A French Consensus : Fashion: All but a few designers agree there’s one strong look for fall. So say <i> au revoir</i> to that flaming red mini and <i> bonjour</i> to something long, black and clingy.

The old guard looked old indeed this week as French fashion designers showed their fall ’92 collections.

Emanuel Ungaro and Yves Saint Laurent were the last of the city’s Establishment names to present their new ideas, on Tuesday and Wednesday. But at least one brand-new idea went right past them.

A new proportion asserted itself here this week, built around a stretchy knit skirt that clings all the way to its mid-calf hem. It goes with a blocky mid-heel shoe and looks nothing like the long skirts that last swept the fashion scene, in the early 1970s.

Ungaro went wrong with suits in menswear fabrics. Their straight mid-calf-length skirts looked too stiff for today, and the classic high-heel pumps he showed with them were from another era entirely.

Yves Saint Laurent missed the mark on long when he showed wide split skirts over classic sling-back heels. But he got items in his collection, if not entire outfits, quite right: a sailor-blue cardigan sweater with gold binding in front, a fitted black leather jacket with rolled cuffs, velvet mock turtlenecks in warm colors to wear under jackets, and for evening, a pantsuit with small garnet buttons on a black satin jacket and black pants with a tuxedo stripe.

New York-based Oscar de la Renta showed his collection in Paris for the third time. The first two seasons he tried to compensate for the cavernous tents where the shows are held by decorating outfits with enormous jewelry. This time, he left out the jewels, giving the collection a cleaner quality.

Bold houndstooth suits and coats, most of them ankle length, kept color alive and separated De la Renta from the dominant trend toward black.

A houndstooth shirred-mink coat in purple, green and golden yellow topped a matching wool-knit sweater coat.

Evening dresses with full-cut velvet skirts in champagne or willow green had bustiers or scoop-neck tops in old gold.

It was a pretty collection--uncomplicated in an American way but sophisticated in the old-guard European tradition.

Among the blue-chip labels seen on fashion runways this week, several new and promising names got some attention.

Herve Leger is first among them. His short, tight, two-tone striped dresses of rayon bands as firm as girdles are meant for the body-culture customers that once belonged to Azzedine Alaia alone.

Leger showed a small collection of dresses, most of them short, few of them black. He is already known for his use of pale, unusual colors. This time, sea foam green mixed well with black.

“To me, long and wide-cut clothes look sad,” Leger said just before his show. “I’m keeping skirts short. The world is in crisis, we don’t need fashion to be dreary too.”

His clothes are carried at Barneys in South Coast Plaza. But will they sell in L.A.? Barneys’ Gene Pressman explained: “What sells in one city sells in all of them. And the dogs don’t sell anywhere.”

Italy-based Maurizio Galante crafted elaborate silk organdy colors on long, narrow, wool jackets for uncommon-looking pantsuits. He wrapped silk stoles cut into honeycomb patterns over short strapless dresses. A monastic, medieval coat with dome-shaped collar made a simple pantsuit dramatic. And a sheer blue silk shirt had chips of blue glass stitched to the bodice and sleeves.

People compare Galante to Romeo Gigli, just as they compare Leger to Alaia. But Galante moves Gigli’s idea one step closer to the mainstream with styles that are less extreme. (Henri Bendel in New York carries the line.)

“After eight years in business, I felt it was time to come to Paris,” the designer said. Gigli made the same decision several years ago.

Paris continues to attract the broadest cross-section of European and Asian talent. In his show, Koji Tatsuno, born in Japan, mixed British menswear fabrics and tailoring with eccentric upholstery trimmings. A gray silk-moire jacket had a pleated velvet collar. A blue tweed jacket had small red velvet buttons. A quilted satin coat had tiny satin buttons. Tatsuno showed all of his jackets with either very long or knee-length skirts. He also included narrow pants.

After four seasons showing in Paris, Tatsuno said, business is suddenly blooming.

“There is a strong need for some new, younger talent in Paris, but it takes time to find support from the stores.”

In Los Angeles, the boutique Maxfield carries his label.

While it wasn’t a season of surprises, retailers went around smiling all week.

“The clothes are very wearable, very salable,” said Saks Fifth Avenue Fashion Director Suzanne McMillan. Like most others here, she said her store will carry long and short skirts, with more short.

“And pants are critical.”