Pros help fashion Otis fundraiser

It might seem like an unlikely combination, the elaborate aesthetic of Bob Mackie and the simple silhouettes of Behnaz Sarafpour on the same runway, but when the two designers are filling the role of mentor to students at Otis College of Design, it makes perfect sense. The school held its annual Scholarship Benefit Fashion Show on Saturday night, and this being the 25th year of the fundraiser, it drew a crowd of 900 designers, students and supporters who packed the ballroom at the Beverly Hilton Hotel.

In addition to Mackie and Sarafpour, Natalie Chanin for Alabama Chanin, Lubov Azria for BCBG and Francisco Costa for Calvin Klein mentored junior and senior students who presented their creations on the runway. Senior Tae Kim took home the National Assn. of Mens Sportswear Buyers Award for excellence in menswear for the black hooded drawstring jacket and slick gray pants he designed under the direction of Susan Lee and Alan Hsu of Armani Exchange. With graduation just around the corner for Kim, the Mirror was curious to know what his dream design job would be. “I like menswear,” he said, “because it’s functional and I like the detail in it.”

Other mentors gave students a theme. Sarafpour, for example, asked her students to design using color and texture influenced by a painting. One of the results — senior Susan Halloran’s color-paneled gown inspired by Picasso’s “The Dreamer” — won the highest bid in a silent auction. Mandy Robinson, the design director for Billabong, had her students draw inspiration from early 1970s Fillmore rock posters. They created yellow, orange and brown logo print board shorts and bikinis.

Liz Hirsch attended the event wearing a student creation she purchased from last year’s silent auction: a fanciful red gown created by Ellen Kim under the design direction of Cirque du Soliel costume designer Dominique Lemieux. “I’m amazed at the talent,” Hirsch said.