'Madonna meets Elizabeth Taylor'

With a soupçon of Eva Peron: Imelda Marcos launches a fashion line.

The 77-year-old widow, notorious for extravagant shopping sprees and 3,000 pairs of shoes, said the Imelda Collection would initially include a range of cheap but glitzy jewellery, bags and trainers pitched at youths who were not affected by her family's history.

Mrs Marcos, who amassed trunks of jewels during Ferdinand Marcos's 20-year regime, said: "This is about more than money because money can only buy you food and things like that, but only beauty can feed your soul and your spirit."