The Buzz on the Flygirls : Fashion: The ‘street chic meets <i> haute couture</i> ‘ look of the dancers from ‘In Living Color’ has inspired fans and imitators. ‘It’s about contradiction,’ says the show’s costume designer.

They certainly weren’t inspired by the uniformed sameness of the June Taylor dancers.

And forget any fashion comparisons to the lame-clad “Solid Gold” shakers and movers.

The Flygirls, a quintet of stylish hoofers who hip-hop on the Fox TV show “In Living Color” every Sunday night, have a look that might best be described as a combination of street chic, haute couture and K mart blue-light special. The mishmash of styles has inspired designers worldwide to clone the look, and legions of wanna-bes canvass the racks of L.A. boutiques in hopes of doing the same thing. The show’s costume designer, Michelle Cole, likes to sum up the Flygirls’ semi-androgynous style this way: “A little bit of girl and a little bit of boy.”

Los Angeles designer Claudia Gersh of Helios calls the look “rap meets disco.” Henry Duarte, who designs the Sqwear line, refers to the look as “Uptown Motown.”

If you haven’t caught their 20-second opening act--now in reruns--here’s what you’ve been missing: Sequined minidresses over combat boots, sweat shirts pulled over chiffon skirts, leather-studded bustiers riding above football trousers cut like hot pants and laced at the crotch. And always, because a flygirl--a term taken from New York street lingo, which means the best-- wouldn’t fly without them, fishnet hose.

“The Flygirls are like little runway models coming out at the start of the show. But their look is not about dresses and heels,” Cole says. “It’s about contradiction, things you wouldn’t think go together, but do.” Like a strand of pearls worn with a man’s suit.

Cole describes another Flygirl look, one she calls the “cutting-edge Catholic schoolgirl” ensemble. It consists of a hooded shirt worn over a white T-shirt with a pleated plaid miniskirt, fishnet hose and Dr. Martens combat boots. The look is topped off with a cropped motorcycle jacket.

Every week Cole collaborates with choreographer Rosie Perez to create new looks for the dancers--Lisa Marie Todd, Carrie Ann Inaba, Cari French, Jennifer Lopez and Deidre Lang--all of whom are twentysomething and guard their ages like Zsa Zsa Gabor.

“In terms of cutting edge,” Inaba says, “I think we’re touching all bases--music, dance and fashion. They’re all connected and for us, they all come from the street.”

Adds Lopez: “Right now the dance scene is very loose. So is fashion. It’s whatever you want it to be, expressive or explosive. It’s dance fashion with attitude and feeling.”

To achieve the Flygirl look, Cole visits designer showrooms long before their collections are sashayed on runways in Los Angeles and New York.

She shops at thrift stores for accessories and junk jewelry, including pearls, which she says “feminize” the combat boots, leather gloves and Carnaby caps, biker jackets, zippered spandex jumpsuits, and bold-colored outfits emblazoned with peace, love and mystic symbols.

Cole also browses and buys at Contempo and Judy’s boutiques across Southern California and shops at specialty stores at South Coast Plaza and the Beverly Center. The designer picks up more ideas from her observations of L.A.’s nightclub scene and street life.

Cole also gets help directly from Los Angeles designers.

Duarte’s Sqwear line includes men’s suits in bold colors that have become favorites of the singing group Tony! Toni! Tone!

When Cole saw a men’s suit designed by Duarte on one of the group’s videos, she tracked down the designer and asked him to whip up five in the brightest yellow, green, orange, blue and purple. The Flygirls flaunted the she-suits at a Motown salute and later wore them on “In Living Color.”

Fan mail poured in for information about the outfits, Cole says, and that persuaded Duarte to develop a Sqwear line of suits for women. The suits, which include a vest, retail for $650 at Roppongi on Melrose and Traffic at the Beverly Center.

In addition to the suits, Duarte has designed leather weightlifters’ gloves and leather jockey hats for the Flygirls. He has some ideas on the drawing board for Cole to see when the new season kicks off in August as well as advice for the fashion-prone.

“Color is going to continue to be big. I think everyone is tired of black and white,” he says.

Gersh, owner and designer for Helios, spotted her daisy-decorated hot pants and tops on the Flygirls on one of their very first appearances, she recalls.

“I called the show I was so excited,” Gersh says, adding that she is now working regularly with Cole.

“If the Flygirls want something and it’s not something I am doing in my own line, chances are I will do it for them,” Gersh says.

Requests have included unusual color combinations and blockings such as rust and blue in everything from cotton Lycra to nylon spandex to stretch twill. Gersh says she and Cole will probably collaborate on a few ensembles made “in an incredible sexy stretch denim.”

The Flygirls have danced in Gersh’s high-cut bodysuits, which retail for $70, and red, white and blue hip-hugger bell-bottoms that sell for $110. On another show they strutted in $65 studded bra tops and $110 studded bicycle shorts. Gersh’s Helios line is available at Fred Segal and Nordstrom department stores.

Maggie Barry and Stephen Walker design for L.A.’s Van Buren label. Their gold leather collection with a ‘60s and ‘70s retro feel is priced from $70 to $700 at Nordstrom and H. Lorenzo in Los Angeles and will be worn by the Flygirls in the new season. She says their naughty and nice look “says couture doesn’t have to be stuffy and street fashion doesn’t have to be jeans with holes in them.”

Flygirl Lisa Marie Todd says most of their fan mail is from young women who want to know “how they can break into dancing or where they can get the clothes we wore on last week’s show.” Cole says many teen-agers and women want to know where to buy specific jewelry or accessories.

Azul Cruz, a 15-year-old from East Los Angeles, has never written a fan letter, but she tunes in every Sunday night to see “what’s happening” with the Flygirls.

“They’re fantastic. The way they dance and the clothes they wear. I try to imitate them,” says the teen-ager during a break from a dance class at a Silver Lake studio.

“The guys are in love with the Flygirls,” she adds. “I have a friend who tapes that show every Sunday, but he only tapes the Flygirls. Every Sunday he adds to the tape. He loves the way they dance, but I like the way they dress.”

Her friend, Olivia Aguilar, also 15, watches the show religiously.

“I love their combat boots,” she says of the footgear she’s planning on adding to her own wardrobe. “Sometimes my friends ask me, ‘Where did you get that look?’ I tell them, ‘I got it from the Flygirls.’ ”

Tracey Gibson, decked out in patent-leather Dr. Martens combat boots and a crucifix around her neck, has the look down pat, she says, after emerging from a dressing room at Judy’s in the Glendale Galleria mall.

“I never miss the beginning of that show,” says the 16-year-old, who lives in Los Feliz. “That’s the best part. It’s like the Flygirl fashion show. They’re bad. “

And that means good, which also means fly .

Girlfriend, Here’s How to Be Fly

So you wanna dress like a Flygirl?

For starters, says Flygirls costumer Michelle Cole, it helps to have a toned physique--”not a model’s body, but a body with a little bit of muscle, a dancer’s body.” And, she adds, a “good attitude about clothes contradiction” helps. The rest is a snap.

Here’s how to pull off the look:

* Cheap pearls--small not oversized--to wrap around the wrists or wear long around the neck are big. Flowers, particularly daisies pinned to garments, are a Flygirl must. Both accessories “feminize” the tough chic look.

* Dr. Martens combat boots or granny boots (patent leather is out) worn with black fishnet hose and black socks folded (not slouched) over the top are a Flygirl trademark. “Pretty Woman” thigh-high boots also qualify.

* Extra large white T-shirts, preferably from a 3-pack by Hanes, are part of the look. Studded bra tops, kneepads, race car driving leather gloves are other lead accessories.

* A pleated miniskirt, a cropped motorcycle jacket and several hooded sweat shirts complete the list. (Non-hooded sweat shirts won’t do; the hood is the “thing,” Cole says.)