A Blue Ribbon Benefit in Shades of Herrera : Music Center Support Group Pays Tribute to Designer

Carolina Herrera yellow, Carolina Herrera polka dots, Carolina Herrera checks, Carolina Herrera perfumes. Glamorous Carolina Herrera herself. Members of the Blue Ribbon at the Music Center flocked into The Founders Tuesday for a tribute to the couturiere and to see her spring collection, thanks to Neiman Marcus/Beverly Hills and its vice president John Martens.

Co-chairwomen Joni Smith and Dorie Pinola sat together at the end of the fashion ramp, beaming that all was going so well. They had planned down to the last-minute detail. For instance, at luncheon, they poured pitchers of Herrera-yellow lemonade. Dorie’s hot chicken salad in scallop shells was the piece de resistance on the luncheon menu--if not the stuffed poached pear with double chocolate sauces. Both are recipes from “The Financial Gourmet,” the limited-edition cookbook (10,000 copies) Pinola has spearheaded for First Interstate as the wife of retiring chairman Joe Pinola.

“Phantom of the Opera” star Reece Holland sang “Memory” from “Cats.” Not a chip of chocolate cracked the silence during his performance. Guests just listened and looked at the tall tulips and orchids that Clifford Miller divined for centerpieces.

In the crowd: Mary Lou Hicks, Jackie Rosenberg, Dody Booth, Franny Ridder, Joyce Hameetman, Patricia Sheinbaum, Barbara Davis (back from Pebble Beach golf and partying), Nancy Zarif, Jane Gosden, Pat Mirisch, Alice Avery, Carolyn DeWald, Linda Dickason, Joan Hotchkis, Betty Stickell and Andrea Van de Kamp.