Italian designers Dolce & Gabbana recreated Palermo's famed Vucciria market -- complete with fruit stands -- in their Milan showroom on Thursday for a womenswear summer 2000 collection that broke new frontiers of kitch.

Dolce & Gabbana populated their "market'' with tarty streetwalkers in sparkling mini-skirts and leopard-print stockings, black-suited mobsters with rhinestone-strewn fedoras and vinyl-skirted shoppers looking like a raunchy young Brigitte Bardot.

U.S. pop star Whitney Houston and her husband Bobby Brown looked on from the front row as models paraded on stiletto heels amid the fishmongers, cigarette sellers and spice vendors that pretended to ply their wares to the assembled audience of buyers and press.

Brazilian model Giselle was first out on the floor in a man-tailored suit, a fat rhinestone belt, and a sequinned tie in an over-the-top spoof of the traditional Sicilian gangster.

The pair's preference for rich embroideries and special effects was very much on view. A brocaded mini skirt was cut from fabric that takes a Venetian textile maker a week to produce and costs more than $1,000 per yard. Knee-length skirts came dripping in beaded fringe.

Unlike previous collections, this one was not built around a signature long, tight and sexy dress. Instead, the key sexy look was sheer paisley or printed slacks paired with matching shirts, worn over a colour co-ordinated sequinned bra.

For the more daring there was what the duo billed as ``the shortest skirt in the history of fashion'' -- with an oversize rhinestone buckle for extra effect.

Eclectic elements like sequinned Union Jack purses and pants, or huge fur hats, thrown together with damask or polka dot tops added to the flea-market feel of the collection.

For accessories there were glittering rhinestone chokers and little bags attached with chains to a big "handcuff'' bracelet.