Pippa Middleton sister act rivals catwalk Kate

HER sister famously caught Prince William's eye while modelling a see-through dress, now new pictures have revealed Pippa Middleton also strutted down the catwalk.

Photographs taken by The Scotsman show that even years before she won overnight fame for the sleek dress she wore to Will and Kate's wedding, the younger sister was following closely in the footsteps of the future Duchess of Cambridge.

The series of pictures, taken at an Edinburgh University charity fashion show, reveal how even as an undergraduate in Scotland's capital, Prince William's future sister-in-law was given to bold and elegant exhibitions.

Strutting confidently down a catwalk in the capital's City Nightclub during the 2004 event, the images suggest the younger Middleton sister was keen to emulate the famous display by Kate, who swept William off his feet when she wore a see-through dress at a charity fashion show at St Andrews University in 2002.

Those in attendance at the event seven years ago recalled yesterday how the younger Miss Middleton demonstrated a similar poise during her stint on the walkway.

Then aged 20, she was reading English literature at Edinburgh when she took part in the show, two years after Kate's brief but famous tilt at a modelling career. One of several student models in action that evening, she wore the latest clothes from celebrated fashion designers such as Stella McCartney, Betsey Johnson, Jean-Paul Gaultier, and Vivienne Westwood.

Although she has become one of the world's most photographed women in recent months, Miss Middleton was an unknown at the time of the show, and it is unclear which designers' creations she wore.

The images show her strutting in a black and white casual dress, as well as a strapless dress with a butterfly in her hair and an orange scarf around her neck. She was also photographed outside the nightclub wearing a white jumper.

Ed Black, a former journalist who covered the fashion show for The Scotsman seven years ago, yesterday recalled how even at the tender age of 20, the photogenic qualities of the young Ms Middleton were evident.

He said: "Among the models was a clearly confident and at-home Pippa Middleton. Although she had yet to make her mark on the global stage, it was clear she carried the Middleton poise and finesse on the catwalk."

The event, which raised 22,000 for the Maggie's Centre at the city's Western General Hospital, also featured a charity auction, with copies of the Harry Potter books signed by JK Rowling sold off.Mr Black, however, said that the attendance of well-known figures such as newsreader Jon Snow meant the crowd's focus was often elsewhere.

"It was a very lively evening which was well-organised by the students who managed to persuade Mr Snow to come along. I remember him putting on a pair of headphones to act as a DJ and rapping away. He was entering into the spirit of the occasion."

Ms Middleton graduated from Edinburgh in 2008. During her time there, it is thought she shared a flat with Ted Innes-Ker, son of the Duke of Roxburghe, and George Percy, son of the Duke of Northumberland, whom she dated.