Sequins, fur protesters and even a couple of England cricket heroes helped London Fashion Week get off to an exciting start.

Britain's biggest fashion carnival, officially opened by supermodel Linda Evangelista, will feature new and established designers as well as the unusual addition of a high street retailer.

Running until Thursday, the spring/summer 2006 collection is expected to draw a handful of celebrities along with some 9,000 media, buyers and fashion lovers.

England's top batsman Kevin Pietersen and fellow cricket team mate Simon Jones created as big a media frenzy as the clothes when they turned up to watch Welsh designer Julien MacDonald's headline show, which was one of the opening acts.

Muppet Miss Piggy was also among the audience packed around a catwalk in a make-shift hall outside the Natural History Museum in the west of the British capital where London Fashion Week is based.

The lights went down and funky pop music struck up as a stream of models decked in bright holiday dresses, summer skirts, bikinis and glamorous evening gowns strutted into the glare of camera flashes.

The collection - based on the theme of holidaymakers going to an exclusive villa in Ibiza - was psychedelic, upbeat and sparkly.

A few anti-fur protesters, allegedly from the campaign group People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA), added extra spice to the well-polished act as two young women vaulted onto the catwalk at the start and another at the finale brandishing posters saying: "Fur kills" and "Fur scum" before being marched off the premises by security guards.

MacDonald, sporting a Union Jack jacket with a Welsh flag on the back, did not seem to be bothered by the interruption.

"All press is good and I love fur," the short, brown-haired designer said afterwards, beaming at the attention given to his latest designs.

A daring selection of sequin bikinis and tight swimming trunks prompted a particularly loud wave of applause with cricketer Jones said at the end: "My favourite was the little brown bikini."

Source: China Daily