An Original American In Paris: PATRICK KELLY

PATRICK KELLY, Mississippi's smash hit in the tough world of high fashion, prefers to think of himself as a "black male Lucille Ball"

Afternoon shadows slid through the archways of the Louvre Palace into the splendor of a 16th century courtyard. Across the cobblestones, as if for a medieval tournament, white tents opened their flaps to costumed crowds. Celebrities, fashion journalists and retailers from Kansas City to Kuwait milled about. Suddenly, without fanfare, a man in cut-off overalls, a ponytail and phosphorescent orange hightops strolled onto an enclosed runway and slowly spray-painted a huge red heart on a white backdrop. With the exaggerated staginess of a Looney Tune, he turned to the audience, pressed a finger to his lips, as if to say "Shhh!"...

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