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   Meanwhile back at the Times Square Studios, another first-timer made an appearance. Geova (presented by Gallagher’s Gallery and Archives) was another designer who left a distinct impression in my mind. His design philosophy can be best summed up as refined lunacy, much in the vein of John Galliano (although not as polished or accomplished—yet). His designs are seemingly haphazard but on closer look, one can see that everything is a deliberate process of careful thought and planning. His dresses are often a patchwork of different fabrics and patterns thrown together to form a design that ultimately vindicates itself. His best pieces, such as his black keyhole lace slip skirt, come with hidden surprises. His black geometric print cocktail dress has a handkerchief hemline that showed flashes of gold underpinnings. The limited amount of menswear shown didn’t leave much of an impression and rightly so because it was more of the same things we had been seeing all week.
   Oliver Christian Herold, a friend of the Lucire family, had his show at the Waldorf Astoria, which was quite fitting considering the collection. Mr Herold has grown up and now he is making grown-up clothing. That means that it’s goodbye to the Indians and hello to the Upper East Side and the ladies-who-lunch and the men who pay dearly for those meals and other outings.
   He showed some very beautiful day suits in embroidered wool crêpe and his coats were refined and quite of-the-moment. My favourites among the coats were his alpaca car coat and a floral printed rabbit fur short cape coat. Among the suits, the embroidered wool crêpe in navy, fire alarm red and black set the standard for the others. For the most part, they come equipped with judiciously placed kick flaps for easy walking, were form-fitted and ended just above the knee. His printed silk shirts are also easy pieces to incorporate into one’s wardrobe. What saved this collection from being too much of a parody was the distressed printed lambskin leather pants and wool-backed laser-cut leather skirts he sprinkled throughout the show. We have always admired his sure hands when it comes to leather, and here it served his purposed very well. •

Phillip D. Johnson is features’ editor of Lucire. Richard Spiegel is New York editor of Lucire.