DALLAS, Dec 8, 2005/ FW/ --- Yesterday, during a wintry day in Dallas, the city’s social set gathered at the Mansion at Turtle Creek as New York-based designer Luca Orlandi presented his first ever Cruise Collection during a luncheon cum fashion show hosted by Dallas socialites, Amy Turner Careker and Kim Schlegel Whitman.

Considering that it only snows once or twice a year in Dallas (people tend to stay at home during those two days), the big turn out of about 80 people whose names appear on the metroplex’s social register is a testimony of Luca Luca’s popularity at the Big D, where he has a free standing boutique at Highland Park Village, the shopping center for the city’s elite.

‘I love Luca Orlandi. He has a unique style and uses colors beautifully. I already have some Luca Luca pieces in my wardrobe,’ said Myrna Schlegel, mother of Kim Schlegel Whitman, one of the hosts of the luncheon.

And that’s quite a complement for Luca Orlandi. Myrna Schlegel is a true fashion aficionado and a member of the Dallas jet set who descends in Paris twice a year to attend the haute couture season.

As it turned out, the Schlegel ladies know more about fashion than the average gal. Myrna Schlegel’s younger daughter Kari (who also attended the luncheon) made her debut during the 2004 Crillon Ball in Paris wearing an Elie Saab couture gown.

It was during that same ball that Bea Schaffer, Anna Wintour’s daughter, who wore a Chanel couture gown and Anastasia Virganskaya Gorbachev, granddaughter of Mikhail Gorbachev, who wore a Versace couture gown made their debuts.

Kim Schlegel Whitman got married recently in a Givenchy couture gown.

It was an intimate luncheon, a meeting of friends, and though it was cold outside with the temperature below freezing, the wintry weather was forgotten amidst the warmth of friendship and camaraderie.

Luca Orlandi was immediately enveloped in that warm friendship, his Italian ethnicity accepted and well received.

‘He does not even have an accent,’ said Raquel Ibarra, who owns and manages her own consulting firm. The comment turned out a few laughs with most everyone in the room understanding that the Texas drawl is a very distinct accent.

In a city where multi-ethnicity is customary, ‘not having an accent’ means you have learned the rudiments of the Texas drawl, i.e., speaking slowly. Though technically not a southern state, Texas’ geographical location puts it smack in the center of the southeast and the southwest, a crossroads of the southern United States.

With deep roots closely linked with the states south of the Mason-Dixie line, the ‘slow speech’ usually associated with the South is so much part of Texas.

To say that Mr. Orlandi was a hit with the ladies would be an understatement. Probably, it was the warmth in his personality that came from his Italian heritage, or maybe, he does understand his clients very well and relates to them naturally.

No matter what the reasons were, Luca Orlandi made a very positive impression. It was his first personal appearance in Dallas, six years after the Luca Luca store opened at Highland Park.

The luxury purveyors currently in Dubai attending the Modern Luxury conference can learn something from Luca Orlandi and his staff when it comes to customer service.

Matthew Minick, one of the Luca Luca staffers from the Highland Park boutique, greeted the ladies via their first names as he introduced Mr. Orlandi.

To Mr. Minick, an exchange of goods at the store does not equate to luxury; rather, it is just the beginning.

In Dallas, greeting someone with his or her first name is the norm. When one is addressed as Mr. or Miss or Mrs., he or she looks around and say with a smile, ‘I don’t see my father (or mother) here. Call me…” unless of course, it is a business setting, then business rules apply.

Shopping for women is intimate, a small window in their private life because you obviously will know their dress size and the merchandise will be part of their wardrobe.

And in the intimacy of boutique shopping, a personal relationship is born. Hence, Mr. Minick’s friendship with the ladies is expected, the exchange of a hug and a kiss is anticipated, and not the perfunctory handshake of a business setting.

‘A lot of big fashion houses underestimated the value of a company owned store during the 1980s and early 1990s,’ Luca Orlandi told FW in an interview after the luncheon.

‘Except for Valentino and Gianni Versace, there were very few designers who have freestanding stores. Yet, it is in a boutique setting wherein you can show your clients the best customer service you can offer, and of course, highlight your own line,’ Mr. Orlandi added.

And he lives that philosophy. The successful luncheon and the great relationship with his clientele are enough testimony that Luca Luca is a luxury purveyor in the true sense of the word.