BY DESIGN : Going Grungeless : At Tonight’s MTV Awards, Count on Designer Wear, Vinyl, High Heels and--Oh, Yes--Red Lipstick

Chances are, “The 1994 MTV Video Music Awards” tonight won’t look much like last year’s show.

The previous year’s lineup of young grunge acts has been replaced by one featuring the Rolling Stones, Bruce Springsteen and Aerosmith--rock’s elder statesmen who tend to wear custom clothes that are, for the most part, clean and unslept-in.

Even Tony Bennett, who last year playfully swapped his tux for the funky wardrobe of a Red Hot Chili Pepper, has gone back into his own closet for a sleek Brioni suit.

“I don’t think it’s going to be as over-the-top as it was in L.A.,” notes Elisa Bellettini, “House of Style” producer who is producing Cindy Crawford’s segments in tonight’s pre-show program. Now that the show has relocated to New York, she predicts: “You’ll see lots of black, rubber and vinyl. Lots of high heels. Lots of red lipstick.”

This being the music business, she could be talking about both women and men.

Although there will be a few anti-Establishment musicians who arrive in whatever they wore to bed last night, and a few others in wild get-ups, this show will likely turn out to be a good checklist of the hottest designers of the moment, including Richard Tyler, Anna Sui, Todd Oldham and Mark Eisen.

Nominees and presenters have until show time to change their minds and their clothes. Meanwhile, here’s a review of the activity going on behind the scenes:

Roseanne, the show’s host, asked red-hot L.A. designer Tyler to make up outfits for her, including a black velvet smoking jacket with pants, a purple velvet outfit with pants and a black wool dress.

Nominee Janet Jackson, also a Tyler devotee (she wore one of his sleek suits to the Oscars this year), could show up in his designs. That is, if she decides she’s going.

Mick Jagger doesn’t make wardrobe decisions until the day of an event--which means he’s mulling over his closet right about now. Some of the glam/mod stage costumes hanging there were made by Eisen. Sleek, shiny, stretchy pieces in high-tech fabrics were designed to match the singer’s high energy.

“Speed” star Sandra Bullock, a presenter, is leaning toward Vivienne Westwood, an English avant-garde designer who has dressed her for past photo shoots.

Lisa Loeb, darling of the “Reality Bites” crowd, is deciding between the quirky Sui and Betsey Johnson, designer of the little black dress she wore in her “Stay” video.

The rap divas of Salt-N-Pepa are coming in at the last moment from their Australian tour to review clothes from Donna Karan, Sui and Oldham. If they show up in vinyl, it might be Italian. “They’re on a Gianni Versace kick,” a representative from their label said.

Melissa Etheridge is wavering between a vested Armani suit and a Dolce & Gabbana animal print.

Nine Inch Nails’ bad boy Trent Reznor--whose onstage Woodstock ’94 clothing was obscured with mud--wears such avant-garde get-ups as lace-up leather shorts, high-laced black boots, opera-length gloves and black stockings with holes. For the award show, a representative says, he’ll go more conservative in black leather pants, or something in vinyl or suede.

Coolio is one who balances the bizarre and the banal. The rapper goes to town with his comical hair--which looks like a braided Don King do--but then barely gives a passing thought to his clothes--maybe a Pendleton shirt, saggy khakis and dark Loc sunglasses.

As for MTV’s own, Crawford checked out a gold Oldham evening dress, and Alison Stewart picked an authentic cheongsam from Chinatown. Kennedy asked for something not too sexy from Oldham, and Daisy Fuentes headed in the opposite direction for either Versace, her choice last year, or a short dress from Pamela Dennis.

Bill Bellamy picked Karan, and John Sencio made a beeline for the vintage shops in search of a tux.