Will Reality Conquer the Runway? : The allure of high fashion may be waning in favor of budget chic.

On the eve of the final runway season of the century, designers like Calvin Klein and Donna Karan are putting finishing touches on their spring collections, which will be shown in New York next week. But amid the building excitement, one veteran fashion observer is raising the question of high fashion’s relevance in today’s society.

In “The End of Fashion: The Mass Marketing of the Clothing Business” (William Morrow & Co., 1999), Wall Street Journal reporter Teri Agins points out that most Americans today shop at stores like J. Crew, Old Navy and Target, purveyors of inexpensive casual clothing for an increasingly casual lifestyle. That has opened the door for everyone to be his own fashion designer, putting together different pieces--designer and mass-produced, cheap and expensive--to create personal style.

True fashionistas lament the rise of these chain stores, saying, “How boring; everyone looks the same!” But let’s face it, women do not need to spend a lot of money on designer clothes to look fashionable. Why pay $999 for a sleeveless cashmere turtleneck by Ralph Lauren when Banana Republic offers one for $98?

Demographics are diminishing the importance of high fashion, too, according to the book, which is out this month. What a stick-thin 17-year-old wears on a runway is not relevant to a large portion of the population--baby boomers over the age of 50.

“We haven’t seen any gray-haired ladies on the runways--yet,” quips Kurt Barnard, president of Barnard’s Retail Trend Report, a forecasting company based in Upper Montclair, N.J.

It was not too long ago that high fashion was a franchise of the rich, socialites who could afford to spend $20,000 on a single couture gown. Styles and silhouettes trickled down and were copied by lesser-known designers and worn by everybody else.

But fashion today is up for interpretation. Designers no longer dictate what women should wear. People on the street are setting the trends by virtue of what they are choosing to buy and what they are choosing to leave on the racks. Women will not be slaves anymore to skirt lengths that change every season.

“Ordinary people never bought the clothes on the runway, necessarily, but they participated in the dream. There was a trickle-down effect in fashion, and on top of that an aspirational quality to the industry. People wanted to trade up. But all that has changed. Today, people can go into Banana Republic and Old Navy and feel pretty cool,” says Agins, who has been covering the fashion and retail world for a decade.

Runway shows work best for big designers like Ralph Lauren, Calvin Klein and Tommy Hilfiger, who have several brands, plus perfume and jeans. “Publications cover those big names because they are the brands most pervasive in department stores. They are the brands people see,” Agins says.

But mounting a $100,000 runway show in New York may not be the best investment for a smaller designer. First, there are so many shows--more than 100 during New York’s fashion week alone--that every collection will not get media coverage.

Also, with the consolidation of department stores, many buyers do their buying before fashion week. Many small boutiques and specialty stores (more likely to carry lesser-known designers) skip fashion week altogether in favor of trade shows.

“I would rather do an event that combines art or music, something that blends other lifestyle elements and is not just tunnel vision to clothes,” says fledgling L.A. designer Delia Seaman, who owns Robertson Boulevard’s Curve store.

“We do not look to the runways; we find designers for our store through word of mouth,” she says.

New York fashion designer Donna Haag hosted runway shows for three seasons, but this year she is presenting her spring 2000 collection on CD-ROM. A disc containing photos and moving images of her clothes on models will go out to editors and buyers around the globe, even those who do not make it to New York.

Haag hopes the new format will capture the attention of a younger audience, which so far has looked to the streets--not the runways--for style cues.

But there is no denying the theater and excitement that come with a runway presentation, and Haag does not rule out showing “live” in the future.

“There is nothing quite like seeing clothes walk and move. There’s something about the lights, the music and the celebrities,” says evening wear designer Randolph Duke, who will show his spring collection next week. In “The End of Fashion,” Agins says that to survive in the fashion business today, high-end designers need products that the public at large will buy. But the runways are not the place most designers choose to showcase commercially viable items.

For example, Duke’s most accessible pieces--black gowns and short cocktail dresses--are not runway fare. For runway shows, he prefers show-stopping looks geared toward galas or big events like the Academy Awards.

The average consumer is not likely to spend $2,000 on a gown from a runway show, but “there are people who want the real thing, and there always will be, thank God!” says Los Angeles fashion designer David Cardona, who is showing in New York. “As long as 1% of this country controls 99% of the wealth, there will be a Dior client.”

E-mail Booth Moore at booth.moore@latimes.com.