Germany bids farewell to murdered fashion designer

Up to 10,000 Germans and assorted glitterati braved heavy snow in Munich yesterday to bid farewell to a flamboyant German fashion designer murdered earlier this month.

Up to 10,000 Germans and assorted glitterati braved heavy snow in Munich yesterday to bid farewell to a flamboyant German fashion designer murdered earlier this month.

Rudolph Moshammer, 64, was as famed for his eccentric wig and pet dog Daisy as for his creations. His clients reportedly included California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger and tenor Jose Carreras.

The funeral cortege arrived for a minute's silence outside his boutique before a marching band led the procession along the city's streets, lined with 5,000 to 10,000 onlookers, police said.

Pall-bearers laid Moshammer's mahogany coffin beside that of his mother at the family's columned mausoleum.

Moshammer was found dead in his Munich villa on 14 January with a cable wrapped around his neck. Police later arrested a 25-year-old Iraqi man, saying he had confessed to the killing.