Veni, vidi, vici. Ralph Rucci appears to have taken Julius Caesar's bon mot to heart. A few years ago, he came to Paris, saw what was up on the runway, and promptly conquered the town, becoming only the second American designer to earn membership in the Chambre Syndicale de la Haute Couture. Now Rucci is planting his flag closer to home: Hot on the heels of its gala restaging of the Fall 2008 Chado Ralph Rucci show on Wednesday night, the Phoenix Art Museum today opens its new exhibition of Rucci's work, culling looks from both the designer's own archives and the couture collections of several of his clients. "Ralph came here in 2002 to see the Balenciaga show we had up at the time," recalls the museum's curator of fashion design, Dennita Sewell, explaining the genesis of the Rucci show. "One of our long-standing patrons is a friend and client of his, and she invited him to bring his collection to the museum. We all agreed that it would be exciting to expose his work to a new audience." As for the happy conquerer himself, Rucci asserts that there's less psychological distance between Paris and Phoenix than some flyover-state snobs might assume. "I've never had an audience of all fashion insiders, and Phoenix is yet another platform for the work to be viewed exactly as I want it to be viewed."