal. One of her earliest gigs was in 2006 for photographer Will Whipple, who photographed Alice in what he called a “contrast shoot,” an alluring mix of color shades and risqué outfits that she wore well. Between Whipple's shoot and her signing with Select Model Management, Alice posed for magazines like Nylon, British Elle, and Dazed & Confused.

Burberry signed Alice as a model for its Fall 2006 campaign. Following this successful association, she promptly joined Pussy Glamore to pose front and center for its racy lingerie line. In 2008, Alice made headlines again after she allegedly was chosen to replace Kate Moss as the face and body of Agent Provocateur. This was gossiped and blogged about throughout the industry, as Alice is nearly 15 years younger than the great Kate.

Alice got her first taste of the runway when she appeared at the Fashion East show for House of Holland. She posed for Dazed & Confused, which led to a film appearance in a behind-the-scenes fashion exposé by one of their photographers. And in one of her most acclaimed 2007 spots, Dellal was made up to resemble Jerry Hall in a photo shoot for Vogue Paris. She was chosen as a 2007 it girl by Handbag.com and was selected by British Vogue as one of the magazine’s Top 50 Most Glamorous Women.

Alice creates a buzz whenever she appears, and she recently put her petite figure to use in a sensual photo shoot for SHOWstudio, where she wore clothes that disintegrated in different ways when exposed to water. She walked for the quirky House of Blue Eyes Fall 2009 show, the label’s first for the official London Fashion Week. 

In a massive gesture of validation for the English fashion scene, i-D magazine hit the newsstands with 12 different covers dedicated to the 12 "Best British Models," with each cover tapping into the dynamic personality of its star. You guessed it–our girl was among them, along with legends like Kate Moss, Naomi Campbell, and Twiggy, as well as new huge stars like Agyness Deyn and Jourdan Dunn.

It seems this rebel does have a cause!