For more style blending guidance, in her second season no less, Saudi Arabian Dina Jodkhar paraded truly beautiful work, that can inspire the exotic in our closets for many moons ahead.

Ralph Lauren, who usually rides up late on his country horse, often decides that felt and flannel are the rage two seasons after everyone else's interpretations. This time he hit the poncho nail-on-the-head, and on time, for spring/summer. Hood and cargo pockets aside, one of the functioning forms that maintains cool - is the simple over-the-head poncho, seen everywhere from Prada - to the new Brat catolog. The best ones are fringe-y knit, multi-colored, and can be found in most thrift stores or on your Yucatan vacation. - Or you can go the Ralph route. The evolutionary seguay towards the cape is certainly on the way as it has already made brief appearances in many a collection. It makes a lot of sense (ties at the neck for those with hairdo maintenance fears) and will probably linger in the outerwear world as a staple for a while. There are deep reasons why Zorro and the superheroes wear them.

Speaking of flying, the De La Guarda "show" was so street-poster hyped that it destined for an eventual fashion tie-in. No surprise that they teamed up with Euro Denim Duo Marithe and Francois Girbaud for fall '99. While attending De La Guarda's "performance" last fall, I ran out midway in a screaming frenzy, violated by the Styrofoam balls stuck in my hair and the people swooping down over head to a heavy base line while dropping water balloons below - and skipped the Girbaud encore last week. I find it hard to understand why anyone would call that a good time. To this day, I remain baffled by one writer for a respected and culturally enlightened national newspaper who went so far as to compare the show to sex. To each his own - or maybe they just don't get out much.