He is known for dressing Catherine Zeta-Jones, Eve, Queen Latifah, Lucy Liu and his buddy Vanessa Williams, but designer Carmen Marc Valvo admits that he draws much of his inspiration from classic Hollywood rather than the current crop of lovelies who don his glamorous evening gowns.

"I pull from old Hollywood," he says on the phone from his New York offices. "I'm a classicist. I liked the era when people really dressed."

The Boston Globe caught up with him recently to hear his insider's take on seasonal trends.

Q: Your parents wanted you to become a plastic surgeon, so how did you wind up in fashion?

A: My father was a doctor and my mom a nurse. Every doctor's dream is to have all your children go into the medical profession. But I was artistic from an early age. I wanted to go into art and he said, "Plastic surgery, that's the wave of the future." But who knew what plastic surgery was back then? That was 1961-62. Now I think maybe I should have listened to him. It would have been a lot less stressful. ... I'm using a needle and thread in a different way. I'm still making women beautiful, but in a less invasive way.

Q: Is there one actress or singer who you see as a bit of a muse for you, who inspires your work?

A: Vanessa Williams has been a personal friend of mine for over 20 years. Vanessa and I just filmed a public service announcement together for colon cancer. She can amuse me now and then.

Q: So is she just like her character on "Ugly Betty"?

A: She is actually the sweetest, kindest woman you could ever imagine. ... She comes across on ''Ugly Betty" as such a conniver, but she's a really good soul.

Q: What trends you're seeing for this spring?

A: Right now I really like color. Corals are probably some of my favorite colors. Just the whole idea of color. Blue for evening wear is great. It's always black, black, black. For New Yorkers, our idea of stepping out is wearing a pink scarf with a black dress. That's really forward for us.

Q: And for fall/winter?

A: I think the most important must-have item for the fall season is the feather. Feather hat, feather-trimmed gloves, feather on the dress, sweater with ostrich feather. In the collection that we'll show, some of the dresses are fully made out of feathers. The rule for fall is that if it looks like it was plucked from a winged creature, you're on the right track.