But as we hinted last week, the Canberra Centre has been revealed as driving the so-called Guardians of Style that again stopped lunchtime crowds in Civic on Thursday.

It entranced at least one little girl, four-year-old Elizabeth Latimore of Giralang who said when she grew up she wanted to be ''a fashionista''.

She shyly kept her distance but discreetly copied the poses of the 10 models who were performing outside the Canberra Centre.

The Canberra Centre workshopped the idea of using models styled like mannequins to pop up unannounced at the myriad events in the national capital this month, each wearing designs from the centre's retailers and promoting the new autumn-winter fashion trends.

They posed po-faced at the Comedy Festival, Diner En Blanc, Enlighten, the Black Opal Stakes and Skyfire before being unveiled outside the Canberra Centre on Thursday.

The hour-long routines were choreographed by a style team, with the models changing pose on cue every three minutes.

Stylist Francesca Droulias said she ''felt like a bit of a 007 agent'' keeping it all hush-hush. ''It's been really good and the styling has been so much fun,'' she said.

Canberra Centre marketing manager Tero Blinnikka said the campaign had been about creating a bit of theatre while tapping into the city's busy calendar.

''We haven't noticed that anybody else has done this and, for us, it was about presenting fashion in a creative way to showcase our retailers and launch the new season,'' he said.

The next stage of the project will show off fashions on level one at the Canberra Centre from next Friday to Sunday.