PARIS : Hippie Flashbacks Take Center Stage

Karl Lagerfeld set a fashion record this season: He is now designing three Paris collections.

Best known for his Chanel designs, Lagerfeld presented his first line for Chloe on Wednesday, the opening day of the spring ’93 ready-to-wear shows. He also designs his own signature collection in Paris, as well as the Fendi line in Milan.

Fluid, ankle-length dresses and cardigan jackets in pastel florals, with hints of lingerie lace, were the heart of the Chloe collection. An ivory-colored pleated skirt that hobbled the knees reappeared in several soft-shaped suits. Bi-level and trilevel dresses fluttered to the ankle, and a group of ivory-colored coatdresses with tiny geometric prints went over ivory-colored body suits.

In his obsession to be forever young, the 50-something Lagerfeld topped off every outfit with hippie-nostalgic headbands, floppy hobo hats and suede rickrack sashes instead of belts. (Noticeably absent from the collection was any suggestion of what to wear to work.)

But this season, Lagerfeld is just one of many looking back to the gentler side of the hippie scene for direction.

There were more bell-bottom pants, crocheted collars, dresses that look like recycled damask tablecloths and jackets cut from drapery fabric than one could ever imagine.

If designers are not looking back at the hippie era, they are looking ahead to the apocalypse--or at least to the end of the century. Some fashion futurists predict that clothing will eventually be reduced to nothing but bolts of fabric wrapped around bodies.

There have been more than a few signs of it here this week. Yohji Yamamoto featured Grecian goddess wrap-and-tie outfits that looked as if they had never seen needle and thread. There was something dark-spirited and dysfunctional about his primitive togas, with all those swags, sashes and bunched up knots that seemed to have no purpose.

Some versions had a peasant feel, with their coarser textured, block-print fabrics. Other, more refined versions came in tissue-thin black fabric that flowed gracefully to the floor, showing off Yamamoto’s remarkable tailoring skills.

He moved on to long, cutaway coats, with only half a tail each, over narrow cropped pants. These--and some spidery knit tunics over long, narrow skirts--looked closest to the real world.

In one other segment of the show, Yamamoto seemed to be suggesting a new world order, headquartered somewhere in Asia. Bright yellow and red coats and dresses worn with head wraps that jangled with silver beads called to mind Thai temples and Nepalese shrines.

At Comme des Garcons, designer Rei Kawakubo won the hearts of her admirers with a series of pin-striped ball gowns, their skirts shaped like globes, with underskirts of tulle, black lace or antique satin.

Before that moment, it was touch and go. Like Yamamoto, Kawakubo’s show was made up of what looked like two or three dresses; long, narrow skirts, and unconstructed jackets recycled down the runway every few minutes.

They were slouchy, thrift shop-looking creations that looked as if the seamstress never did give them a good press.