PREMIERE PARTY GOES 1980S : STARS, FANS REVIVE REAGAN-ERA FASHIONS FOR `REUNION' PARTY.

Byline: Janet Weeks Daily News Staff Writer

In the '80s, the thrift store-meets-the-Sex Pistols style of New Wave rockers Cyndi Lauper, Adam Ant and Madonna was considered adventurously cutting edge.

In the '90s, it's just plain cheesy.

Hundreds celebrated the cheese - the tackiness of that not-so-long-ago Reagan era - at the Valley premiere Friday of ``Romy and Michele's High School Reunion,'' an event attended by both regular folks who won tickets from a radio station and celebrities, some of whom donned '80s garb and recalled their own days in high school.

``Actually, I didn't go to high school,'' quipped ``Pulp Fiction'' director Quentin Tarantino, who was dressed more '90s grunge than '80s camp. ``But if they ever have a junior high reunion, I'll be there.''

The movie is about two Los Angeles ditzes who re-live high school at the 10-year anniversary of their graduation.

The film stars Lisa Kudrow of the hit sitcom ``Friends'' and Mira Sorvino, who won an Oscar last year for her portrayal of a hooker in Woody Allen's ``Mighty Aphrodite.'' The women arrived at the premiere, held at Sherman Oaks' GCC Theaters, in a convertible Jaguar, to the delight of dozens of paparazzi who lined up along a red carpet.

Other celebrities who attended the event: Carrie Fischer; Sorvino's father, actor Paul Sorvino; Tarantino, her boyfriend; comedian Jon Lovitz; actress Lori Petty; and ``Married . . . With Children'' actor David Faustino.

Touchstone Pictures chose the Sherman Oak's GCC Theatres on Van Nuys Boulevard for the star-studded gala - the first premiere in recent memory held north of the Santa Monica Mountains - because the Valley had a tremendous impact on pop culture in the '80s, said Lisa Halliday, Touchstone vice president of publicity.

Thanks to songs like Frank Zappa's ``Valley Girl'' and movies like ``Fast Times at Ridgemont High,'' the sounds and sights of suburban teen Valley life - Val-speak, Val-fashions - were copied by kids nationwide.

``Our movie is very Valley speak, and this is where all that started,'' Halliday said. ``So this is in keeping with the spirit of the film.''

Among those who won tickets to the event was Kris Wolfe, a 1985 graduate of Granada Hills High School. Wolfe wore an oversized men's dress shirt cinched in the middle with a low-slung belt that buckled to a V. The look raged at her alma mater 12 years ago, she said.

``I have another one of these belts in red in my car - just in case,'' Wolfe joked. She also streaked her hair with pink. Going to the premiere, which was followed by an '80s Flashback Party at the Sportsmen's Lodge in Studio City, ``makes up for my crappy high school reunion,'' Wolfe said.

Joan Wilson, who graduated from a private high school in St. Louis, Mo., in 1986, selected another '80s look for the evening - the preppie look. She wore a shaker-knit sweater over a polo shirt with the collar turned up.

``I felt like a dork in the '80s and I feel like a bigger dork now,'' she said. ``I'm really good in the '90s.''

Cyndi Mitchell, a 1986 Granada Hills High School grad, raided her closet for a military-style jacket, a rosary bead necklace and a old-fashioned taxi cab driver's hat a la '80s flash-in-the-pan singer Buster Poindexter.

``I had a lot of fun getting dressed for this,'' she admitted, obviously reveling in the chance to revisit a bit of her past. ``The '80s were fun for me.''

Although most of the fans dressed as they were 10 years ago, the stars wore more sophisticated '90s garb: Kudrow chose a black sheath with zippers here and there and Sorvino wore a shimmery short slip dress.

At the post-premiere party, Sorvino and Kudrow schmoozed with former MTV video jockey Mark Goodman, who spun '80s tunes (Sorvino requested Soft Cell's ``Tainted Love,'' which brought on the scorn of '70s music fan Tarantino), while others took advantage of the various cheesy attractions, including a fake-nails station and free makeup applications.

CAPTION(S):

2 Photos

Photo: (1) Mira Sorvino, left, and Lisa Kudrow arrive for the Sherman Oaks premiere of their film ``Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion.''

(2) ``Romy and Michelle's High School Reunion'' premieregoers show up in '80s garb in keeping with the party's theme.

Joe Binoya/Special to the Daily News