Thousands of shoppers hit Oxford Street last night to get their hands on the new range of clothes inspired by the model Kate Moss.

Moss appeared in Topshop's flagship store window for about 10 seconds at the start before the curtains closed on her.

The designs go on general sale across the group's stores from this morning.

The event kicked off at Oxford Street's flagship store at 8pm.

A 16-year-old schoolgirl who stayed away from lessons for the event, a freelance journalist and a TV reporter were among the eight people in line.

Kate appeared at the launch - for a brief appearance in the store window as a mannequin.

The collection launches in 225 stores nationwide on Tuesday morning. The Croydon-born supermodel was reportedly paid £3m to create the fashion range.

But the collection has already been criticised in the US, with one newspaper describing the designs as: "... like Kate copying a lot of other people's stuff Kate's worn before."