Eduardo Lucero

When they weren’t busy applauding, audience members at Eduardo Lucero’s fall show were scratching their heads, wondering why a guy this good ain’t a guy gone global. Lucero seems to have everything a designer needs to break out of the pack: expert construction techniques, darn good fitting skills, a way with fabrics and a style that he can call his own. But he’s still one of L.A.’s best-kept secrets.

From the tightly packed bleachers set up in his Beverly Boulevard store, the craftsmanship was easy to appreciate up close. Lucero built this collection around the corset and waist cincher, extra-flared trousers, and asymmetric twists and swags of fabric. Editors were madly circling the hot numbers on their programs: the ruffled-edge leather miniskirt; the re-embroidered lace shirtdress; and evening separates made from an underlayer of purple sequins topped with a rose-print mesh for an almost-holographic effect. And we’re just waiting for the day when some stunning celebrity shows up in the black liquid sequin dress that was slit from ankle to collarbone, and cinched together by a thread at the waist. One stiff wind . . . !

While several of Lucero’s ideas have been seen on other European runways, cribbing an idea or two from the likes of John Galliano, Narciso Rodriguez and Gianni Versace isn’t such a bad thing.