Fashion styles from the past ten decades were displayed at Bradford’s National Media Museum last night as part of celebrations to mark the centenary of one of the city’s most famous businesses.

Clothes that once appeared on catalogue pages of home shopping enterprise Freeman Grattan Holdings were modelled during a catwalk show at the museum’s Pictureville Cinema.

The outfits, recreated by fashion design students at Bradford College, charted the 100 years from Grattan’s birth as an agency mail order company in 1912, during which the firm has grown to become one of the largest retailers in the country.

Suppliers and partners from as far afield as Hong Kong and Japan had travelled to Bradford for the event, as well as Dr Michael Otto, chairman of the supervisory board of Otto Group, FGH’s German-based parent company, and group chief executive Hans Otto Schrader.

FGH underwent a restructure in 2009, after it was found to be losing around £1 million a week, and also embraced online technology. The business now conducts more than 50 per cent of its sales online.

Welcoming guests last night, chief executive Koert Tulleners said: “Many of you will be aware our company went through a difficult time over the last decade, therefore our centenary event is not only to celebrate our centenary but also to thank our suppliers for the support they have given us in trying to reinvent our company from a dowdy mail order company to the much more substantial online player we are today.”

Speaking after the catwalk show, Dr Otto said: “To celebrate 100 years in business, especially in the current economic climate is a significant achievement and one that deserves celebrating.”

Grattan was founded by John Enrico Fattorini, the grandson of an Italian immigrant jeweller living in Bradford, who gave up a successful career in the family firm to launch a mail order company, providing the people of Yorkshire with the opportunity to shop for a range of fancy goods, shoes and watches from the comfort of their homes.

In the early 1990s Grattan became part of the Otto Group, the largest mail order company in the world, and second largest online seller in the world after Amazon.

Grattan merged with Freemans in 1999 and now sells a range of home shopping brands including Bon Prix, Kaleidoscope, Curvissa and Swimwear365.