They've been photographed together in Milan, and their names are similar, but all likeness ends there. Jim Gold, of course, is president and chief executive officer of Bergdorf Goodman, partial to sober suits and quiet ties. Jim Goldstein, on the other hand, wears studded snakeskin head-to-toe, a Crocodile Dundee hat and he doesn't work in fashion at all.

But given his ubiquity at runway shows - yes, that was him in the second row behind the Bergdorf crew at Roberto Cavalli last Friday - Goldstein is often mistaken for a retailer. Rather, he is a big, big shopper.

He's coy about his profession - "I make investments," he demurred - and his business card reads "fashion, architecture, basketball," because he is a devoted fan of all three. He is front-row royalty for the NBA, when he's not chez Fendi, Dolce & Gabbana or John Galliano.

Although his leather jeans, ponyskin coats and printed shirts look custom-made for him, they're all off the rack, or the runway. "I'm fortunate enough to be the same size as the models, "Goldstein said backstage at Cavalli, where he was among the first to rush and congratulate the designer. "I can buy the samples and prototypes of things that are never produced."

Goldstein said he shops mostly in Milan and Paris, and occasionally back in Los Angeles at Maxfield.

As for his architectural interest, he said he often lends his famous Sixties house by architect John Lautner, which just out from a cliff in Beverly Hills, for - what else? - fashion shoots.

GOLD RUSH