Edition: U.S. / Global

Designers Who Know Their Customer

Published: April 10, 1997

Designers who slavishly follow trends, changing their styles with the prevailing winds, showing structured clothing one season and ultrafeminine dresses the next, never really develop a signature.

Then there are designers who find a style and stay with it, secure that they know their customer and what she wants. They know they will never appeal to everyone, so they don't try to.

Carolina Herrera designs for women like herself: sophisticated, well-off, mature and aware of fashion but reluctant to walk the cutting edge. She has built her business with tasteful clothes in flattering colors and cuts. But from time to time she does like to offer her customer a bit of a challenge.

This time, she dared her to wear leather: glossy black, embossed to simulate crocodile, or printed to look like snakeskin. But these were not designed to shock. They were cut into neat jackets and coats and the kind of sleeveless shifts these women have always worn.

For evening there were leopard-pattern chiffons and tiger-print velvets, but animal spots have become classics. The surprise of the collection was the de-emphasis on color. There were black suits and coats for day, black velvets and laces for evening. Ms. Herrera has decided her customer is up to the challenge.

Alexandra Lind designs for someone who might be Ms. Herrera's daughter.

Her potential customer went to good schools, spent her childhood summers in Southampton or the equivalent and her winters in Palm Beach or the Swiss Alps. She likes clothes and appreciates quality. She has a lot in common with the designer, who is 27, grew up in New York and spent winters in Palm Beach.

Ms. Lind did made-to-order clothes for four years before starting her ready-to-wear business last year. Her show last week, in her new showroom, was small but revealed great promise. It's obvious that Ms. Lind knows how to make more than minimalist clothes and just needs to simplify some of the tricky cuts on her evening dresses.

Her daywear runs to sharp suits, slim dresses with asymmetrical details, diamond-shaped appliques and color combinations like plum or olive with navy and plaids of burgundy, plum and orange. Evening styles range from charcoal gray suits touched with silver metallic trimming, to short strapless shifts edged with crystals, to long dresses combining satin and velvet.

And then there is Bob Mackie, the showman who designs clothes to light up the stage -- or the ballroom. His women are not shrinking violets. They dress to be noticed.

He held his fall show in the Shubert Theater on Broadway, on the set of ''Chicago'' with a dancer from the show, Leigh Zimmerman, modeling the first outfit, a red beaded lace jump suit. It was followed by jackets for evening in cloque or satin in colors like red, purple, brown or black; mini-length cocktail dresses, and long dresses in glittery fabrics.

Photos: Bob Mackie's purple satin suit with a beaded sash. Embroidered tank top over layered black chiffon by Carolina Herrera. (Photographs by Marilynn K. Yee/The New York Times)