Read Our Lips: 75% Off

So you want to buy a Donna Karan outfit for 75% off? You’ve got a better chance than usual from Sept. 18-22, provided you don’t count the price of a trip to San Francisco. That weekend the sequel to Manhattan’s now legendary 7th on Sale event will take place at the San Francisco Fashion Center, with New Yorkers Karan, Bill Blass, Ralph Lauren et al. selling their wares for a virtual song. California designers will count for about 40% of the mix, with Jessica McClintock, Joe Boxer and Robin Piccone among them. Fern Mallis of the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA), expects to stage similar events every two years in different cities. Proceeds go to AIDS charities.

* KEEPING ABREAST OF SWIMWEAR TRENDS: Cole of California introduced a new swimsuit last week, the Top Secret, that caused an upheaval of sorts. It has an inflatable wing-shaped air bladder that performs like a push-up bra, adding cleavage where once there was none. According to a Cole company spokesperson, scores of women have called wanting to buy the suit immediately. A batch of Cole suits were sent to a Vanity Fair photo shoot to outfit Madonna. The stylist took one look at the blow-up tops and ordered three more. Uproar aside, the $72 suits won’t be on the racks until October. Look for them at the Broadway, Nordstrom, Robinson’s and May Co.

* BAGGING THE CLAIM CHECK: The risk of losing one’s luggage is one of the hazards of flying. But designer Donna Karan seems to have discovered a novel, if somewhat pricey, solution. On a recent segment of “Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous,” Karan told host Robin Leach she has her luggage shipped to herself overnight via Federal Express. “For the last 10 years Donna’s family and my family have been skiing together in Aspen and we always carry about 24 pieces of luggage between us,” says Patti Cohen, a Karan company vice president. “One day, I suggested to Donna we ought to try mailing this stuff to ourselves. If you do a four-day delivery it’s really not that expensive.” Nevertheless, Listen found that two average pieces of luggage sent via Federal Express from Los Angeles to New York costs $66, or about $1 a pound.

* GROUNDED: As Giorgio Beverly Hills prepares for the November launch of its new women’s fragrance, Wings, everything is ready to fly except the fragrance itself. The winged bottle with its blue crystal-ball stopper remains empty while a select group of sniffers--more than 2,500 men and women around the world--evaluate the five nominees vying to be the final juice. The contenders contain such exotic essences as night-blooming cactus orchid and desert jasmine. On Oct. 1, Giorgio CEO Linda LoRe will make the final selection, and by the first week of November Wings will be available by mail and at Giorgio boutiques--whatever it smells like.

* MASKED MEN: Who was that guy under the goo at the Georgette Klinger salon in Beverly Hills? None other than super macho Dolph Lundgren, according to Kathryn Klinger, president of the company. She says he is one of many men who come in regularly. In the same week, actor Ron Silver and “Santa Barbara’s” Theo Penglis went under the mask as well. “We used to have a separate entrance at the salon for the men, but not anymore,” Klinger says. “The stigma for men having facials is gone. Now, they are 20% of our facial business, and it’s growing every year.”