FASHION icon Dame Zandra Rhodes brought glamour to a north Dorset high street when she made a rare appearance to launch her autumn collection.

The flamboyant designer chose small independent shop Shirley Allum Fashions in Shaftesbury as one of just two British stores in which to unveil her impressive new handbag collection.

Sporting her trademark shocking pink hair, she drew a crowd of fashion-conscious Dorset residents, many of whom have followed her enviable career since the 1960s, and stayed for more than three hours.

Between autograph signings the queen of the catwalk found time to talk to the Daily Echo.

She said: “It has been a fabulous day and I have met a lot of lovely people.

“In my company we do our best to work with people who like to be with us and appreciate what we do.

“This shop is gorgeous and it is great because we’ve been able to identify with the people coming in.”

And she told how she likes spending time in Dorset and used to enjoy holidays in Bournemouth and Poole as a child.

Heather Best, who works in the High Street store, said: “Dame Zandra is based in Los Angeles and is only visiting two stores in the UK , Shirley Allum and another in Yorkshire.

“We were very excited to be chosen because she is an iconic designer. She is very supportive of independent shops and we love stocking her handbags because they are quite funky and very popular.”

Dame Zandra, one of a wave of influential designers who made British fashion the envy of the world in the 1960s, was made a Dame in the Queen’s Birthday Honours this year.

Her designs have been chosen by Royalty and celebrities including Diana, Princess of Wales, Elizabeth Taylor and Queen’s Freddie Mercury.

She added: “My company and my museum are in the UK and I am English through and through. My husband wanted to live by the sea in California but I come to England at least once a month for about a week at a time.”