Around Town : Night and Day Designs : Irit Ehrlich: Simple shapes and luxury fabrics are her trademark. In the best new designs, gold lace plays against black velvet for a rich evening look.

Irit Ehrlich has three rules for designing clothes: simple shapes, basic colors and only the most exquisite fabrics.

The results of this formula are lush and appealing, and it’s easy to see why Ehrlich has survived in the antiquated world of custom order.

In a fashion show Monday for the 500 Club of the City of Hope, Ehrlich gave a sampling of daytime, cocktail, black-tie and bridal clothes for the winter/holiday season under her label, Irit Designs.

The colors were black, gray and ivory, with touches of gold and red; fabrics included silk velvet, silk satin, lace, wool and cashmere.

Among the standouts: long wool herringbone jackets over short skirts and re-embroidered lace dresses sculpted to fit the body.

To the surprise of some audience members, most skirts were about eight inches above the knee. They can, of course, be ordered in longer versions.

At her very best, Ehrlich uses gold fabrics against black velvet for a look that has the richness and radiance of a Zeffirelli film: a sheer gold poet’s jacket floats over a black silk velvet sheath, for example, and a long opera coat and pencil-slim pants, both in black silk velvet, pair with a splendid gold lace blouse with a scalloped edge.

The Irit Designs salon is in Los Angeles.