Fendi holds fashion show on Great Wall of China

Last updated at 17:10pm on 19th October 2007

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At well over 1,500 miles it must be the longest catwalk in history, but that didn’t stop designer Karl Lagerfield staging a show for Fendi on the Great Wall of China.

The show-stopping event was held on top of the ancient structure, with spotlights lighting up the models and casting the surrounding countryside into gloom.

A section of the World Heritage Site was extended even further into the mountains around the capital Beijing to create the catwalk, with a backdrop of open sky.

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A model is helped off the end of the catwalk

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Hollywood Actresses Kate Bosworth and Thandie Newton watched the show

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Fashion-conscious celebrities eagerly attending the event included actress Thandie Newton in a primrose yellow satin ballgown and Hollywood starlet Kate Bosworth in a striking black and white fur-like coat.

Fifties-style promdresses and fur jackets were highlighted on the stage by the Italian luxury goods company famous for its shoes, bags and geometric logo.

After the show Karl Lagerfield, wearing his trade mark shades and dark overcoat received applause from the fashionista audience. He was joined by creative director Silvia Venturini Fendi also somber in black.

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Models use the Great Wall as a catwalk

Silvia Venturini Fendi and Karl Lagerfield lap up the applause

First built in 221 BC to preserve China’s borders during the reign of the Qin Emperor, the construction of the Great Wall became the chief defensive strategy to repel the enemy from the north in the age before gunpowder and cannons. It was a massive undertaking, equivalent to the building 30 of the great pyramids of Egypt.

Emperor Qin chose his most able general Ling Qia as chief foreman who put to work an army of over 300,000 men.

In recent years, the Great Wall has been used as a backdrop to scores of events to help publicise the emerging superpower.

A rave on the Wall in 2005 caused a national outrage after drunken Western party goers were photographed urinating against the ancient structure.

High heels on teetering models dressed in the seasonal must-haves however, were eagerly approved by the government-run China Great Wall Society.