All Eyes on Ivana During Plaza Shows : New York: Plaids, prints and lace are featured in designers’ collections. Meanwhile, Trump sports a new look.

Forget about fashion. The big questions at the New York shows that started on Monday are all about Ivana Trump.

Since she became president of the Plaza Hotel two years ago, it has become the bubbling center of fashion week. But will she still be at the helm of the ritzy hotel once she signs the divorce papers that end her marriage to billionaire entrepreneur Donald Trump?

And will the shows go on, in the Plaza’s grand ballroom and the private suites around the hotel?

“Yes,” she said, in a calm and ladylike manner, after the third show she attended Monday.

Unlike in past seasons, Trump did not change outfits between all the shows. For the Rebecca Moses collection at 10 a.m., she wore the designer’s parchment-color lace jeans and matching blazer, with a parchment color body suit.

Next, she changed into a gray check dress and jacket for Carolina Herrera’s show--an outfit from the designer’s last spring collection. She wore the same thing to Arnold Scaasi’s show, later in the afternoon.

But nobody is suggesting that Trump is on an austerity kick. Instead, the buzz is that she’s concentrating on hair and makeup, not clothes.

The switch came after Vogue magazine gave her a complete makeover for a cover story to run this spring. Before the Vogue people took her picture, they traded in that Farrah Fawcett ‘70s do of hers for something closer to Brigitte Bardot.

She’s been wearing her new look to the shows--a funnel-shaped twist with bangs and, well, sideburns.

“It’s your bombshell look,” someone suggested to Trump when they met after one of the shows.

“I always change my look,” Trump replied with a smile.

“Who’s your inspiration this time?”

“I don’t imitate anyone,” Trump answered. “I just play.”

Perry Ellis designer Marc Jacobs has a theory.

“After the Vogue shoot,” he said, “Ivana probably looked at herself and said, ‘Hey, I’m a good-looking gal. I don’t need all this.’ ”

“All this” being red lipstick, heavy makeup and buttery blond bouffant-ness--Trump’s look when she took over the Plaza management two years ago. Along with her updated hairdo, she is now wearing soft pink lipstick and lightly blended eye makeup.

After Scaasi’s show, Trump went backstage to visit the designer.

“Did you see some things for yourself?” he asked.

“Oh yes,” she said, smiling.

“She wears my evening gowns,” Scaasi explained after Trump and her half-dozen bodyguards left.

“But she hasn’t ordered anything from this new collection yet. No one has.”

Unlikely as it may sound, Scaasi’s other prominent East Coast client is First Lady Barbara Bush.

“I’m taking her away from blue, more toward violet for fall,” Scaasi said. But no details followed.

“I don’t want to upstage her before the first time she wears the clothes,” he explained.

Scaasi’s Dalmatian-print suits worn with pillbox hats and the hooded Dalmatian-print duffel coats stole his show. They had the girl-next-door, energetic innocence of Doris Day in her 1960s suburban movies. Remember “The Thrill of it All”?

But as Ivana Trump knows, Scaasi’s heart belongs to evening dresses, and more Hollywood women than ever are wearing them these days. Jacqueline Bisset, Diahann Carroll and Barbara Davis, whose husband, Marvin, owned 20th Century Fox until he sold it last year, are heavy investors in Scaasi’s night looks.

At Bill Blass, the action started well before the show, with Nancy Kissinger, wearing a definitely red suit; Mrs. William Buckley (Pat), Blass’s chum, in conservative gray, and social gadfly costume and jewelry designer Kenneth Jay Lane, all holding court.

Then came the real show--of plaid suits with ball fringe, more plaid suits that mixed glen and windowpane patterns, and a lively assortment of seven-eighths-length coats over short, narrow skirts in fruit cocktail color combinations.

A good-looking putty green striped suit with a notched collar went under a short raincoat in matching green checks.

And among several strapless outfits in sporty fabrics, a gray flannel dress with a coffee color satin swing coat caught the most attention.

For evenings, short Blass had the most class. Among the standouts were a moss-green lace skirt and cashmere tunic topped by a burnt orange satin duffel coat, and an aqua satin strapless dress with a toffee chiffon fanny wrap.

But his long dresses with big satin skirts and drop-waisted wool jersey tops looked dated. So did an ankle-length, green sequined body dress. Short was young and energetic.

In her collection, Norma Kamali updated the floor-length, down-filled “sleeping bag” coat she invented a dozen or so years ago. The new version was short, in satin-finished blues or greens, and worn over what is fast becoming the fashion uniform of the ‘90s--a black unitard.

The rest of Kamali’s collection was built around cowboys. She personally directed the show from just off stage, where she looked like a deejay at a downtown club, dressed in basic black with headphones.

She was busy timing the models’ trips down the runway to the beat of Eric Clapton music.

A lot of the clothes she showed looked like urban cowboy club wear; red suede duster coats, bad-guy black cutaway jackets, patchwork snakeskin jeans, and big, black Stetson hats.

For a cross-cultural segment she kept the cowboy theme and added a twist of Cossack, raj or sultan style.

There were India-print beaded jackets over blue jeans, Russian military hats with fur earflaps to warm up blue denim short shorts, and sari-silk sarongs worn over cowboy boots.

The show had more to do with modern cultural collisions than innovative fashion design. But it was interesting even from that point of view.

Again this season, Herrera’s evening gowns commanded attention. Something in the way she builds strong shoulder lines and small, high-cut necklines seems to cause the wearer to stand up straighter and walk taller.

She tested some new proportions, including a full-cut, knee-length evening coat with beaded cuffs over a long, flowing satin gown, and a knee-length halter top cocktail dress worn with elbow-length white leather gloves. They looked retro, almost campy, but elegant nonetheless.

Herrera’s daytime suits in pastel tweeds had jackets trimmed with yarn fringe. And a pale yellow tuxedo jacket with black velvet piping was a fresh finish for a pair of gray flannel pants.

At Perry Ellis, Marc Jacobs showed his best collection to date. (This is No. 3.) He has made it past the gimmicks and the overly cautious reactionary collection.

Now he is showing how he got the job in the first place--he’s designing some good looking clothes.

The photo opportunity outfit of the show was a satin and velvet cocktail suit with a New York skyline sequined across the bodice.

Other good looks included a marine-blue sequined blazer over deep navy velvet evening dress, and a gray suit with quilted jacket and short, gored skirt, jazzed up with detachable chinchilla collar and muff.

There were rumors a few months ago that Jacobs’ days at Ellis were numbered. He denied that, just before this latest show. And the collection supported his claim.