Dressing Democratic

Excitement over the inaugural wingdings rivals that felt around this town at Academy Awards time. But the Washington event is apparently attracting a slightly a different clientele.

“It hasn’t been the usual starlet category--Size 6 and 6 feet tall,” says Sherry Morgan, whose Beverly Hills store, Starlit Soiree, is where two dozen ball-goers, mostly Size 10s, shopped for their gowns. Other surprises: less black (“even though you can tell black is their comfort color”) and more coverage (“people are a little awe-struck, not wanting to be quite as sexy as they would out here”).

* PARTY POOPS: Take a closer look at the people who are not going to the inaugural--and it’s not just folks who weren’t invited.

“This is Linda Bloodworth-Thomason’s party,” says one stylist to the stars. For anyone who doesn’t like the “Designing Women” executive producer, “there’s no way they’ll go.” And who says the Clinton era is one of goodwill?

* BOY TOY: “It’s important that you not refer to this as a doll,” Mattel’s Donna Gibbs gently corrects us.

OK, so what should we call the new plastic version of Arnold Schwarzenegger’s character, Jack Slater, from Columbia’s June release “The Last Action Hero”?

“An action figure. Boys won’t play with dolls .”

It seems when Hasbro debuted its GI Joe, about the time Barbie was born and at the same height, boys began to worry that Joe had just a little too much in common with Barbie. So the toy industry devised a new category. An “action figure” could never be confused with Barbie--or, even worse, Ken--because it stood 7 inches tall, max.

Sure, Schwarzenegger-as-Slater can be dressed up in all sorts of fun outfits (like Barbie) and can be twisted and turned into poses (like Barbie), but he’s for boys, because he’s short, see?

* SHOPPING SAGAS: While a shopper was trying on clothes at a Rodeo Drive boutique, she overheard the following exchange between a veteran saleswoman and a newcomer.

“Always write a thank-you note to a woman (customer). But never to a man who buys something for a woman.”

Silence.

“You’re never sure the present was for his wife. Imagine if you sent a note to his home and his wife opened it.”

* DETAIL ORIENTED: In the ‘80s, Annie Flanders’ funky little magazine, Details, was the insider’s guide to New York’s downtown club scene. Then, Conde Nast added Details to its magazine empire, Flanders departed and, voila , Details became, as one editor there calls it, “a magazine for boys.”

Flanders has traded coasts and venues. Radically. As a recently named contributing editor for middle America’s much-beloved TV Guide, Flanders will deliver style packages to the masses monthly.

“There are so many lifestyles and personalities shows on TV and there are so many lifestyles and personalities who watch. . . . I find TV people are a lot closer to real life than fashion people.”

Of course, Flanders was a bit shocked, she says, when she learned where some of those fabulous-looking “real-life” characters actually get their clothes. Hint: It ain’t Marshall’s. But never mind that. Her first effort, which appears in the magazine’s current issue, is about clothing we can all afford:

“At 3 o’clock Friday, Diane Von Furstenberg will be selling the most beautiful things on QVC . . . palazzo pants with two pockets and an elastic waist for $56. Can you believe it?”

* WINNING MEN: Wednesday night at the Biltmore Hotel, the California Mart gave out its Marty Award and Rising Star Award for menswear design. Cross Colours won an unprecedented second Rising Star award.

In business less than two years, the company still counts as an up-and-comer. This time around, though, Cross Colours did it with a collection that, dare we say it, looked preppy. Little gold crests decorated the front of striped rugby shirts, solid color anoraks and chino pants. The oversized fit and bright colors remain, but the street-wise graphics have been replaced with a country club-like insignia that contains the silhouette of African continent.

Cross Colours has veered so sharply from the street to the pro shop it might even appeal to the nation’s newest retiree--George Bush.

Lat Naylor, the San Francisco-based designer of Think Tank, won the Marty Award for his poetic collection. The high-throated suits and soft, loose vests and shirts are a refreshing departure from grunge and hippie influences that bagged and clanked down the runway in many other collections.

* BEARDWATCH: Is that a mustache creeping back on boyish KNBC news anchor John Beard? Or is our reception just fuzzy? Beard had gone the cleanshaven route for a while, but when seen subbing for news squire Paul Moyer this week, he seemed to have gone back to his old ways.

Our guess is that Beard is trying for a more authoritative pose. But if that’s the case, he’ll have to do something about that devilish bad-boy twinkle in his eye. How about a monocle, John?