When the 24-year-old’s fall 2001 women’s wear, accessories and shoe collections debuted in New York, Puglisi used a local gentleman’s club as his runway, even presenting his models as dancers around a strip club pole with mirrors in the background. It was a perfect setting for little furs worn over nothing but tights and lots of heavy rhinestone jewelry.

His not exactly shy attitude is a reminder that he has made a name for himself by dressing some of the world’s most flamboyant celebrities, including Madonna and Pamela Anderson. Interestingly, Anderson’s image even appeared on Puglisi’s invitation. She was recently honored by PeTA for her work on behalf of animal activists.

Madonna asked Puglisi to make a line of custom jewelry, some of which she wore to a recent MTV European Music Awards; she also sported his clothing in a 2001 issue of Elle magazine. Other entrance-making Puglisi moments included Pamela Anderson’s goddess gown when she hosted the Monaco Music Awards and Whitney Houston’s pinstriped suit and rhinestone necklace, which wrapped around the singer’s entire body at the 2000 Grammy Awards. Lil’ Kim is a huge Puglisi fan and often mixes his pieces (such as a rhinestone tiara baring her name) with Versace and Gucci.

While most of what hit the runway for fall 2001 was pure flash, Puglisi seemed to be almost serious about his furs, which are handmade in Italy along with the rest of the collection. While a baby-blue leather cropped jacket with asymmetrical reddish gold fox sleeves (one full sleeve and one red fox shoulder) hardly begs to be worn by anyone with the money to purchase such an object, Puglisi actually went in the other direction with some of his furs, offering a rather traditional brown mink coat and a conservative brown-and-black, horizontally striped mink bomber.

Somewhere in between the trash and traditional came some very interesting pieces. In a conservative year for furs, Puglisi presented a peek-a-boo skirt of white mink pelts, sliced simply with the tails kept on and hanging like fringe. A red-dyed fitch long coat was made to look like a vest with the attachment of a white fox collar and sleeves. And Puglisi’s use of asymmetry extended to a blue mink jacket with one short and one long sleeve in red fox, definitely odd but an antidote to the season’s cookie-cutter runway furs.

Most would say this was an indulgent runway show by a young stylist, but Puglisi’s collection is also sold at Seven in New York City and at American Rag in Los Angeles.