The Fashion Show

The fashions on show in this Italian export of unblinking vulgarity lean less on sewing than sex, as top designer Ciaccio Irone prepares to spend millions to bring his American lover Rick back to his bed. It's clear to Ciaccio that Lorenzo Diovisi, his only rival in the world of Milanese fashion, has paid Rick a fancy sum to leave, timing it to throw Ciaccio into such lovesick despair that he can't work on his new collection. Tracked down in California, Rick agrees to return, stipulating that a legitimate marriage to Amanda, Ciaccio's sister, is his price, even though he will, of course, remain sexually wedded to the brother. Ciaccio arranges to honeymoon with the bride and groom, on whom, it is soon apparent, each other's charms are not wasted. In the meantime, Ciaccio bribes a model to photograph his rival's entire fashion collection and leak it to the press, a ploy that leads to murder. Drugs and money proliferate; all the men are gay, all the women lesbian or nymphomaniacal in a novel at pains to shoot down the clay pigeons of material and sexual greed. 20,000 first printing; $20,000 ad/promo. (November)