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Grown-up Montana rocks DJs

She rose to prominence as a softly spoken 17-year-old on Australia's Next Top Model.

But with several years living in New York and runway shows for Chanel, Dior and Valentino under her belt, Montana Cox seems to have settled into a new-found confidence, if the latest campaign imagery for David Jones is anything to go by.

The freshly released shots show the now 20-year-old smouldering in new- season threads, acting as a precursor to the retailer's heavily anticipated spring/ summer launch next week.

Cox landed in Sydney yesterday ahead of the event and told AAA her first port of call would be to catch up with WA bombshell and David Jones face Jessica Gomes.

"I absolutely adore Jess, we get along like a house on fire and I have always looked up to her," Cox said.

"I always talk to her when I am away and we catch up when I am in New York. It is a lot of fun to share this experience with her and especially be friends. I know a lot of the time in the workplace people get competitive but with us it's great, we are very close. I am excited to see her."

Now in her third year as an ambassador for the department giant, Cox is steadily becoming one of Australia's most sought- after catwalk models both at home and overseas.

But living on the other side of the world, Cox has had to toughen up to deal with the distance from her family in Melbourne.

"Work is going really well so I am really happy," she said.

"I do obviously miss home sometimes, so it is amazing to come home and see my family and also the David Jones family. I get the best of both worlds."

However, this lifestyle might never have come about if Cox did not enter the reality show that made her famous in 2011.

With another cycle of Australia's Next Top Model set to begin soon, the beauty said it could give other girls a stepping stone to bigger things.

"I would definitely not be here if it wasn't for the show," she said.

"I think girls have really got to get their faces out there and, who knows, they might be walking in a David Jones show sometime soon."

But Cox added the series would likely be different following the death of her mentor *Charlotte Dawson *earlier this year.

"It is hard to say but it is a great show," she said. "It is a horrible thing that happened."