GERMAN fashion house Hugo Boss will unveil its long-awaited womenswear collection in Germany tomorrow, on the eve of the country’s leading fashion fair, CPD in Dusseldorf. Tagged Hugo Woman, the collection has a lot to live up to as the female foil to the company’s younger and edgier Hugo label, a 4-year old brand which generated nearly £14 million in 1996. Hugo Woman perfume was launched last year, represented by gap-toothed American model Karen Ferrari. Aimed at 25-35 year olds, the 100-piece collection will team ballooning taffeta skirts with sharply tailored school uniform jackets in oiled cotton and baggy trousers, with reflective strips at the seams, and flirtatious silk tops. "The [Hugo] brand image is geared in such a way that has a universal appeal that can be both masculine and feminine, but always fashionable," said Hugo Boss chairman Joachim Vogt. Let’s hope so. Under previous ownership, the company last launched a small women’s line in America in the late Eighties. It lasted just two seasons.

28 July 1998 - Karen Ferrari’s one-stop shop

FOLLOWING the successful launch of Hugo womenswear, Hugo Boss has announced that it is planning to launch a smart new Boss women’s line, too - and not before time. London-based model Karen Ferrari, the gap-toothed, blonde-haired Face of Hugo Boss, has been known to strip strangers of the coats off their backs in the past. Window-shopping on Notting Hill Gate recently, Ferrari saw something she liked: a duck-egg blue anorak on a passerby. She immediately stopped the girl to ask her where she got it and how much she’d take for it there and then. "It was my dad’s," replied the stunned local. "I don’t know. £25?" Ferrari finally agreed to exchange the mac for her own vintage Levi’s jacket - with £60 thrown in. 11 August

1998 - Dream Voyage

HAVE you ever dreamt of having Voyage come begging? Of having the members-only Fulham Road boutique throw its doors open to you and its owners, the Mazzillis, genuflect to lay out a bristling Welcome mat for you? Well, it’s a dream that could come true - but only for Hugo Boss model Karen Ferrari. Having joined the casualty list of casually dressed celebrities to be turned away from Voyage, Karen - who swears that her jeans, T-shirt and mascara-if-only-absolutely-necessary dress code is the key to finding intelligent men - related her story to the amused the ranks at the Select model agency. Select decided to tell Voyage what they were missing. Voyage winced and decided to offer Karen free membership and the pick of their velvet-piped antique-ish rails. The 26-year old Select model - offering a rare insight to the way she treats those intelligent men - decided to play hard to get and refused all invitations. Five, one. Voyage to serve.