Chado Ralph Rucci showed an intimate runway show for a select group of clients and press at his Soho showroom. There were no show crashers, no loud talkers, no people looking to have their photo taken. It was all very genteel and dignified.

The ultra-luxury brand, which prides itself on intricate detailing and handmade fabrics, is known for its elegant ivory and black dresses.

So it was a surprise when the collection opened with a series of fire-engine red looks, including sable coats, floor-sweeping gowns and jaunty day dresses.

Audiences normally are quiet during shows, but it wasn't long before audience members began muttering to each other, slowly getting louder and more rapturous as the dresses and coats emerged. Soon, several gowns caused scattered applause.After the last model took her stroll before the cameras, the usual parade of models didn't come out.

Instead, the audience jumped to its feet to give Ralph Rucci a heartfelt standing ovation. He was mobbed for twenty minutes backstage as guest after guest, including Bergdorf Goodman and Neiman Marcus executives, congratulated him.

Although tired, the designer visibly perked up when asked to describe the most difficult dress in the new collection.

"There's one dress that is totally a couture dress," he said. "It's impossible for ready to wear, and it's the most subtle."

"It's different shades of aubergine, grey and taupe. It's taffeta that's pleated and knotted," he explained. "It took about three weeks to make that dress. That fabric is entirely made by hand, and then knotted and put back together in pieces. So it's an explosion that went back together into a short sleeved Duchess of Windsor funeral dress."

Longtime fans, including Andre Leon Talley and Whoopi Goldberg, sat front row at the show. "I love Chado because it fits me, and it fits the very skinny women as well," Whoopi Goldberg said. "He makes great stuff that is period-oriented, in my mind, that I love."

(Before the show started, we asked Whoopi Goldberg for her personal definition of luxury. "Luxury for me is not having to get up at 7 o'clock in the morning, and being able to have potato chips in my bed at my leisure," she joked. "That to me is luxury. It's all I dream of, just being able to sit and eat my potato chips with my weird cat.")