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65-year-old Cilla eclipses supermodels at charity fashion show
Robert Mendick, Chief Reporter18.09.08
Veteran singer and TV star Cilla Black showed off a magnificent pair of legs as she flounced down the catwalk, to the strains of her hit song Anyone Who Had a Heart.
Wearing a white shirt, Yves Saint Laurent jacket, black tights and little else, 65-year-old Cilla managed to upstage her younger rivals at the charity catwalk show that brought London Fashion Week to a close last night.
The crowd - including Princess Eugenie, Jerry Hall and the Prime Minister's wife Sarah Brown - burst into applause at the sight of the Liverpudlian whose career began in the Sixties with The Beatles in The Cavern Club.
The only person older than her to dare to bound down the catwalk was Dame Vivienne Westwood, the 67-year-old fashion designer. She, however, kept her legs under wraps.
Almost five decades younger, Olympic star Rebecca Adlington, 19, proved she can sashay almost as well as she can swim. Adlington, her two gold medals displayed around her neck, took to the catwalk alongside her fellow double gold medallist Sarah Ayton, better known as one of the three blondes in a boat who triumphed in Athens in 2004 and in Beijing last month.
The Fashion for Relief event, organised by Streatham's most famous supermodel, Naomi Campbell, is becoming a regular fixture as the closing show at Fashion Week.
Proceeds from this year's event at the Natural History Museum will go towards the White Ribbon Alliance, a charity supported by Mrs Brown, which campaigns for better care for women in childbirth in the developing world.
"Every minute around the world a woman dies in pregnancy, this hasn't changed in 20 years," said Mrs Brown. She added: "The world is coming together to put an end to the shameful and needless deaths. This event will have a major impact on the lives of many women around the world."
Among the other famous faces who took to the runway were singer Cheryl Cole, model Erin O'Connor, a reluctant Tracey Emin, rock daughters Kimberly Stewart and Lizzie Jagger, singer Jamelia and her daughters all in tartan, and girl group the Sugababes.
Ms Cole, wearing a red sequin dress by Jean-Paul Gaultier, was cheered on by her husband, Arsenal footballer Ashley Cole, and bandmate Sarah Harding. Jo Wood, the 53-year-old wife of Rolling Stone Ronnie Wood, who is still said to be in rehab, also put in an appearance on the catwalk in a gold vintage Mairead gown.
