Rags for Riches

The event: A fashion show with New York designers-to-the-stars Mark Badgley and James Mischka to benefit the the Orange County Museum of Art. About 400 of the county’s art- and fashion-conscious gathered recently for dinner and the show at Sutton Place Hotel in Newport Beach. Guests saw the Badgley-Mischka spring evening collection. Next month, you may spot some of the gowns on celebrities as they sweep into the Academy Awards ceremonies.

Behind the curtain: Suspended on chrome racks, dozens of elegant gowns made the backstage area look like the dressing room of a silver-screen legend. The spring silhouette? “Antique-looking glamour-gowns with a ‘40s flair,” says Badgley, 36. “We like soft shades--not high color for night. We do a little black and brown, but mostly a pale look. Very flattering.” Mischka, 36, adds: “Thank God we agree on this, or we’d be in trouble.”

Breaking with tradition: Each gown is named after a woman--Lottie, Sylvia, Heather, Devon, Francesca, Erika, Tess, Monica . . . you get the idea. “[Traditional] style numbers are too impersonal,” Mischka says. “So we began by naming the gowns after our friends--and ran out. Now we own every baby’s name book ever invented.”

What price glory?: Wearing a black Badgley-Mischka gown with a fishtail-hemline was Susie Hayes, manager of the couture department at Nordstrom South Coast Plaza, event sponsor. What did the gown set her back? “I don’t want to tell you,” she says, laughing. “Remember, there is all of this beautiful hand-beading and . . . OK, around $4,000.” Worth it? “I feel like Cinderella,” she says.

Ramp highlights: Models took to the snow-white catwalk in everything from slim evening pants with three-quarter-length jackets to tulle gowns overlaid with lace and handmade glass beads. Many of the ensembles featured lace or bead accents below the waist, highlighting the curve of the hip. Sleeveless dresses are in, according to this dynamic design team. So are double-breasted silky jackets with large rhinestone buttons.

In the audience: Orange County Museum of Art director Naomi Vine; benefit chairwoman Judie Argyros with her husband, George; Joan Van Hooten, the museum’s director of development; Nordstrom manager Julie Kuns; Penny Newman, manager of the Nordstrom Designer Salon; Twyla Reed Martin; Patti Edwards; Margo Chamberlin; Peggy Goldwater Clay; Olivia Johnson; Dee and Larry Higby; Barbara Bowie; Maria Crutcher; Judie Manto; Billur Wallerich; Arden Flamson; Catherine Thyen.

Bottom line: The $100-per-person event, underwritten by Nordstrom and the Argyroses, netted $42,000, to be used for museum exhibitions and educational programs.

What’s ahead: The next fund-raiser for the museum, created by the merger of the Laguna and the Newport Harbor art museums, will be the Art of Dining at the Four Seasons Hotel in Newport Beach on May 18.

For information: Museum headquarters, (714) 759-1122.