Scarfs Tie Up a Bundle for Alliance

It was more than just chat, hors d’oeuvres and some Brazilian music at last week’s fund-raiser for the Rainforest Alliance staged by Hermes in Beverly Hills. General manager Francine Bardot says 30 specially designed “Equateur” scarfs were sold for $195 each, with Hermes donating $5 of every purchase to the Alliance. The Rainforest Alliance went home with a tidy bundle: $10,000 in proceeds from the $50-per-person event. And two students, Balencia Erskine and Zena Hefti, from the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising, walked off with scholarships of $2,500 and $1,500, their prizes from Hermes for submitting outstanding rain-forest-inspired textile designs.

GUMBEL’S FASHION GAFF: “Today Show” host Bryant Gumbel’s sartorial savvy was called into question earlier this week (the crew from NBC’s morning show will be broadcasting live from L.A. through Tuesday). Gumbel, dressed like an adolescent skate boarder from Iowa in hot lime sunglasses and a fluorescent pink and green hat, interviewed local beachwear designer Shawn Stussy on Venice Beach. When asked to relay white-hot fashion trends, Stussy replied that bright, garrish-colored beachwear is definitely out.

LOUNGE LIZARDS ON MELROSE: Henry Lizardlover Schiff with Schiff (no quote marks here, that’s his real name) and his live lizards will be at the Melrose Avenue children’s store, Joys and Toys, Saturday and Sunday from 11:00 a.m. to 6:00 p.m. to promote Schiff’s Lovin’ Lizard line of children’s clothing. The dozen lizards will perform their lounging act on miniature furniture. Schiff will donate 10 percent of all Lovin’ Lizard’s gross sales to the entertainment industry’s ecology group, Earth Communications Office.

LITTLE MORE FUNK: Tawny Little, co-host of “A.M. L.A.,” is getting an on-air makeover. J. Gerard of West Hollywood will now be outfitting Little. Julia Gerard, sole owner of the 5-year-old boutique, says she is mad for the opportunity to dress Little. “She’s funkier and much more interesting than her job allows her to appear.”

STRANGE CLUB FELLOWS: What do Tom Jones, George Harrison and Pia Zadora have in common? A harmonic fashion convergence at Spice, the club were international night crawlers convene. Austrian designer Paul Prinz, whose clothes are featured at Los Angeles’ M.G. Designs, dazzled the celeb-studded crowd at a recent Spice fashion show with his leather, suede and Persian lambswool sportswear.

SAVING FACE: Are you a stickler for cosmetics and skin care products not tested on animals? Head to Barney’s New York’s new Orange County shop at South Coast Plaza because that’s all they sell. Some of the brands sold there: Molton Brown, Martin de Candre and Kiehl’s of New York. The latter brand is a favorite with New York super models Cindy Crawford and Christie Brinkley.