Ah, do you remember the good ole days of car advertising? Even if it was just a bit of tin with four wheels, it would have a woman in a red bikini draped across the bonnet stroking a leopard. Then there were the ones with a bloke at the wheel - always a man at the steering wheel - manoeuvring around alpine passes, across muddy terrain, accelerating from 0 to 100 in five nanoseconds. Of course, women were allowed to drive small cars in ads. A young woman with long blonde hair would whizz along cobbled streets in an old Italian town in a little red Mini Metro to admiring glances from elderly Robert de Niros in cloth caps.

And now there are car fashion shows. Last week Mercedes-Benz unveiled two models with the aid of renowned local designer Barney Cheng Siu-leung, who created clothing to go with the cars at the launch's fashion show. Cheng was given the task of creating two looks that would fit the SL and SLK classes unveiled at 'Icons of Style - The New Generation SL and SLK-Class' at the Convention and Exhibition Centre.

'It was aimed at two demographic groups - haute couture for the SL and kids for the SLK. It was my vision of what these folk would look like if they were driving these cars. It's not something that is too original,' said Cheng, citing shows by Jean-Paul Gaultier, which involved car parts, and Tom Ford, who designed metallic-paint Gucci loafers. Another designer had a biker chick look with rear view mirrors on the models' bustiers.