Balboa Park’s Mingei International Museum was even more colorful than usual on Friday night with The Princess of Punk herself, the great Zandra Rhodes.

The event was a celebration of Rhodes’ fifty-plus years in the fashion industry, and the who’s who of San Diego came out in droves to support their local legend.

Partnering with Bloomingdales and Mengei, Rhodes put on a killer runway show featuring couture pieces from her archives. Only a visionary like Rhodes could get away with dousing the audience in rose petals. Edged out Geishas sashayed down the runway in silk frocks, adorned with feathers, sequins and sashes that look just as fabulous and on-trend in 2011 as they did in 1977.

Best known for creating one-of-a-kind pieces with her “to die for” textiles, Rhodes has dressed everyone from Cher and Jackie Kennedy to Sarah Jessica Parker and Kate Moss. Once considered “too outrageous” for the fashion industry, her brand now includes designer clothing, textiles, eyewear, bed linen, shoes, furniture and china.

You have until April 3, 2011 to get your fashionable fanny to the Mingei to see Zandra Rhodes: A Lifelong Love Affair with Textiles.