Nicolas Andreas Taralis

Hedi Slimane is no where to be seen. His successor at Dior, Kris Van Assche, has not yet managed to make an impact, with the lukewarm reviews he received for his SS08 collection.

The fashion world needs its next hero. Enter the house of Cerruti.

A fresh light of creativity is being shed at a powerful name long forgotten. The new fashion director of the house, Nicolas Andreas Taralis, has managed to give the hard to please crowd a glimpse of his ideas, that left many with appetite for more.

The first Cerruti men's collection for Spring/Summer '08 by the Canadian of Greek origin designer has shown that the bets are on his side. Slim and sharp figures, many touches of urban chic, new and glamorous interpretations of evening wear with sport characteristics, especially now that the gaps of Helmut Lang and Hedi Slimane are wider than ever.

Perhaps it is not coincidental that Taralis seems to continue the work of these two designers as he has paid his dues as their assistant.

Having graduated from the University of Applied Arts in Vienna and from the famous Parsons School of Design in New York it wasn't long before he started working at the Lang atelier in Austria, and later with the master Hedi Slimane while he was still at Dior Men.

His women's collections under his name (with labels written in the Greek alphabet) gathered warm reviews from magazines such as V and Vogue and have been the object of controversy between big stores like Barneys and Jeffreys.

Andreas Taralis says he is a fan of the older generation of Belgian designers, and people like Thierry Mugler and chances are he will succeed as many compare the revival of Cerruti with that of Dior.

With the strong Cerruti brand name behind his back and all the experience he gained working as an assistant for two great designers, it seems that Taralis is here to stay...