Paris 1980. The last mannequin has sashayed haughtily down the catwalk the very model of razor sharp new decade style and disappeared behind the scenes cocksure and proud. A stunned but scintillated press are momentarily mute and then the ovation begins. An unheard of twenty minutes later, the crowd is still on its feet, applauding and yelling ' Bravo' at the top of their fashionable voices in sincere tribute to a new maestro who, is inexplicably absent. The models are waiting to make the triumphant passegiata down the runway, jostling for a prime position to the designer's arm but there is no designer. As the minutes tick by, the question on everybody's lips is indeed: Where art thou, Romeo?

Romeo Gigli loves to tell this story. As passionate as his compatriots, Versace, Ferre, Armani and Valentino, he is nevertheless, remarkably non plussed when it comes to the peripheral show of fashion showings. There is little wanton esotericism in his design credo. He knows what he likes, how he creates, what his inspirations are and what motivates him as surely as he does his phone number and he wastes no time in indulging these two much in conversation.

His clothes are icons not himself and a request for a photo of the designer to accompany this article was politely refused on those grounds. Still, if you are lucky paparrazza, you can catch Romeo slipping in and out of the fashionable haunts from New York to his native Milano, or perhaps dancing chic-to-chic with one of the many luminaries who adore his clothing. This Italian Romeo likes to have fun - and, right now, that is designing fashion.

Romeo Gigli is a straightforward character articulate, unaffected and confident but not the least bit arrogant as his present status in international fashion might afford him the privilege of being. Unlike many of his professional brethren, Gigli is not convinced that he is touched by the hand of God in his designing talent but a cherubic smile in saying so belies the possibility of some sort of heavenly association. Vissi d'arte, life and art are succinctly divided in Gigli's professional milieu but their imbrication in the world of his youth made for some profound creative resonance.

There was no pivotal experience in his present choice of career, fashion, culture and style were just always there; in the 20,000 books that surrounded his childhood, in his mother continuously resplendent in French haute couture, in the 8 years of extensive travel to exotic destinations and underlying this all - the study of architecture, influential indeed but just not inspiring enough to embrace singularly.

The fashion translation of all of this is curiously paradoxical; ranging from the devastating simple back sheath with articulate detail on the bodice, to rich brocades and velvet plumage celebrating Byzantine opulence, and silks wealthy with Oriental extravagance. Seemingly too fantastic, but a swish of a coat tail reveals the near ironic simplicity of man style suiting underneath. The generosity and wealth of fabrics mirrors his love of exotic destinations, mostly profoundly the East. His Winter Collection 1990 used more than 90 different fabrics of which help to consolidate his theme.

"Fabric is a starting point for me - every time I vocalise a new inspiration I work with fabrics and in each collection I have around 90-95 different fabrics, in different colours", says Gigli of the essential tool of his trade. "Sometimes I find a fantastic fabric and that can help me to formulate my inspiration but basically, my creativity comes first.

"I use the heavy fabrics only for the coats and the jackets because the heaviness helps in the construction of the shapes. You see, I like the coats to be very sculptural. But there are many fabrics now that visually appear heavier but are in fact, light materials, and that is beautiful - you can retain the design and the shape but with comfort in the wearing of the clothes.

The distinctive colours are also his trademark - a celebration of a richly endowed palette - earthy tones, the flat moss greens and rusts, tobacco browns, bronzes, rich rubies and wines, all of which make the transition from day to evening wear with dramatic effect. There is marvellous beading in vests that hang like chandelier drops from a cropped midriff line for evening; or a fabulous shawl that can be wrapped around the shoulders or cover the bust as ersatz, but extravagant shirting.
In his showings, swathes of silks and the translucent opulence of sheer but decidedly unfrivolous chiffon grace alabaster shoulders and cropped heads. Boyish girls and a shared gender in cut are frequent but not obtusely so. Where Comme des Garcons can disguise the sexuality under blouson layers and angled severity, Gigli celebrates the young girl in every woman - the dress-up doll who fantasised about exotic royalty, an Infanta rather than a Lady, undeniably self-possessed but with a hidden agenda dizzy with imagination.

His coats are masterpieces of near over statement so immensely proportioned and embellished are they. His gamine models are wrapped, swathed, cocooned, and embraced in the precious security of handmade materials - mirrored, embroidered and rich - but they are saved from drowning once again by the classicism of mens fashion hugging the body underneath. Slim-fitting pants with single breasted blazers, perhaps topped with an interpretation of a viziers hat make for eclectic partnerships of classic suiting with opulence in fabric.

Gigli ventures into the art department but shuts the door in nineties pop and unruly abstract expressionism in dressing his girls. His is a sensual fashion not blatantly sexy and he has even been criticised for refusing to shock. Nevertheless, the influence of Romeo Gigli in avant garde Milano fashion is now an absolute, particularly evident in the Winter 1990 collections - in Dolce e Gabbano, or the Spanish pretender, Sybilla - spawning what one fashion observer called - "a velvet underground". Gigli's clothes manage to be eminently wearable without losing their distinctive nomenclature and 'arthouse' appeal.

The influence on others of his sort of artistic showmanship is not lost on Gigli. He enjoys exciting reaction from the disparate sectors of Romeo Gigli followers and he laughs as he recalls one particular showing in New York.

"It was a showing of a Winter Collection for Bergdorf Goodman in a new space that they had not previously had much success with. It was a huge loft full of windows, and we painted it all white and devised a two part theme - Uptown and Downtown. The downtown artists were so excited with what we did - they loved it, the uptowners were absolutely shocked, you could see it on their faces! A fantastic reaction!

Fashion is decidedly visceral today - more than ever before a reflection not simply of creative design in clothing textiles but a reflection of what in fact, the designer thinks of the contemporary woman and how he would dress his description. Whilst Gaultier displayed his 'nude look', theoretically a celebration of the female silhouette complete with trompe l'oeuil peekaboo flesh, in truth it, is hardly a respectful tribute to enduring femineity. Avant-garde theatre and fashion are probably clever but undeniably expensive indulgences for the designer and today, the consumer is less driver to comply with such dubious dictates.

Gigli, meanwhile in his translation of the new season, provided the constants which drove him to design for women in the first place - sincere love and respect for the, 'fairer sex," often gushingly so, in occasionally near dangerous overstyling - but always in his pervasive image; "For me, each girl is like a princess..." and each year, his love for such precious royalty increases, vivifying his model monarchy ever more.

Like Azzedine Alaia, he was an architect and the principles of construction are always in evidence. With clever panelling and structural form Alaia's woman is a statuesque Juno - with curves and decolletage, shimmering in materials cut with the precision of a jigsaw to dazzle. Similarly, for Gigli architectural education was important but not to the degree that it is reflected verbatim in his fashion.

"Of course it has been very helpful in designing with shape and form, utilising classic concepts of cut and design," he says, "but also, my family were very important indeed. My father and my grandfather were antiquarian book collectors and dealers so I was living for twenty years in that atmosphere. Between them, they had 20,000 old books and through them I was well acquainted with the costumes, clothing and lifestyle of the European courts and the classic art, and that can be read in my work. Through my travels there is the legacy of the Orient and their costumes. I felt then, that my work is a potpourri of all these elements.

Now around the mid-forty ballpark age, Gigli began his career in fashion a mere fifteen years ago and since then, this couture star has rocketed.

"It was never one big decision for me to go into fashion since I was a small child I had always been fascinated by it - Like many designing dynamos - the elegance of a stylish mother also proved pivotal. "She dressed in French haute couture throughout her life," he says, " and that was obviously a strong influence.

"Myself, I was studying architecture but did not complete my degree, and instead I travelled around the world for some time. I wanted to experience all the different cultures and civilisations. I just travelled for eight years during which time I bought lots of things, ceramics, art, carpet - I was very curious and I love art! For me it was a way to better understand the cultures. I would also buy a few fabrics, and I was complemented on my good taste," he says simply.

"When I turned thirty, I told myself that it was time to do something with all of this. A few friends of mine introduced me to a mens tailor called Dimitri in New York, who was trying to put together a haute couture collection for women. Although I had a good feeling for textiles, for colour, I did not know anything about the mechanics of fashion! He invited me to stay in New York for three months to work on it. It was like a job for me, although I knew nothing about designing fashion.

"I was allowed a lot of freedom to do what I wanted, I used to get my favourite model and each day, I would wrap fabrics around her to try to understand something about how it all worked! My fashion culture came only from costumes of cultures around the world - national dress. And that was my first visual fashion. Then there were mens jackets, mens pants which I put all together. It is like when women used to travel the world and pick clothes from each country they visited, putting them altogether," he says reflectively, searching for a suitable analogy for his method. "I still do that but I hope that I do it in a modern way."

A most unorthodox fashion is which to learn about fashion but Gigli is not fazed by his on-the-job training. Although today, he is the darling of the French doyennes, he does not regret not availing himself of the rigours of Parisian couture discipline.

"The French couturier system is very old, very traditional and of course, we do not have that in Italy," he says. "Our tradition is solid in workmanship - in good handmade clothes, in tailoring. We are I think, freer in this way, but we do not have alot of accrued experience. And we have to learn from our mistakes."

As for that first collection for Dimitri - " I tried, and the collection was a success - accessibly priced for everyone, I then returned to Milano where I owned a house, and I was approached by a few manufacturers of clothes who asked me to do some sketches for them and, I decided to try," he says with a shrug. What happened next is a credit to his determination to master an art with which he was only briefly acquainted.

"I loved this type of work and I adored working the materials and fabrics, but still, I knew nothing about the fashion. So I decided to research the various elements of fashion design in each medium. The techniques, the mechanics of it all - I really didn't know anything, you see. I did that for three years or so, in order to understand everything about fashion. I then tried to put it all together into my collection with my own imagination.

"It was a big help for me to have a fashion tradition, a base from which to develop. But for myself, I take that and I fly with it - I fly with my mind and my own creativity every season. Every six months - I like to do a new story but in a contemporary way."

Gigli is a subtle raconteur who wrestles with his own theories in each new collection. The very open to interpretation, Woman As Angel and Devil, manages to combine Eastern mythology, with yin and yang and the duality of the feminine wile - all very burdensome concepts at the best of times - in a fashion collection that relied on subliminal references only, most through the use of fabric. His theory is that those who recognise will know, the others, well, the clothes are very, very nice in themselves.

"For me it is very important that the fabrics translate my collections, that they tell my story and they reflect the atmosphere of the collection. So, the last collection was Woman Like the Angel and the Devil and I played with these concepts in an esoteric way - my idea was to realise that through esoteric embroidery. I needed to find old style fabrics mens style from the nineteenth century which I embellished with embroideries and stitching. Then there was a big melange of various influences which women were playing with around the world but dressing like men in doing so, just to confuse us. I used magic symbols inside the coats to show the secret held within.

"The notion of the devil is very strong in magic in India and they use various symbols to escape the bad karma. I also used Chinese dragons and then I added European style decorations from around the time of the Renaissance to show culture conflicts."

All this might imply the suspicion of a duplicitous woman, shrewd and canny and a little uncanny in her sources, but Gigli is still definitively respectful in his admiration of her. Just tossing around a few ideas, he says.

"Like princesses, all of them," he reiterates, "In the Sixties and Seventies there was that big revolution in the women's liberation movement," he says a little disparagingly, "where they changed very much the style of their dress and their attitudes to fashion - they liked to dress like men! They didn't like to dress in a feminine way. I like to meet women who are feminine but who are strong and intelligent, but I don't like women who deny their feminity - who don't recognise their female beauty. For men it is important that women do that too!". He ventures with just a little cheeky bravado.

The Romeo Gigli collections for men are another story altogether and seemingly not as challenging, nor perhaps as satisfying for him.

When asked how they differ in style, Gigli laughs, a little nervously. "Oh they are enormously different! The Mens collections are very....easy. I do only jackets, pants, shirts, coats. I play only with fabrics using a few shapes that I love... so it is much easier. But also the background is very different," he says without elaboration.

"Every time I create, it is like a trip around the world. With the last collection I used a few Indian, Chinese, Japanese motifs but when a man travels it is different to the way a woman does. I play only with colours, fabrics and basic shapes for men. I do not play with concepts."

Although he derives inspirations from the various cultures, Romeo Gigli does not design for specific nationalities. He rather likes the idea of the global village - a fashion Esperanto of which he is a chief interpreter. "I am always thinking about international men and international women each time I design my collections. They have a universal application. I recognise now that everyone perceives my collections in this way be they in Japan, the US or England. I hope so. You see, I do not like to categorise women by their nationality - as Americans or English women, French, Italian. Now the world is like a small town and I think that is the best way to work in fashion."

As to the future of fashion - a subject on which there is much outspoke and diverse commentary ricocheting through press, fitting and work rooms alike, Romeo Gigli says only that it is very difficult to predict but he is committed to the belief that a designer should never have complete autonomy over a loyal client.

"In my collections, I have a perfect vision about what I want. But I don't design the ensemble - I put them altogether afterward. I design a jacket, then a skirt, then a dress all individually. That is my point of view about the future of fashion because if I design a jacket with pants and a shirt - I don't want them to be absolutely stuck together. In this way I can design so that the woman can buy a shirt and a jacket, a few pieces, that she can use with lots of things perhaps Montana pants or a Lacroix shirt."

This egalitarian view of fashion is most surprising. One is certain that designers are aware of the cross-referencing of their clothing, but it is doubtful that they would be proud to admit the adaptability of their designs to those of a supposed rival. But Gigli is definite in this. He likes the individuality of a client to be most prominent and he wants to free her to feel confident in doing so.

"I don't like it when a woman is a direct reconstruction of a designer, you know? I love everyone to have their own personality - to be proud of it and to work with it. I hope that women can take my clothing and imbue it with their own personality. I want it to be freer."

As for Romeo Gigli himself, ten years on is a long way away but he does have some ideas about what he does not wish to be doing then. "I hope that I am not working in ten years the way that I am working now. It is impossible that I can work in a different way..." he says cryptically. "To do everything each day," the same thing, is just a little boring for me sometimes. Now I love it, it is full of energies. But I know that I cannot live my whole life in fashion because I am full of curiosity. To work in fashion is very powerful, it requires all your time and all your energies and fashion time is very short, very concentrated. Your work from collection to collection. But, I am thinking to change that.

"I am thinking of showing my summer collection only in Paris in my showroom with just 15 models, a few pieces for the press but, of course the collection itself will be extensive for me, each time, the showings cause me much stress! One month of such concentrated work," he says looking to the heavens in mock despair before adding with a smile, " I think I do beautiful dresses without the show..."

So where was Signore Gigli, that debut night in Paris? It will probably come as no surprise to learn that he was outside on the street, smoking a cigarette in the bracing night air and waiting for all the fuss to die down.