Diamond dress lights up London

The dress has 2,000 cut diamonds

Diamonds may be a girl's best friend, but the little black dress comes a close second and for celebrity designer Maria Grachvogel the obvious way forward was to combine the two.

The result is the most expensive dress to hit the international catwalk, unveiled by supermodel Jodie Kidd on Sunday.

The black evening gown dazzled the audience at London Fashion Week, with more than 2,000 cut diamonds on the silk bodice.

The dress was the highlight of the show, at Harrods in central London, and is so valuable, with 190 carats worth of diamonds, that insurance terms will only permit it to be worn in pre-determined venues.

Security guards protected the garment which is worth a cool £250,000.

It was delivered to the Knightsbridge store in an armoured van and whisked away just seconds after Kidd had taken it off.

Maria Grachvogel's creation will be auctioned for charity

The spectacular dress, slashed to the top of the thigh at the front and flowing to the floor at the back, was delicately hand-sewn with the diamonds, each individually set in 18-carat white gold.

The gems were inlaid in rows from top to waist on the bodice.

The dress will be auctioned in aid of the Nelson Mandela Children's Fund, a charity chosen by Eric Van Peterson - the boss of online jewellers VanPeterson.com which provided the jewels.