An Award Designed for Bob Mackie

A model benefit. The one, that is, that the Otis/Parsons School of Design has set for May 7 at the Beverly Hilton.

Designer Bob Mackie will receive the 1988 Fashion Design Achievement Award from Carol Burnett, who wore Mackie designs on her long-running variety show.

Otis/Parsons makes good use of honorees. Mackie has been working with the senior class on a design project, “Cinderella in the Sixties,” with Twiggy-style clothes as the show’s grand finale. (One frightening note on fashion and how it changes--the students at the school, in their late teens and early 20s, did not remember Twiggy.)

Board president Elaine Goldsmith and dinner co-chair Louise Taper agreed that there will be great buys at the gala with many student designs to be sold at the end of the evening. “I always try to buy one outfit--and wear it the next year to the gala,” Goldsmith said, showing real school spirit.

The gala is a sure money raiser, with more than $250,000 netted the past three years, all of it going to scholarships for students at the four-year school. This year some of the student designs on display will also be manufactured by Nordstrom for the Brass Plum, its moderately priced boutique.

The gala has moved in its five-year history from a party at the Hard Rock Cafe with the models walking on a runway constructed out of tables to an annual ballroom-filling bash. More than 1,200 people attended last year, Taper pointed out. Her husband, Barry, is a board member and the co-chair of the evening, which also involves Theodore’s Norma and Herb Fink (no doubt taking time out from the rush on their “Spoiled” perfume) and the California Mart’s Sidney Morse.

CALL ME INVITED--Henry Mancini has always made beautiful music--but his wife, Ginny, knows how to make the best invitations. This year, for the party celebrating the 100th birthday of their friend Irving Berlin, the invite is the sheet music for “The Ocarina” from “Call Me Madam,” with Ethel Merman. The party at the Mancini’s home, set for May 15, is a fund-raiser for the Foundation for New American Music. . . .

We haven’t seen the invitations yet, but Disney Chair Michael Eisner has enlisted the help of co-chairs Barbra Streisand, Steven Spielberg and agent Michael Ovitz for the American Cinematheque Moving Picture Ball on May 6 at the Century Plaza. Robin Williams is the honoree.

UPCOMING HONORS--The 100 Black Men of Los Angeles honors Redskins quarterback Doug Williams April 19 at the Beverly Hilton. Williams is being recognized for his outstanding achievement as the first black quarterback to play in the Super Bowl. Since 1982, the organization has donated or raised more than $800,000 for students, schools, community organizations and churches. . . .

The Torie Steele Boutiques do the fashions, but the models are stars in themselves, when the Young Musicians Foundation Women’s Council does the seventh annual Mother-Daughter Celebrity Fashion Show on Thursday at the Beverly Hilton. Dona Bronson and Margot Smith Thomas are the chairs, and among the models are Barbara Eden and daughter Michelle; Kelly Lange and Kelly, Meredith MacRae and Allison, Joan Rivers and Melissa, Alana Stewart and Kimberly, Pia Zadora and Katy, and Jayne Meadows Allen with her granddaughters, Marie and Stephanie. . . .

Mixing culture and politics, the black-tie dedication dinner Saturday opens Tamayo, the Mexican restaurant on East Olympic Boulevard named in honor of the renowned Mexican artist. Rufino and Olga Tamayo are the guests of honor.