Protesting Guantanamo on a bikini billboard

LONDON — Call them protest panties.

Designer Vivienne Westwood returned to London Fashion Week after a nine-year absence, and one of her models wore the outspoken designer's political opinions where it would win a lot of attention — on the tush.

Westwood protested the treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay by cladding the lead model in her show in orange and black underwear reminiscent of the fluorescent orange jumpsuits worn by detainees at the U.S. prison camp.

At the start of the show, the model strutted down the catwalk and turned provocatively to the assembled photographers to flash panties printed with the words: "Fair trial my arse."

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The message was an apparent reference to U.S. plans to prosecute Guantanamo Bay prisoners at military tribunals.

Inspiration for the bikini billboard came from the director of the legal charity Reprieve, Clive Stafford Smith, who was accused of smuggling underwear into Guantanamo Bay.

Backstage, Westwood said she hoped Sen. Barrack Obama would be chosen as the Democratic Party's presidential candidate. She also showed off a necklace she was wearing that read: "I'm not a terrorist, please don't arrest me."

"I don't know if I will actually wear them," she said of the panties, which will retail for 35 pounds, or nearly $70, and come with handcuffs as accessories.

The underwear is a collaboration with her son, Joseph Corre, a founder of Agent Provocateur, the racy underwear clothing label.

"It's about people standing up and deciding what side of the fence they're on," Corre said. "Hopefully they'll take a bit of notice. If not, they'll get a great pair of knickers."