Taking a Bow for a Benefit

Italian designer Gianni Versace will storm the town Feb. 13 with his collections of women’s couture designs and men’s ready-to-wear in a benefit show for the Fashion Industry Friends of AIDS Project Los Angeles. Cher will be on the dais at the Century Plaza Hotel to present him with an award. Sylvester Stallone, Tom Hanks, Lionel Ritchie, Mike Tyson, Wayne Gretzky, Rosanna Arquette, Kelly LeBrock and Steven Seagal have RSVP’d that they will be there. Tickets, $300, are available through the APLA office, (213) 962-1600. Versace will also hold court in his hotel suite, doing couture fittings for private clients who make appointments through his Rodeo Drive boutique. If you miss all that, you might catch him at Neiman Marcus, Beverly Hills, on Feb. 14 from 2 to 3 p.m. when he debuts Ve, his first fragrance for women.

THE WAR EFFORT: It seems the Persian Gulf war is a hot-ticket design device. Peggy Laurence, a Paris native who lives in Brownsville, Tex., makes T-shirts that straddle the ideological fence with images of soldiers and peace signs. And L.A. designer Jay Ottenstein is betting on doves to buy his backpacks, hats and handbags embroidered with 1960s images of peace themes from his line Ja-Naa. Laurence’s shirts are available from P.L. Inc. in Brownsville, for $15 plus postage and handling, (512) 546-9861. Ja-Naa items, priced from $20 to $50, will be in local department stores in March.

GLOBAL GOLD: Just two months after he opened his Rodeo Drive boutique, Valentino has found a niche with the Hollywood crowd. Cheryl Tiegs dropped in and picked up a dress to wear to one of her prenuptial parties. She is engaged to Tony Peck (son of Gregory). Blair Underwood of “L.A. Law” and Diane Lane, a star of the TV miniseries “Lonesome Dove,” picked up Valentino evening wear for the Golden Globe Awards Saturday.

THE SWEET SMELL OF THE LATE GREAT: Wonder if Elvis would be caught dead wearing this? A company called Elvis Fragrances Inc. has launched an ever-so-sweet men’s cologne named for the King. At the Glendale Galleria last weekend, Pat Howard, a firefighter-turned-Elvis-mimic belted out “Jailhouse Rock” before urging the crowd of mostly moms and daughters to visit the JC Penney cosmetics counter and purchase the cologne, which sells for about $18. Karen Savona of Irvine, took a whiff of the scent and said she would consider it for her husband. And Pat Neal of Glendale--”Elvis was always my favorite”--said she would buy it for her spouse. But Lee Wochner, 25, of Burbank, dubbed the JC Penney production “kitsch” and demanded, “why, with the guy dead, would they come out with this awful cologne?” The fragrance is available at JC Penney, Mervyns, Emporium--and at Graceland.

CHEAPER THRILLS: Holly Harp and Kevan Hall, two Los Angeles designers known for glamorous, expensive evening wear, will offer customers less opulent, less costly designs for spring. Hall, whose career began with sportswear separates, is designing them again for his “reorganized and redirected” Studio line. The $100 to $400 collection emphasizes comfortable jersey fabrics and fun pieces, such as of “scuba” jackets and dresses with bold zippers up the front. Hall expects them to be in specialty stores by mid-March. Consumers can see the new Ms. Holly Harp collection even sooner. It debuts in February in Nordstrom, Saks, Jona in Studio City and Alley in L.A., says her business partner, Jim Harp. Priced $250 to $750, the line includes 11 dresses and one key jacket.

AUTOGRAPH HOUNDS: Popularity called a halt to Michael Jackson’s visit to the South Coast Plaza last week. A spokesperson for the Beaujon Paris boutique said Jackson arrived with “three very large bodyguards” and seemed particularly interested in a collection of hand-painted denim jackets. But he left abruptly when he spotted a small crowd outside the store. And he stopped just long enough to bestow his autograph on a few lucky fans.