BOB MACKIE'S FIRST FORAY INTO BALLET SPARKS A FASHION FLASHBACK.

Byline: Barbara De Witt Daily News Fashion Editor

Elvis en pointe?

``Blue Suede Shoes'' is not your parents' ballet - nor is it a tribute to the life of Elvis Presley. It is about Elvis' era, the '50s, when life seemed simpler and fashion ensembles were complex ...

Parents were terrified by the boy from Memphis who swiveled his hips and belted out songs such as ``Blue Suede Shoes,'' ``Teddy Bear,'' ``Jailhouse Rock'' and ``Hound Dog.'' That American age of innocence is the setting of ``Blue Suede Shoes,'' the ambitious new production of the Cleveland San Jose Ballet, which opens Tuesday at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion of the Los Angeles Music Center.

In addition to talented dancers and cool choreography, ``Blue Suede Shoes'' is a visual trip down memory lane provided by L.A. designer Bob Mackie, who makes his first foray into ballet - and set design.

Mackie, a fashion designer and costumer who's best known for dressing Cher, has us cruising the boulevard in our '57 Chevys headed to Bob's Big Boy for strawberry pie and dressing up for the high school sock hop. He didn't need to do much research. He lived it.

In an interview earlier this week at his Studio City office, Mackie said dressing the ballet corps was more fun than many of his costuming contracts. ``I hate to admit it, but I was a student at Rosemead High School in the San Gabriel Valley in the '50s and dressed very much like the three (central) characters in the ballet ... and my friends and I would drive over to Bob's Big Boy in Glendale or Tiny Naylor's in Hollywood, where the waitresses were on roller skates,'' Mackie recalled.

By the time the project was over, Mackie had created more than 280 costumes and 17 scenes covering the '50s and '60s, executing a pas de deux with current fashion.

The whole package

The real challenge, he said, was the scenery. ``I've often complained that the scenery didn't work with my costumes, so this time I got to do them.'' One of the hardest parts was designing cars for the drive-in restaurant called the Hot Dog Drive-In, he said. So to create that ``Happy Days'' mood, he gave them a cartoonish style, using elements from Cadillacs, Chevys and Pontiacs. ``Cars were big back then, and you could relax at the drive-in, but they still weren't big enough to fit a girl and all her petticoats,'' he recalled.

Mackie was referring to the crinolines and hoop skirts of his high school days and explained that when he and his buddies took girls to a dance, they had to step out of the skirt's underpinnings before getting in the car and stuff them in the trunk (impossible with today's cars). They'd put them back on when they arrived at school, because as any '50s fan knows, crinolines carried clout, unless you were a biker chick.

``The school's bad girls had it easier,'' he said. ``They wore tight, long skirts with really tight sweaters and ice cream cone-shaped bras - or toreador pants and short tops - and lots of makeup. They also wore anklets, which break the line of your leg (think shorter, heavier) and wore them underneath their stockings, which is a look I hate. It's right up there with unshaved legs,'' he added.

Men's fashion also was divided into two camps, recalled Mackie. ``The rough kids who smoked wore a white T-shirt and jeans with a black leather jacket, like Elvis and Marlon Brando. And then there was the Pat Boone look, which I sort of fell into, since the ducktail (hairstyle) didn't work on me,'' he laughed.

The clothes? ``We wore colored socks to match our sport shirt, or short-sleeved plaid shirts with khaki-colored pants with pegger legs, letterman sweaters and loafers or saddle oxfords,'' said Mackie.

``Clothes were more interesting then. There was a lot of detail, like suede trim on men's shirts, and people weren't afraid to wear bright colors. Today's clothes are so simple, but at least we're getting back to color,'' he said.

As the 20th century comes to a close, Americans are clutching their past, right down to those noisy charm bracelets and cat's eye glasses of the '50s. ``Young people are looking at pictures of their parents and thinking that the clothes and the cars still look good. Besides, nobody can think of anything new,'' he muses.

Elena Hart, spokeswoman for the New York-based Fashion Association, a professional organization for designers and manufacturers, calls the accessory-heavy trend a last look at the American dream. ``It's all about postwar optimism, when we were really able to look at the world through rose-colored glasses.''

She also thinks it's a Gap rebellion for young people who find dressing up a novelty after a blue denim childhood. And what the mainstream stores won't provide them with, they'll find at funky used clothing outposts such as Aardvark's in Canoga Park, Iguana in Sherman Oaks and SquaresVille in Silver Lake.

While the ballet focuses on the '50s, the story moves into the next decade and fashion trend, ending with a disco party in which ``all hell breaks loose,'' said Mackie. Or at least his bag of sequins. ...

THE FACTS

The production: ``Blue Suede Shoes,'' featuring the Cleveland San Jose Ballet.

Behind the scenes: Choreography, staging and book by Dennis Nahat. Costumes designed by Bob Mackie.

Location: Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, 135 N. Grand Ave., Los Angeles.

Playing: 8 p.m. July 8 through 11, 2 and 8 p.m. July 12 and 2 p.m. July 13.

Tickets: $15 to $60. For information, call [phone]. For tickets, call [phone]. Tickets also available at the Music Center Box Office.

Finding '50s style today

Class ring on a chain.

Ice cream cone-shaped bras. Buy them at thrift stores or Frederick's of Hollywood.

Charm bracelets. Nordstrom sells individual silver charms.

Bowling shirts. Mossimo has some inspired styles.

Suede oxfords. Hush Puppies makes them in numerous color combos.

Anklets. Look for these tiny ankle bracelets at accessory stores like Claire's.

Hawaiian shirts. Nordstrom and Robinsons-May have plenty.

Poodle skirts with crinolines. You'll need a thrift store for this one, but GirlStar has a poodle print skirt at Nordstrom and Fred Segal stores.

Letterman sweaters and jackets. Ask your dad, or try the Warner Bros. Studio Store.

Sweater twinsets. Bloomingdale's has oodles.

Button earrings. Check out the costume jewelry counter at JC Penney.

Poodle pins. Carolee makes them with pink rhinestones, available at Neiman Marcus and other department stores.

Neckerchiefs. Liz Claiborne has a new collection, but they're also at Rampage and Contempo Casuals.

Pegger pants. Look for any white denim jeans or Gap's classic khakis.

Pointed pumps. Gucci has them now, but you'll find plenty of knockoffs by August.

Motorcycle jackets. They'll be hot tickets everywhere for fall; but the original is sold at Harley-Davidson stores.

CAPTION(S):

4 Photos, Box

Photo: (1--Color) No caption (Theater program of ``Blue suede Shoes'')

MGM photograph

(2--Color) Bob Mackie is reliving his youth through the costumes and sets he designed for ``Blue Suede Shoes,'' which opens Tuesday at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. His next project is a Broadway musical, ``Easter Parade.'' Mackie's shoes are by Hush Puppies, $70 at Macy's.

(3--Color) Costume designer Mackie trades the dancer's tutu for black leather in this ``Jailhouse Rock'' scene from ``Blue Suede Shoes.''

(4--Color) No caption (Costumes for ``Blue Suede Shoes'')

Sketch by Bob Mackie

Box: Finding '50s style today (See text)