Holly Harp, 55; Designed Hand-Painted Clothing

Holly Harp, whose hand-painted silk and matte jersey dresses captured the attention of rock stars, Hollywood actresses and New York retailers in the late 1960s, died Monday of cancer. She was 55.

Ms. Harp, who was in New York two weeks ago for the showing of her fall collection, achieved celebrity status for what was once described as “evening froth and frivolity.”

Considered a design peer of James Galanos and Rudi Gernreich, Ms. Harp was nominated twice for a Coty Award and featured in several fashion books and encyclopedias.

Born in Buffalo, N.Y., the designer was a self-described child of the 1950s “and a victim of the media’s call to conformity,” she once told a reporter. “I was pulled by all the old guilts. I hibernated in a world of the right wallpaper, the right hanging plants, the right House and Garden home. I did everything I was supposed to want to do. I had created what was supposed to make me feel better. But I didn’t feel better.”

She broke out of the mold and gave women the same kind of clothing she wanted--soft, sensuous, diaphanous, moody. She first sold her collections in her own shop on Sunset Boulevard and eventually to stores nationwide, including Henri Bendel, Bergdorf Goodman, Saks Fifth Avenue and Neiman Marcus. Her celebrity clientele included Janis Joplin, Grace Slick, Goldie Hawn, Anne Bancroft, Diana Ross, Barbra Streisand, Sally Field, Lily Tomlin, Liza Minnelli, Jane Fonda and Anjelica Huston.

Ms. Harp also created a costume for visual artist Judy Chicago to paint on during the first International Festival of the Arts in New York, as well as costumes for “Cabaret,” “Sleeper” and “The Turning Point.” After closing her store in 1986, the designer devoted her energies to making evening and special-occasion dresses for other upscale retailers.

Ms. Harp managed to mix her career with humanitarian efforts, said her sister, Sara Bozzola, who recalled how the designer went out to deliver meals to AIDS patients during the riots.

Ms. Harp is survived by a son, Thomas; another sister, Elizabeth Horn; and a brother, Thomas Speller Jr.

A memorial service is scheduled for Saturday at 11 a.m., at a private residence at 12730 Evanston St., Los Angeles 90049. Donations may be made to a charity of choice, or to: Through the Flower Corp. (Judy Chicago’s organization dedicated to the arts); 826 Camino del Monte Ray, Santa Fe, N.M. 87501.