Wednesday, May 28, 2003 | 8:34 a.m.
In fashion, looks can be deceiving.
So can sizes, prices and practicalities.
As a result, all too often the "buzz" clothes from the runways of New York, Paris and Milan are not what the rest of us are wearing.
New York designer Carolina Herrera, surprisingly, agrees.
"Fashion is not for the intellect. It's for the eye. So you make clothes that are desirable, but for other women who want to buy them," Herrera, the founder and namesake of Carolina Herrera, said in a recent phone interview from her New York office.
"I like for women to wear the clothes that I design. I like for women to look beautiful."
Herrera said when designing a collection, she most often looks to fabrics and feelings for inspiration.
"It's the mood, or where I am, or what I see in those fabrics and what I can do to them all of that I take into consideration and it comes out that way," she said. "Inspiration is a lot of memory you have to remember things that you really like and you can translate it to a collection."
Fans of her designs can see her 2003 fall-winter collection during a Carolina Herrera fashion show Saturday at Ritz-Carlton, Lake Las Vegas, at 55 Strada Nathan in Henderson. Sponsored by Saks Fifth Avenue, the event is a fund-raiser for the Las Vegas Philharmonic.
For her autumn-winter line, Herrera turned to the movies for inspiration: Prussian blue raincoats, pearl gray pencil skirts, camel and champagne jackets, black and platinum cocktail dresses.
It is not coincidental that Grace Kelly in "Rear Window" or Kim Novak in "Vertigo" would be right at home in these fashions: Herrera based the look in large part on the cinematic heroines of the '50s and '60s.
"I loved his films and I was sort of copying, not what he's showing in his films, but the mood, the atmosphere, the mystery he produced in his films," Herrera said. "All of that was taken into consideration for this collection."
Herrera is quick to add that her designs are more than an adaptation; they represent an original look.
"I didn't copy what was there. I saw it with a different eye," she said. "We're living in 2003, so I cannot copy what they did in the '50s and '60s ... we're going forward. You cannot be so retro."
Relying on past trends, a tactic so often employed by many top designers, is not necessarily a good thing, Herrera said.
"Sometimes it's so retro, you see them and say, 'I have seen before too many times,' " she said. "You have to give a little twist to it to make it look more for today."
Born and raised in Venezuela, the 63-year-old Herrera was 40 when she decided to pursue fashion design in 1980.
She was part of a group of so-called "society designers" -- well-to-do women with keen fashion sense who sought to shape looks rather than imitate them.
Initial reviews were not kind. Critics were quick to dismiss Herrera and other designers as bored housewives looking to cash in on their contacts and friendships with the rich and famous.
Twenty-three years later Carolina Herrera has become a $410 million luxury brand, expanding beyond New York and into Europe and South America. The designer even has a line of fragrances.
Her universal appeal is a primary reason why Herrera was selected as the designer for the Las Vegas Philharmonic benefit.
Two years ago the Las Vegas Philharmonic brought in Oscar de la Renta for a fashion benefit, which raised $100,000 for the symphony.
Susan Tompkins, a founder and board member of the Las Vegas Philharmonic, said she expects similar -- if not better -- results with the Carolina Herrera fashion show.
"Carolina Herrera is a very classical, beautiful woman who designs clothes that are timeless in their elegance," Tompkins said. "I think that she suits the philharmonic very well in that we are also a classic, timeless art."
In addition to the fashion show, the benefit will feature a gourmet dinner and a live silent auction.
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