Zandra Rhodes

It takes a few minutes to fully take in the spectacle that is Zandra Rhodes. The petite, 63-year-old British fashion designer wears her hair in two hot-pink pinwheels. Thick black, rhinestone-encrusted glasses with lenses the size of fried eggs perch on her nose. Then there's her outfit -- a silk chiffon tunic in a mess of colorful squiggles, paisley leggings and several cracked-mirror brooches made by her friend, the artist Andrew Logan.

It takes a few minutes to fully take in the spectacle that is Zandra Rhodes. The petite, 63-year-old British fashion designer wears her hair in two hot-pink pinwheels. Thick black, rhinestone-encrusted glasses with lenses the size of fried eggs perch on her nose. Then there's her outfit -- a silk chiffon tunic in a mess of colorful squiggles, paisley leggings and several cracked-mirror brooches made by her friend, the artist Andrew Logan.

British fashion designer Zandra Rhodes revealed her latest collection of global impressions in fabric Wednesday night at Neiman-Marcus in Fashion Island. The first Southern California showing of "Spanish Impressions" provided the focus for a black-tie dinner-dance attended by more than 300 supporters of the Newport Harbor Art Museum.

It's crunch time in Hollywood as filmmakers and studio execs scramble to invigorate the buzz about their Oscar contenders in the final two weeks before ballots for the Golden Globes are due. While there are exceptions, Golden Globe winners often wind up on the "Most Likely to Win an Oscar Nomination" list. Golden Globe ballots go out Friday to Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. members and are due Dec. 17, with winners to be announced Jan. 20.

Get a look at Zandra Rhodes. The always eye-catching, avant-garde British designer will be at the Design Center on April 26 as part of the UK/LA Art of Communications lecture series. There's no word yet on what she will wear, what she will say or what color her hair will be. A spokesperson for the event says she is sure Rhodes will wear Rhodes.

Oh, Zandra. This isn't one of your quiet phases. Maybe behind those pink and fuchsia hair extensions, black fishnet stockings, yellow pumps and painted-pink eyebrows hides a proper Londoner. Maybe not. "I decided I should look dramatic on the catwalk today," said designer Zandra Rhodes, running a polka-dot fingernail down the bleached-and-baubled denim dress that hugged her like a baby-blue girdle.

Of all the British imports, the most exotic is couture designer Zandra Rhodes. With her pink-tinted hair and off-the-wall wardrobe, she's one of Britain's more colorful figures. "I've never been trained in the classic good taste of fashion," Rhodes says. "So I'm able to do free, exotic things." Rhodes has made hand-painted fabrics and flowing silhouettes her specialty, yet the designer attracts as much attention as her fairy-tale gowns.

In a few days, Zandra Rhodes, a perpetually pink-haired fashion designer once known as Britain's arty purveyor of punk, will lift the curtain on a project that promises to make her own history, and that of the San Diego Opera, a lot more colorful. Rhodes has created 127 costumes for the opera's production of "The Magic Flute," a Mozart fantasy that opens Jan. 20.

It's crunch time in Hollywood as filmmakers and studio execs scramble to invigorate the buzz about their Oscar contenders in the final two weeks before ballots for the Golden Globes are due. While there are exceptions, Golden Globe winners often wind up on the "Most Likely to Win an Oscar Nomination" list. Golden Globe ballots go out Friday to Hollywood Foreign Press Assn. members and are due Dec. 17, with winners to be announced Jan. 20.

In a few days, Zandra Rhodes, a perpetually pink-haired fashion designer once known as Britain's arty purveyor of punk, will lift the curtain on a project that promises to make her own history, and that of the San Diego Opera, a lot more colorful. Rhodes has created 127 costumes for the opera's production of "The Magic Flute," a Mozart fantasy that opens Jan. 20.

Of all the British imports, the most exotic is couture designer Zandra Rhodes. With her pink-tinted hair and off-the-wall wardrobe, she's one of Britain's more colorful figures. "I've never been trained in the classic good taste of fashion," Rhodes says. "So I'm able to do free, exotic things." Rhodes has made hand-painted fabrics and flowing silhouettes her specialty, yet the designer attracts as much attention as her fairy-tale gowns.

Get a look at Zandra Rhodes. The always eye-catching, avant-garde British designer will be at the Design Center on April 26 as part of the UK/LA Art of Communications lecture series. There's no word yet on what she will wear, what she will say or what color her hair will be. A spokesperson for the event says she is sure Rhodes will wear Rhodes.

Oh, Zandra. This isn't one of your quiet phases. Maybe behind those pink and fuchsia hair extensions, black fishnet stockings, yellow pumps and painted-pink eyebrows hides a proper Londoner. Maybe not. "I decided I should look dramatic on the catwalk today," said designer Zandra Rhodes, running a polka-dot fingernail down the bleached-and-baubled denim dress that hugged her like a baby-blue girdle.

British fashion designer Zandra Rhodes revealed her latest collection of global impressions in fabric Wednesday night at Neiman-Marcus in Fashion Island. The first Southern California showing of "Spanish Impressions" provided the focus for a black-tie dinner-dance attended by more than 300 supporters of the Newport Harbor Art Museum.

The peripatetic London designer Zandra Rhodes jetted into town last week, and, as usual, her friends made her feel right at home. She was lodged at the Beverly Hills home of art collectors Jack and Joan Quinn, and the socially active Contessa Cohn provided her with a car. A fast, black car. Rhodes says it makes her feel more like a Californian to drive herself than to be driven. Cohn even put some change under the carpet in case Rhodes encountered a parking meter. Rhodes was up early (5:30 a.m.

FORUM British fashion designer Zandra Rhodes speaks as part of a millennium forum. Museum of TV & Radio, Beverly Hills. Tonight. (310) 285-2438. VOLUNTEERISM L.A. Works, a group organized to revitalize the city, hosts a volunteer orientation tonight. Borders Books, Westwood. (323) 936-1340. POLITICS Ralph Nader talks about his civic-training institute, the Oaks Project. Tonight, 7:30 p.m. Call for location, reservations: (310) 392-0522, Ext.

The peripatetic London designer Zandra Rhodes jetted into town last week, and, as usual, her friends made her feel right at home. She was lodged at the Beverly Hills home of art collectors Jack and Joan Quinn, and the socially active Contessa Cohn provided her with a car. A fast, black car. Rhodes says it makes her feel more like a Californian to drive herself than to be driven. Cohn even put some change under the carpet in case Rhodes encountered a parking meter. Rhodes was up early (5:30 a.m.