FASHION : That’s One Fewer Bill to Worry About

Dodger fans may not approve. But those of us who go to baseball games only to eat foot-long hot dogs and watch the fashion parade in the cheap seats have noticed a disproportionate number of grandstanders either wearing their caps backward--a holdout from the ebbing hip-hop clothing movement--or cutting the bills off altogether.

The latter idea may have come from Marty Karabees, Tom Johnson and Barbara Meyer, three non-fans of baseball who started a business and a fashion trend earlier this year by making and marketing a funky, multicolored brimless baseball cap under the Plain Geometry label.

Karabees said the backward baseball cap “is to fashion in the ‘90s what the athletic shoe was in the ‘80s.” What’s more, it’s a look that transcends ballplayers to include rockers, athletes, yuppies and rappers. “Even my mom wears a backward baseball cap. No lie!” he said.

Meyer, who designs the caps without bills, said actor Robin Williams liked the concept so much he bought three in San Francisco recently. The costumers for “Beverly Hills, 90210” picked up four for their collections. And Meyer said the trio is negotiating to get the caps on Michael Jackson’s dancers.

We found the $16 to $18 cotton caps (solids and alternating colors) at the Red Wheel Barrel in the Beverly Connection, All-American Boy on Santa Monica Boulevard, Romp on Melrose Avenue and several Nordstrom stores. The caps also are available in wool and corduroy.

Coincidentally, several other cap makers have simultaneously picked up on the trend. Sidney Richlin, a student at USC, markets a $24 cap at Fred Segal Santa Monica and Rudnick’s under the Original Brimless Cap label, while Casey Robinson of San Jose came out with a $20 Mechanical Cap in which the bill rotates from front to back.