We always love an emerging designer in this "youthquake" generation. Stanford alumni Wayne Hwang is showing his first runway collection this Friday, January 22 at the Roe Lounge (651 Howard Street). A design novice he is not -- Hwang has done numerous work under the label W Design for Charity Fashion Show and proven himself as a force in Palo Alto.

"Venus", the title of Hwang's Fall/Winter 2010-2011 collection, is a marriage of love and technology--where soft meets hard. We're told that the color palette will be silver, red, blue, and white. Perhaps a machinists' version of patriotism? We'll have to find out. Run, don't walk, to this Bay Area debut. You never know when and where the next Karl Lagerfeld will arise.