Catwalk like an Egyptian

It may be the perfect dress to prompt the question: Does my bum look big in this?

With shimmering gold spilling out in all directions, and peculiar shapes mushrooming from the rear, it was designed by John Galliano as part of a collection inspired by images of ancient Egypt.

Galliano's creation drew gasps of admiration at the Christian Dior fashion house in Paris yesterday.

There was a similar response to his other audacious, themed outfits. One model marched forward peeping through the black head of Anubis, the halfman, half-dog Egyptian god of the dead. Another wore her hair moulded into a strange box shape.

British supermodel Erin O'Connor had opened the show as Tutankhamen, with elaborate gold headpiece, gold beard and lashings of metallic eye make-up.