If there ever was a day when I enjoyed to the max being happily single, it was on Friday morning, under the Tents at Bryant Park. The first official day of Spring ‘09 Fashion Week, I arrived early for press check-in, got my credentials within minutes, glided inside the venue and sat in the LU Biscuits lounge to enjoy some fantastic espresso macchiato – prepared by the loveliest Frenchman this side of the Atlantic. I was awaiting the Perry Ellis Men’s show, double chocolate cookies in hand, great people-watching to be had, when I ran into a friend of mine, a fellow Italian woman who just happens to work for a very prestigious TV channel. She is also the best-connected fashionista when it comes to men’s fashion. Before I could say “Cara, who is the hot male model to watch this season?” we were backstage at Perry Ellis.

Let me just point out that there is backstage and then there is BACKSTAGE. All capital, bold letters is reserved for those behind-the-scenes where incredibly handsome men are changing right before your very eyes! The best known names in the business – I know them as the guys from the Abercrombie & Fitch ads, the Lagerfeld photos and the Tom Ford Menswear campaign, but they have names such as André Ziehe, Brad Kroenig and Noah Mills – were right there, in their skivvies and not shy at all. My friend, it turns out, is not timid either and equipped with my digital camera, she managed some amazing shots of the boys, before we made our way to our rocking seats in the Promenade section.

Among the celebrities in the front row, the standout was the gracious and lovely Josh Radnor – dressed to perfection in a dark suit and donning his down-to-earth attitude, which is always a man’s best accessory. You must have realized by now that I have a tremendous Fashion Week crush on him!! Two seats down, the elegant Nigel Barker, in a blazer and jeans and his signature clean-shaven look, also sporting an unpretentious comportment. It seems that I may have stumbled upon the greatest fashion must-haves for Spring 2009: Straightforwardness and a Smile.

As far as the clothes at Perry Ellis, under the creative direction of John Crocco, there is definitely as much of a departure from drab and dark as I’ve witnessed thus far in the women’s shows as well. Not a single black piece to be found throughout, the handsome models breezed down the catwalk wearing linen suits – with shorts taking the place of full-length trousers – thin cotton sweaters and sweater-vests, all leading to a finale of pastel-colored polo shirts spelling out “PERRY ELLIS” in a succession of single letters on the front of each piece. My own personal parade of letters would have read: “I AM IN LOVE!!” And yes, left up to me, the last two male models would have definitely worn polos with the double exclamation marks.