She's a woman's woman, that Leona

To enjoy the adulation of your fans, not only must you be supremely good at what you do, you must also be kind, gracious and nice while you are doing it.

It's the Kylie blueprint for success: smile when you're winning, smile when you're losing, and never appear anything other than grateful to your public. Particularly that portion of the public which is female.

Women are notoriously far harsher on other women than men are: witness the vitriol against Heather Mills, or the scathingness towards The Spice Girls reunion, most of which has issued forth from female mouths. Which is why the vast amount of goodwill towards a certain Leona Lewis is so pleasantly surprising. That she even won The X Factor at all, breaking the run of insipid blokes that comprised the previous winners, was a miracle in the UK. As Simon Cowell pointed out at the time, women don't vote for other women.

That Leona is currently number one in the UK charts with the fastest selling single of the year does not surprise me. Not since Kylie's breast cancer has there been such an outpouring of female support towards another (fledgling) celebrity. Even at the recent round of fashion shows, an environment not known for its bonhomie, the fashion pack was dizzy with excitement about Leona's first single, with one lucky editor who had worked with her drawing quite the watercooler crowd with her tales of Leona's extreme niceness. "I just LOVE her," my friend Jane emailed the other day. "And she's a better singer than f****** Mariah."

The secret of Leona's success doesn't just rest with her voice, but with the enduring notion of the power of transformation. Whatever your culture, every girl loves a Cinderella story: it's why Sandy's rock chick makeover is the best bit in Grease; why Pretty Woman is one of the most successful rom-coms of all time, despite its cheesy soundtrack by Roxette. Leona was hardly a boiler (as we say in Scotland) but her transformation from talent-show contestant, in standard-issue vest top and miniskirt, to diva in floor-length satin gown proves that fairytales do come true. And we all like to believe in fairytales.

Of course, with women's tendency to be so harsh towards other women, Leona's popularity rests as much on her humility as it does on her winning ways with a pair of hair straighteners and a Versace gown. Happily, those who have met her say that the former waitress from Hackney is as lovely inside as out. Just as well. Leona can look like a diva, but woe betide her if she ever starts acting like one.