Lily Cole by Signe Vilstrup for Glamour Italia December/January 2014-15

Cole's modelling career followed a chance encounter with a modelling scout when she was 14 years old. She was booked for her first British Vogue cover at age 16, and has worked with many well-known brands, including Vogue worldwide, Alexander McQueen, Chanel, Louis Vuitton, Jean Paul Gaultier, Marc Jacobs, Prada, De Beers and Moschino. Advertising campaigns include Longchamp, Anna Sui, Rimmel and Cacharel. In 2004, she was named "Model of the Year" at the British Fashion Awards. Vogue Paris listed Cole as one of the top 30 models of the 2000s.

Cole's first leading role as an actress was as Valentina in the 2009 film The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus. Her other film work includes Passages, a short directed by Shekhar Kapur and There Be Dragons, directed by Roland Joffé. In June 2011, she was awarded a Double First in History of Art at Cambridge University.