Sabyasachi showed his S/S 2008 collection in New York last night to a crowd mixed with New York City-based Indian socialites, important fashion journalists like Laird Borrelli-Persson of Style.com and Meredith Melling-Burke of Vogue, and other curious onlookers eager to see what the "Hermes of India" would come up with this season.

As Laird told me before the show after she had taken a quick pre-show sneak peek backstage, it was "classic Sabya".

He sent out rich Indian fabrics in a deep "revolutionary" colour palette of burnt orange, forest green and indian khaki, cut in classic (sometimes very voluminous) Western silhouettes. Revolutionary symbols from Russia, Cuba and elsewhere accented the clothes, which strummed along to Tracy Chapman and perhaps a deeper message of Sabyasachi’s plans of bringing a little bit of India to the global fashion.

(more photos below)

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Worried.

That’s what I would be if I was an investor in the Valentino business. Today, Alessandra Facchinetti was tapped to take over from Valentino when he steps down after the January 2008 couture shows.

Not only has Valentino Fashion Group lost the star designer behind the Valentino brand (apparently after coming close to signing a 3 year contract extension with him), but they have also chosen a replacement who has already failed once at taking over from another star designer, Tom Ford, after those halcyon Gucci days of the late 1990’s.

Even though their aesthetics are very different, Ford and Valentino have much in common, and this is what creates uncertainty in my mind about Permira’s choice. Valentino, like Ford, was known for his personality, creative vision and showmanship, partnering closely with his business partner Giancarlo Giammetti (like Tom Ford’s Domenico De Sole) to allow him to focus on his creativity. They both personified their brands in every way. Ms. Facchinetti does not appear to have these traits, given what we saw during her short tenure at Gucci.

Will she be able to schmooze the celebrities, royalty and fashion press with the flair of Valentino? Will she be able to keep the Valentino flame alive? It remains to be seen, but my hopes are not high.

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Following his blowout 3-day fashion fiesta in Rome earlier this summer, WWD is reporting today that Valentino and his longtime business partner, Giancarlo Giammetti, will both step down from their positions at Valentino after this season. Finally, the fashion industry’s rampant speculation about Valentino’s future role in the post-Permira world will come to an end. But, this will only make more room for the other question on everyone’s lips: Who will replace Mr. Valentino?

Zac Posen and the designers behind Proenza Schouler (which was recently injected with $3.7m of funding from Valentino Fashion Group) are amongst the names being tossed around. Over at Fashion Inc the money is on Proenza Schouler. Others are saying that Alessandra Fachinetti, the former womenswear designer at Gucci, is at the front of the pack.

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I recently came across Street Clash, the innovative global street style competition which is creating a buzz in the fashion blogosphere. The blog brings together the Sartorialist-style photos from cities around the world, pitting Melbourne against Kiev against San Francisco against London…all vying for the honour of being declared the city with coolest street style, voted on by the Street Clash’s readers.

It’s the second round of the competition, and Paris and London are already out of the running, demonstrating that the best style isn’t necessarily in the established fashion capitals. For example, I wasn’t too surprised to see my old hometown, Montréal, one of the most fashionable cities in the world, beat my current hometown, London. But, when I saw that Perth beat Paris, I was shocked. A friend recently told me that Perth is the most isolated city (with a population greater than 1m residents) in the world.  Maybe isolation breeds creativity?

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