MILAN, Jan 17, 2003 /FWD/ --- Victoria Grantham has a thing for policemen: "I stare at those Italian police with their cornflower blue pants with the burgundy stripe so much that I'm afraid I might get arrested, " she says. The Milanese carabinieri in their zuava-style Austrian pants are just one of countless military men on whom Grantham counts for inspiration on her three-year-old VGrantham men's label.

This season, the South African designer's military guy is enlisted in an army led by the Red Baron and spends his off nights at hardcore Sex Pistol concerts. Young cadets, with bone-shaped dog tags and cape-like trenches, trod up and down Grantham's skateboard ramp stage, which was the backdrop for the designer's first live presentation.

The off-hours punkers wore pocket-heavy army pants in twill, denim, wool or velvet, which billowed elegantly at the thigh but were nipped in at the knee and tapered down into black combat boots. Aviator-style lacing traced the fronts and backs of heavy twill or soft nappa leather jackets, and heavy gold zippers covered pants and police-style wool bombers.

The clothes, many of which were reversible and featuring winter white linings like genuine German army gear from World War I, featured all of the special detailing and quirks for which Grantham is known.

"I think military wear is truly the foundation for men's sportswear," says the designer, who knows a thing or two about the subject after her successful menswear stints at Donna Karan and Louis Vuitton. "It's functional, it's real and it's full of great details."

Personalized logos like an enlarged number "7" (the designer's lucky number) and stylized bullhorns (the designer and her husband and son are all Tauruses) popped up randomly on the clothes and were wonderfully morphed into dancing graphics on a huge screen video behind the models. The hardcore, modern imagery played frivolously against the uniformed fashion, which also featured a few looks from Grantham's upcoming women's line.

The designer says her philosophy for the women's clothing follows that of her men's (read: easy and uncomplicated), like a winter white wool coat dress dotted with oversized buttons or a fur shift with a sporty zip front. "I want to use men's fabrics for women, to build things up a bit, make them stronger and less delicate." Although only five women's looks were shown today, the full collection will be on view during women's fashion week in mid February.