MILAN, Oct 1, 2002/ FWD/ --- There was precious little to wear to the office in this collection, and barely a stitch to in which to do anything as dull as business, but that mattered little at the dazzling display of panache and creativity that was the Fendi collection shown Friday in Milan.

Oddly enough, its inspiration was fairly prosaic: antique architectural forms used for drafting plans, Perspex versions of which divided the silver runway in Fendi's regular show space on via Sciesa.

The result, however, was a spectacular collection that scores of stars should book now for their next red carpet event.

"My starting point were the architectural tools, so the whole collection curved and flowed.

Then I gave it a Roman touch," Karl Lagerfeld told FWD backstage after the show.

From the opening outfits - surfer sirens in Mediterranean blue chiffon dresses and tops and haute bourgeois beach babes in bondage swimwear with razor-cut second-skin suede jackets - the collection packed punch.

The mood was vampish and voluptuous, an exotic mixture of gold and silver, white and sea blue.

But the real beauty of this collection was the eveningwear where the performance of the Fendi atelier was stellar: bands of fabric held miraculously together by pearls while perforated leather cocktail numbers glittered with a meteor shower of sequins.

The show was also packed with amazing accessories, crystal studded woven leather belts, opulent glittering heels, silvery shades that Lagerfeld nicknamed "forehead tiaras," and elaborate metal wristbands, no, make that forearm bands, which will be copied by many.

"I call them arm tattoos," joked Lagerfeld. We call them a look that's going to be aped but never successfully copied internationally.

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