LONDON, ENGLAND - Former Wimbledon champion Maria Sharapova presented a prototype dress to reporters that is designed to light up when the wearer's mobile telephone rings.

British fashion student Georgie Davis dreamed up the knee-length sleeveless white dress as part of a school project with mobile phone-maker Sony Ericsson to figure out ways of incorporating new technology into fashion.

Davis said the dress is designed to eventually be connected to the wearer's phone by Bluetooth wireless technology, so she can be alerted to a call even in noisiest of places.

"When you're in a pub or a bar, you can never, ever hear your phone," 20-year-old Davis told Reuters on Wednesday.

The right shoulder of the dress is embellished with translucent white scales that move and light up.

Sharapova showed off the dress to a gaggle of photographers and a crowd of passers-by from the window a luxury department store in central London.