Paris shows boast new designers - aged 7 (+photos)

: A model presents a creation by British designer Vivienne Westwood in Paris. Photo / Reuters

PARIS - Paris Fashion Week is feted for boasting the world's oldest fashion names but the spotlight today fell on a couple of newcomers - Phoebe and Euan, aged 7.

The pair, from a primary school in England, were enlisted by Vivienne Westwood, the grande dame of British fashion, along with 34 of their classmates to paint bugs, plants and snakes all over her collection.

The theme? Ecological crisis.

"It was just brilliant, and she was very nice and helpful," said Euan Bonser about working with Westwood who erupted to fame in the 1970s fomenting the punk movement and dressing the Sex Pistols.

Phoebe Ackroyd, seated beside him on the front row, also in her school uniform of green sweatshirt and grey trousers, said the experience of painting dots and dashes on dresses, jackets and a pith helmet left her wanting "to be a model".

Fashion has always been a vehicle for politics for Westwood, who, most recently in 2005, joined forces with British civil rights group Liberty with a series of T-shirts and babywear with the slogan "I am not a terrorist" to draw attention to the preservation of civil liberties post-September 11.

Monday's collection, titled "Chaos Point", was no different. Her vision was a group of freedom fighters trying to avert the planet from ecological disaster and included one model on stilts "distinguish the characters and their clothes," Westwood said.

Phoebe and Euan found their way to the front row of the world's premier fashion event because of their teacher, Madeline Bell, 25, who had her class write to Westwood after she taught them about the designer in a lesson on "Great Artists".

Bell, who studied fashion before training as a teacher and "absolutely loved" Westwood, said the thrill was as much hers.

"I'm living my dream through the children," she said. "She's given them such a brilliant chance to do something amazing."

- REUTERS