Gone With the Wind : As trends go, white-tie affairs and the ultra-thin look are history. But baked Alaska shows signs of heating up.

Trends come and trends go and nothing is immune, not even the social scene.

Where charity dinners once included auctions with people bidding on jewelry, there now are benefit auctions with people bidding on celebrity bras.

Where guests once happily took a bottle of perfume as their party favor, now they trample over each other to grab free T-shirts.

So if you’ve been wondering why you don’t get invited to white-tie parties where they serve baked Alaska anymore, read on as we find whatever happened to . . .

* Parties in bowling alleys: During the mid-’80s, two trends coincided: throwing parties in unique locations (anywhere but the same hotel ballrooms) and ‘50s retro (think Ed Debevic’s). This perfect combination resulted in the Bowling Alley Party. It was casual, it was fun, it was a little dive-y and you could wear black leather. Bowling alleys, with their rentable shoes and perpetual beer odor, were tailor-made for the ultra-hip, tattooed-and-pierced crowd.

But apparently the hipsters have found somewhere else--such as coffeehouses and billiard halls--to party in recent years, leaving the bowling alleys to the bowlers.

“Nobody asks me for that kind of party. Those cutesy kinds of things, people aren’t into,” says Judy Levy, a partner with event planners Levy, Pazanti & Associates. “I think they’re more into things like concerts and family events. I don’t know that people even bowl anymore.”

* Mimes: Those speechless performers in white face, berets and striped T-shirts don’t carry the punch they once did. Rarely are party guests these days treated to the I-can’t-get-out-of-this-box or boy-is-this-a-strong-wind numbers.

Requests for traditional mimes have dropped, says Andrea Michaels, president of Extraordinary Events. “We still do a lot of living statues, which is a version of a mime,” she says, “but a mime per se, no. For one reason, theme parks are so heavy on them. And it’s sort of an archaic look, there’s really nothing modern about them. . . . I think people are into conversation and food at parties, and mimes require attention.”

* The Upper-Crust, Ultra-Thin Look: Wealthy socialites during the ‘80s proved that if you couldn’t be too rich, you could certainly be too thin. Those reedy gals who showed up in the pages of W earned the fitting nickname “social X-rays” from author Tom Wolfe for their protruding collarbones, straight hips and sinewy necks.

But during the ‘90s, glamour queens have dropped looking too thin for looking too aerobicized. In the old days, the X-rays would wear strapless dresses to show off their stick-like arms; now they wear them to show off their bulging biceps. These women are loath to let those sessions with their personal trainer go unnoticed. After all, God gave us Lycra for a reason.

* Large, showy floral centerpieces: Subtle was a word that didn’t get much of a workout during the last decade. This was the more-is-more “Dynasty” age of glitz and glitter. And one thing event-givers loved to indulge in were huge table centerpieces made from expensive flowers. Cascades of roses, lilies and orchids were set in oversized arrangements that made cross-table conversation next to impossible.

But when the recession came, those flowers went--especially at fund-raisers, where organizers squeezed out every last penny for proceeds.

“I never used to do centerpieces under $50,” says Mary Lowy of Mark Lowy’s Solarium in Bel-Air. “I’ve always been a high-end florist, and I’ve had to resort to using flowers I never would use. I did a fund-raiser that was a $1,000 a plate. They wanted centerpieces for $35 a table.”

Although Lowy still has clients who don’t think twice at dropping $250 for centerpieces for their private parties, it’s a different story if they’re hosting a benefit.

“For a fund-raiser, they’ll toe the line and get as much as they can for as little.”

* The baked Alaska procession: Perhaps nothing defines kitschy food presentation better than the parade of the baked Alaska. Imagine a line of white-jacketed waiters sweeping through a hotel ballroom or restaurant dining room carrying trays of the cake/ice cream/meringue dessert, either stuck with sparklers or followed by more waiters carrying lighted Sterno pots. Their march usually had musical accompaniment.

But as Angelenos began to pride themselves on having a sophisticated palate, suddenly baked Alaska was edged out by elaborate sculpted chocolate creations, fresh fruit sorbets or rich creme brulee . And none of these desserts is feted with processions.

But baked Alaska is starting to make a comeback, says Tom Kostoff, director of catering for the Beverly Hilton.

“If someone’s (planning an event) and fishing for an idea, when you bring it up, people leap at it. Someone might say, ‘Oh, I used to do that.’ You never get a negative reaction to it. It’s a happy dessert.”

Kostoff adds that baked Alaska was the dessert chosen for Beverly Hills High’s prom last May. “It was nice,” he says, “that we got a whole new generation exposed to it.”

But there has been one modification: no more sparklers.

“Because of fire department regulation, we can’t have them anymore,” Kostoff says. “So every fifth waiter carries a terrine of dry ice, which creates a trail of smoke.”

* White tie: White-tie events are the most formal events, and now that we’re no longer living in the age of innocence, there are precious few of them.

According to etiquette experts, men must wear a tail coat, starched white shirt front with a wing collar, white pique tie, studs made of precious metal and stones, a waistcoat, black socks and black patent leather shoes. Top hats and white gloves are optional. Women should dress in ball gowns (and jewels if available), with long white gloves optional for sleeveless gowns. White tie may be requested only from mid-September to mid-June, never during the hot summer months, and only after 6 p.m.

It shouldn’t be surprising that save for a couple of debutante balls, L.A. plays host to almost no white-tie events (although one invitation a few years back requested “white tie and medals”). These are now usually limited to White House dinners, weddings and longstanding, traditional balls.

Besides, this is the casual capital of the world, where dressing for dinner means wearing socks.