Westwood's latest fashion statement - Lolitas in tweed

Vivienne Westwood flouted convention yet again yesterday, with her Red Label collection at the Dorchester Hotel marking the beginning of London Fashion Week. And with London at present enjoying its renewed reputation as the most swinging city in the world, the Westwood show attracted more international press and buyers than ever before.

They, of course, had come to witness not only the clothes, but the girls modelling them. News that the designer had chosen 25 girls between the ages of 13 and 17 proved slightly inaccurate. The youngest were 13, but the oldest were a more conventional 21. The teenagers were being transformed from schoolgirls into blooming English roses backstage, while their mothers looked on.

Lara Copcutt, 13, from Surrey, was more self-assured than many of the older girls. "As soon as you can make up your mind to do something, you can do it," she said. Her mother could only nod in agreement.

Meanwhile, Valerie Riley's two daughters, Lucie, 15, and Serena, 20, were both preparing to model in the show. "I wouldn't have let them do it unless I felt they were mature enough," she said, before giving journalists her business card - for her own modelling agency (representing her daughters, of course).

But the other 13-year-old model was the mysterious Charlotte, who was kept closely guarded by Jonathon Phang of Spirit Management, agent to the supermodel Jodie Kidd. He refused to divulge any information on his young charge, except that she was old enough to be doing the show, and attended a school in Windsor.

Westwood couldn't have hoped for more of a stir than that created by the use of very young models. The clothes she put them in were the embodiment of decency. There was not an inch of flesh on display; unlike her past Paris shows, which are renowned for the appearance of bare-breasted, or almost nude, models. The clothes on show yesterday were the opposite: very wearable, womanly and pure Westwood. Curvy tweed jackets with more than a passing reference to Miss Jean Brodie and Queen Elizabeth I were worn with pie-crust frilled blouses, knickerbockers and A-line skirts in the colours of the English country. Clingy dresses displayed only the merest hint of cleavage, and legs were covered by thick tights.

Joan Spivey, mother of 15-year-old Ruth, was extremely happy for her to be taking part. When asked whether she approved of the clothes, she said: "Ruth has to wear quite a short skirt, but it's no shorter than anything you see on the high street."

Westwood may not be able to change the way street fashions can put all teenagers in the same look, but she may have changed the way her young models dress in the future. They each received pounds 150 in clothing vouchers, and probably their first Westwood clothes. It could be the beginning of a beautiful relationship.

Melanie Rickey