FEELING HOT, HOT, HOT.(fashion designers)

Byline: Andre Leon Talley

Who are fashion's heirs apparent? Who are the headliners of the future? Judging by the collections I've just seen for resort 2005, it is a talented cadre of former design assistants who will soon be taking all the blue ribbons.

There is something so fresh in the work of Nina Ricci's Lars Nilssen, who started at Christian Lacroix; Behnaz Sarafpour, who began at Isaac Mizrahi; Patrick Robinson, now at Paco Rabanne, formerly of Giorgio Armani; and Francisco Costa, once at Oscar de la Renta and Gucci.

BEHNAZ SARAFPOUR

I got my first glimpse of new resort in June at the Council of Fashion Designers of America awards. Claire Danes wore a white crepe column from Sarafpour, banded in black Chantilly lace; Amanda Hearst was spotted in a lace-print strapless cotton dress. Sarafpour herself wore a prim look from the new collection: a white organza Belle de Jour look with a sleek black satin skirt.

"I was suddenly feeling a baroque mood," said Behnaz the next day as she greeted me in her small, warm atelier space.

Sarafpour's line was focused on one simple theme: lace. Nearly everything was touched with it: a wonderful cashmere cardigan with wrist-length sleeves, mother-of-pearl snaps, and black lace framing the front; a short, strapless full-skirted dress stamped with a lace print and edged in black cotton lace; a fab matching lace-print rainproof trench coat.