GOING FOR THE GOLD; STARS DRESS FOR WINNING IMAGE ON HOLLYWOOD'S BIGGEST NIGHT.

Byline: Barbara De Witt Daily News Fashion Editor

Best Actress ... Best Director ... Best Screenplay?

Big deal.

Like, where's the Best Dressed on Oscar Night Award? With a bazillion fans watching the tube come Monday, the Academy Awards will be the ultimate fashion show. Those armchair critics, Mr. Blackwell-wannabes and the fashion press are waiting, just waiting, for a star to make a fashion faux pas as she steps onto that infamous red carpet leading into the Shrine Auditorium.

Remember those pants with a skirt that Demi Moore wore one year? And that one-sleeved dress Oscar nominee Kim Basinger designed? And poor Geena Davis. A statuesque beauty, she wore one loser after another and received such bad press that she hasn't been seen in the arrivals line for years.

Most stars eventually shine again. Moore now wears vintage gowns and receives rave reviews for a fashionable appearance, while Basinger has regained her style status with a cool '50s look that made its debut at the recent Golden Globes Awards.

Others, like Nicole Kidman and Sharon Stone, win the unofficial Best Dressed on Oscar Night Award year after year.

But they don't compare to Marlene Dietrich. According to Patty Fox, author of ``Star Style,'' ``Dietrich orchestrated her image beyond the gown. She studied the stage to plot a long walk and dressed accordingly by wearing a gown that was slit on the side that would be seen by the audience.''

And that was before the Oscars were televised.

Dressing for Oscar

It's become such a global - and challenging - event that the academy has put Beverly Hills retailer Fred Hayman in charge of coordinating Oscar fashions.

At his pre-Oscar fashion preview held March 5, Hayman said, ``It's better to take a stab at being stunning and fall short - than look boring.'' He advises stars to go for glamour and elegance, but don't overdress. And try to be comfortable.

Silhouettes this year are closer to the body with more elaborate details, Hayman said. That means the big ball gown won't be so prevalent. He adds that ``easy'' shapes in decorated fabrics, bugle beads and fishtail hems will continue to be stylish, but the biggest news is the return to bright colors.

Nevertheless, he expects it will be a sea of black, as usual. ``Black is safer, slimmer and an easier selection,'' he confides.

Regardless of the color of their gown, stylin' stars will be decked out in awesome jewels on loan from local jewelers, including Harry Winston. Hayman says the look is to platinum-toned jewelry with diamonds, but ``Titanic'' nominees Kate Winslet and Gloria Stuart would do their claim to fame more historical justice if they adorned themselves with pearls on Monday.

Pearls? According to the Cultured Pearl Information Center in New York, there wasn't really a 56-carat diamond on board the Titanic as shown in the movie, but there were two strands of pearls worth $1 million in 1912. Ronald Winston, chairman of the House of Harry Winston, explained that young Harry Elkins Widener, son of a wealthy Philadelphia socialite family, threw the pearls to his wife while she sat in the lifeboat. He went down with the ship, but she was rescued wearing the fabled pearls that are now worn by the woman's granddaughter-in-law.

Great gown, bad hair

Hair is almost as important as the ensemble. So don't ruin it with a bad hair day.

First of all, the hair style should reflect and complement the wearer's gown and face, advised Frederic Fekkai, the stylist to the stars who is overseeing both hair and makeup for the Oscars.

``My hope is that women will have a sophisticated, glamorous look that is fresh, not retro ... possibly with chunky highlights.''

He prefers hair worn down and loose with lots of movement, but would like to see Lauren Bacall and Helen Hunt with up-'dos this year. They should do a knot, he says. French twists are looking dated.

To complete the picture, Fekkai recommends strong, smoky eyes, pastel eye shadow, bright red lips and cheeks with a healthy glow. And, by the way, he's tired of all the brown-toned makeup we've been wearing throughout the '90s. To achieve this perfectly polished face, many of the stars pay $50 and up for a makeup artist to make sure they look dazzling as they step out of the limo.

Designers such as Versace, Armani and L.A.'s own Bob Mackie are famous for making the stars look great on Oscar night, but costume designers work even harder to give a star an Oscar-winning look.

Deborah Scott, the Studio City-based costume designer for ``Titanic,'' said her biggest challenge was creating the white silk chiffon gown that Kate Winslet wore when the Titanic was sinking. ``The dress had to perform with all that movement in those last scenes on the ship, and still look good in the water. By the time the scenes were shot, there were 24 of those dresses because the fabric literally fell apart in the ocean,'' recalled Scott.

She added that Winslet never winced at the costume, which included a tightly cinched corset made with real bones and pointed, high-heeled shoes, even while floating in water for hours at a time.

Perhaps Scott's favorite costume, which has caused a real-life fashion trend, is the pinstripe suit Winslet wears in the opening scene as she boards the ship. ``It was very satisfying to see it on the movie screen. It looked exactly how I had pictured it in my mind,'' said Scott of the suit made of cream and purple wool with velvet trim.

She also said she had no idea that ``Titanic'' would attract so much attention.

``I felt it was the largest film I would ever work on, but never had it on my mind that it would be Oscar-worthy. ... But glamour does capture attention, and period films are nominated more often than contemporary films,'' she commented.

Her costume creations and samples from other Best Costume Design nominees - Ruth Carter for ``Amistad,'' Dante Ferretti for ``Kundun,'' Janet Patterson for ``Oscar and Lucinda'' and Sandy Powell for ``The Wings of the Dove'' - are currently on exhibit at the Fashion Institute of Design and Merchandising in Los Angeles. And, according to exhibit curator Maggie Murray, that's the only way to appreciate the workmanship of the clothing and the power it lends to the film character.

Murray expects ``Titanic'' will win because of the impact the gorgeous clothes make on the viewer. ``The film opens and wham ... you're transported to another time,'' she said.

The curator also is impressed with the unbelievably lavish, extraordinary brocaded silks in ``Kundun,'' and thinks fashion historians will love seeing the bloomer-girl ensembles from ``Oscar and Lucinda'' and the green silk clutch coat from ``The Wings of the Dove.''

``They called them clutch coats because you literally had to clutch them, as they had no buttons,'' Murray explained.

Costumes from other current films, including ``L.A. Confidential,'' also are featured in the exhibit, which is free and open to the public through April 9.

Oscar night checklist

Fashion stance: Regal, classy.

Gown: Bright and tight.

Hair: Blond; smooth and swingy.

Makeup: Red lips, short nails.

Shoes: Dainty stilettos dyed a shade darker than the dress.

Jewels: Diamonds or pearls.

Purse: Small beaded bag.

- Barbara De Witt

CAPTION(S):

Drawing, 8 Photos, Box

Drawing: (1--Cover--Color) Dressing Hollywood

The real Oscar competition is on the red carpet

Jorge Irribarren/Daily News

Photo: (1--Color) A Bob Mackie gown and jewels from the House of Harry Winston are modeled during the Academy Awards Fashion Preview in Beverly Hills earlier this month.

Associated Press

(2--Color) Ruth Carter - ``Amistad''

(3--Color) Dante Ferretti - ``Kundun''

(4--Color) Janet Patterson - ``Oscar and Lucinda''

(5--Color) Deborah Scott - ``Titanic''

(6--Color) Sandy Powell - ``The Wings of the Dove''

(7) Wow

Marlene Dietrich

(8) Oops

Demi Moore

Box: Oscar night checklist (See Text)