SCHMOOZE : A GLAMOROUS NIGHT TO BENEFIT THE OPERA.

Byline: Barbara De Witt Daily News Staff Writer

What: Fashion gala to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the Los Angeles Music Center Opera.

Where: Neiman Marcus, Beverly Hills.

The scene: About 330 members of society's A-list paid $50 a person to benefit the L.A. Opera. The mostly female guests wore their newest designer suits, best pearls and biggest cocktail rings (yep, they're in again) to meet the charming designers-to-the-stars duo of Mark Badgley and James Mischka. After a bit of schmoozing, guests settled down for a quick look at 102 gowns on the catwalk. Neiman Marcus hopes to sell them to attendees of the opera season's opening night gala Sept. 4 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion at the Music Center.

The clothes: Oh, there were some very elegant numbers by Oscar de la Renta, Bill Blass, Heidi Weisel, Donald Deal, James Purcell, Vicky Tiel and Vera Wang. But the night belonged to Badgley Mischka. Among their numerous designs were cocktail dresses, women's tuxedos and gowns that proved you really could gild the lily and still look tastefully divine. We're talking about their signature columns, mostly in black, with rich fabrications of velvet, lace and satin, covered in intricate layers of embroidered lace, jewels and paillettes, often accented with huge jeweled closures reminiscent of the '20s and '30s.

Spaghetti straps looked fresher (and more youthful) than the strapless styles, and were often topped with long stoles dripping with tassels on the ends.

The design team also dabbled in '70s fashions with brown tie-dyed velvets and pastel panne velvet, but the silhouettes were crisper and cleaner, with a '90s edge. Equally modern were the citrus-colored cocktail suits made of a sequins-under-plastic fabric, but their bisque-colored gown with pearls and crystals over metallic velvet had the most Oscar appeal, and a few guests murmured about which star would be seen in it at the Academy Awards.

What to wear with these stunning gowns? Minimal makeup and hairstyles, from the looks of the styles created by Laurent Duforge and his staff at the trendy Prive Salon in West Hollywood.

The buzz: Mr. Blackwell, the city's resident fashion arbiter, said he'd give an A to Badgley and Mischka's beaded tuxedos and black gowns. ``They're the new boys on the block, with a style that reminds me of early Bob Mackie ... and I consider them a sign of hope that glamour dressing will return,'' said Blackwell, who designed his own collection of evening gowns back in the '60s and '70s.

Lee Hogan Cass, co-regional director of the Los Angeles chapter of Fashion Group International, was equally impressed. She loved the jeweled closures, which she called ``subtle but impressive.'' Operagoer Sunny Golombek of Redondo Beach said the gowns reminded her of the '30s and old Hollywood, while Janie Snyder of Los Angeles found the tuxedos very comfortable-looking and timeless.

Beth Unger of Hermosa Beach thought Badgley and Mischka's entire collection was ``yummy,'' but her fave was item No. 85, a cocktail dress in black and nude lace with short sleeves.

The eats: It was a grazer's heaven with clever little canapes that went way beyond the mundane stuffed mushroom caps. Among the bite-size goodies by Tom Byrne of L.A. Cuisine were oysters on the half shell, buckwheat pancakes topped sour cream and caviar, chicken and shiitake mushroom tartlets, teriyaki scallops on lettuce leaves, seafood salad on radicchio and chocolate truffles to be washed down with champagne.

The honorees: Receiving applause and bouquets of blush-colored roses wrapped in tulle were past opera season chairwomen Eileen White Read, Alice Coulombe, Georgianna Erskine, Carol Henry, Joan Hotchkis and Joan Thompson of Pasadena; Terry Stanfill and Alicia Clark of San Marino; Nancy Vreeland and Joyce Rosenblum of Century City; Ruth Shannon of Whittier; Jacqueline Brandwynne and Mary Haley of Bel-Air; Tara Colburn, Peggy Parker Grauman and Linda May of West Hollywood; Veronica Pastel, Ginny Mancini and Anjelica Huston of Beverly Hills; Jennifer Diener of Pacific Palisades; Hannah Carter of Los Angeles; and Maggie Wetzel, a former Los Angeles resident now living in San Francisco.

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PHOTO (color) Designers Mark Badgley, left, and James Misch ka.