Any fears that an appearance at Pitti might buff some of the edge off Adam Kimmel's downtown sensibility proved unfounded last night as the designer unveiled his Fall '08 collection at the Istituto Statale d'Arte di Firenze. Kimmel cast his usual gang of artists and scenesters—Dan Colen, Ryan McGinley, and Slater Bradley, among others—as models, projecting their images onto screens roughly the same size as the nearby David. (Well, a reproduction of it, anyway.) And there was also a tribute to graf writer Joey Semz, who died last May. His trademark "SEMZ" was tagged in the bathroom, and stickers from his IRAK collective were everywhere: little old Italian ladies' purses, the back of Purple Magazine editorOlivier Zahm, even on the clothes themselves. Kimmel told us the collection was influenced by the West Coast bohemians of Wallace Berman's Semina magazine from the fifties and sixties, whom he considers kindred spirits to his present-day cohorts. This was obvious from his choice for guest of honor: assemblage artist and Berman contemporary George Herms. In his speech, Herms advised the youngsters on hand to "Remember, kids, it's not secondhand smoke that kills, it's secondhand thoughts." Now there's a quip worth repeating.

We'll be back with a full Tim Blanks review during New York Fashion Week. Meantime, click here for pics from the event >