NEW YORK, Feb 18, 2002/ FWD/ --- So many of our musical icons are going all out for elegance.

U2’s favorite fashion label is now Hermes, while rapper Sean Combs has redirected his formally street-obsessed collection at a radically new customer – the dapper gent.

Sean’s choice of location -- the 42nd Street Cipriani restaurant, with its cathedral-like ceiling -- made that abundantly clear.

Combs has clearly come a long way from a year ago when he sent out a collection of baggy denims, chains and gaudy exotic skins at the same time he was on trial for alleged involvement in a nightclub shooting.

Last season Combs’ celebrated defense lawyer Johnnie Cochran sat front-row; this season several security guards insisted Bill Clinton would attend.

He didn’t, but what seemed like a squadron of rap artists showed up, making up in catcalls and high fives for the missing Big Bill.

The show, an elaborate blend of music, video projection, celebrities and in-jokes, allegedly cost $1 million, which is not so excessive given that Sean John’s line expects to hit $200 million in volume this year.

The artist currently known as P. Diddy certainly didn’t skim on the fabrics either: luscious deep pile houndstooth cashmeres, beautifully finished shearlings and fine woolens.

However, at least to a European eye, there was a major problem with the sizing, silhouette and cut of this collection.

Granted, most of the rap fans who’ll actually buy these clothes are about five sizes bigger than the average French or British fashion follower.

Even really stretching one’s imagination it is difficult to imagine a dapper Euro fashionista wearing any of these Sean John outfits down the via Montenapoleone or avenue Montaigne.

Some may say that Puffy’s market is America, and it’s true that Bloomingdale’s fashion director Kal Ruttenstein had a truly beatific smile in the front row.

But if the Diddy man lives up to his promised to stage future collections in Europe, he’d better brace himself for a critical broadside.

Moreover, some of the individual items – multi-patched coats, leather jackets scrunched violently at the back and even a suede jelaba – each amounted to a major faux pas.

This was doubly mysterious as there were scores of examples of excellent tailoring at the show, only they were on the screen, not the catwalk.

A montage of truly elegant figures like Fred Astaire, Duke Ellington and Humphrey Bogart formed the black-and-white backdrop to the show.

The clothes they wore looked refined and polished -- those the models wore did not.

Sean John Fashion

Sean John Fashion

Sean John Fashion