JUST weeks ago, student Kirsty Doyle was busy coping with the Christmas rush on a clothes stall in Great Homer Street market.

But from tomorrow night, millions will watch as her creations get the ultimate seal of catwalk credibility - praised by Britain's fashion elite and worn by supermodel Erin O'Connor.

Kirsty, from Anfield, is one of 12 designers taking part in an X-Factor style talent competition on Sky One to find the fashion industry's 'next big thing'.

Project Catwalk, hosted by actress and model Elizabeth Hurley, is a 10-week series which offers three finalists a money-can't-buy opportunity to showcase their work at London Fashion Week.

And for 21-year-old Kirsty that meant living in a shared house and being filmed from 8am to 11pm as she and her fellow contestants took on a series of design challenges.

It also gave her the opportunity to rub shoulders with names she'd only ever read about in glossy magazines; influential characters like Isabella Blow, Julien Macdonald and Patrick Cox.

"The whole experience was incredible, I was just in awe of everybody," laughs Kirsty. "The people they had on the show were such a high calibre, the absolute creme de la creme of the fashion world, it was amazing to just be in the same room as them."

Kirsty's road to fashion fame actually began almost three years ago when she and Hayley Robertson, pals from Major Lester junior school in Anfield, set up their own clothes business.

They'd made one-off pieces for friends and both gone on to study on fashion college courses, before launching their own label Rapscallion with a collection of customised t-shirts.