NEW YORK, Feb 25, 2003/ FWD/ --- After taking a break from the runway last season, Bruce was back in business for fall 2003, with yet another dose of its quietly sophisticated, delicately detailed clothes. The hands-on design duo behind the label - themselves rather quiet, they didn't even emerge for a post-show bow - was personally sewing and pressing pieces less than an hour before show time.

Their careful attention paid off, and each piece displayed the precise cutting and innovative draping that has won Bruce accolades like the CFDA's Perry Ellis Award for Emerging Talent in Womenswear and Vogue's nomination as "the next establishment."

Skirts, some with box pleats, were above the knee in keeping with the season's trend, but far from the ultra-minis we've seen on many other runways. A little more length was necessary to maintain the label's signature fluidity. Tailored culottes with side buttons also made a few appearances, but the main story was the pants. Bruce turned to satin, a fabric poised for prominence this fall, to fashion its cinched ankle genie-style version, also offered in overalls (shoulder straps optional).

Bruce designers Nicole Noselli and Daphne Gutierrez opted once again this season for their preferred palette: black, black and a little more black. Out of 20 or so looks, only a couple of ensembles included a shot of color, as in a fuchsia satin camisole, a red shell overlaid with black lace, or a paneled mini-dress that featured subtle red spaghetti straps.

Bobbi Brown conceived the makeup to complement the clothes: "sexy and wearable," she explained backstage. Pink lips and lots of black mascara stood out against matte faces and eyes that were left shimmery and neutral, a new push for Brown as she comes out with several new nude shadow and gloss shades for fall.

Bumble and bumble's Dennis Lanni kept hair similarly minimal. "Hopefully none of the models will have oil in their hair," he said backstage before the show. "We want the hair to be dry and flyaway clean." Right before the models walked onto the runway he used a little baby powder to create an ultra-staticky "electrical storm-ish" effect.

None of that tempest spilled over into the clothes though, which remained compulsively cool with their intensely crafted pleats, drapes and folds.