Noemie Lenoir, the stunning French supermodel know for M&S adverts, is recovering in a Paris hospital after an alleged suicide attempt.

Lenoir, who has become a household name in the UK, apparently tried to kill herself while at the house of her former boyfriend, French footballer Claude Makelele, by a potentially lethal combination of alcohol and pills.

Lenoir is most well-known as the £10 million former face and body of Marks & Spencer. Lenoir, 30, has also fronted fashion campaigns for Next, Victoria’s Secret, l’Oreal and Gap. She is presently in a high-profile relationship with Carl Hirschmann, the controversial Swiss millionaire.

The model was discovered near the home of Makelele, in a forest on the outskirts of Paris. It is believed that she had been drinking a large volume of alcohol – thought to be spirits – and taken several types of drugs while she was staying at the footballer’s home, though no details of exactly what was taken have as yet been released. Makelele, at the time, was in Paris to accept a footballing lifetime achievement award.

Earlier in the evening, Lenoir had telephoned an ambulance, advising operators that she had become very ill, but then called back to cancel the dispatch. She was later seen heading groggily in the direction of the woods, where she was found by another passer-by who was out for a walk with his dog.

She later regained consciousness at the hospital, but is still showing signs of what medical staff described as an obvious attempt to hurt herself.

The fair-trade fashion industry looks set to step further into the catwalk spotlight after Messe Frankfurt announced its takeover of the former Parisian Ethical Fashion Show.

The green event, a highlight in the past six years of the Paris Fashion Week, was unveiled by its new owners last Friday. Messe Frankfurt is the world’s third largest fair trade firm, and has an annual turnover of around half a billion euros (USD 671 million).

Messe Frankfurt has been in operation for almost a century, with strong historic links to the textile industry, notably in Asia. The move represents the group’s first foray into the fashion industry.

Detlef Braun, Messe Frankfurt’s director, said the move was testament to his company’s commitment to a highly topical issue – that of sustainable development.

The ethical fashion market has been well supported by the dynamic British industry, where the point of difference is a key marketing tool, while the Ethical Fashion Show has grown to become the leading global event for fair trade-fashion and eco-friendly fashion habits.

The event involves designers from all across the globe and has grown from 20 exhibitors in 2004 to 90 in 2009. Each one of the displays at the four-day event is done with a firm social or environmental commitment, notably to respectable working conditions, the preservation of traditional practices and the protection of the environment.

The event will take place in Paris, for the last time, from 25 – 28 September at the Fashion and Design City on the Docks en Seine.