Milan, Paris, London, New York and... Manila. It's hardly the centre of the fashion world but more than 2,000 models have taken to the catwalk in a Philippine shopping mall to claim a new world record.

A total of 2,255 men, women and children, from strutting seasoned professionals to stumbling first-timers, took part in the record for the most models to walk down the runway at a single event.

They queued in unglamorous surroundings late Thursday, hemmed in by metal railings, to take their turn on the catwalk at the renovated Ayala Mall during a fashion event that lasted several hours.

And a Guinness World Records adjudicator later certified that the attempt had beaten the previous record of 1,957 models set in Istanbul in May, according to a statement from real estate agent Ayala Land Inc.