It's hard to believe that this time last year, the world had never heard of Rita Ora. Today, as the songstress celebrates her 22nd birthday, she's counted among our favourite style-setters.

The West-London born Rita may have appeared on a Craig David track and starred in a music video alongside Tinchy Stryder, but her big break came in 2009 when she flew to New York to meet Mr Jay-Z. The legendary rapper quickly signed her up and catapulted the blonde singing bombshell to international stardom. Before you can say 'Rihanna who?', Rita was THE girl everyone wanted to know. DJ Fresh's insanely catchy tune, Hot Right Now, stormed to the top of the charts in December 2011 and paved the way for Rita to release her debut album, Ora. Before long, she was filling Cheryl Cole's shoes as guest judge on the X Factor, bagging nominations at the MTV EMAs and MOBO Awards, and even dating a Kardashian (allegedly).

But it's her sartorial swishes that have Grazia HQ most besotted. Rita's fearless and fresh approach to fashion has garnered comparisons to Gwen Stefani as well as Ri-Ri and that glamour-meets-grunge vibe is, well, so hot right now. She's become famous for her beauty signatures – platinum blonde locks and bold red lips – as well as her trusty style staples – gritty Timberland boots, baseball caps, oodles of gold jewellery. She's not afraid to go super-glam too, as we saw at the EMAs when she donned a frothy Marchesa number that matched her scarlet lip. Then RO sealed her style status when Superga announced that the singer would be replacing ultimate hipster girl, Alexa Chung, as the face of the brand. No doubt this is the first of many campaigns to come.

So here's to you, Ms Ora! Smack on the red lippy, grab a beanie and a slice of cake as we pay homage to your greatest hits over the past 12 months...