Cutting-Edge Fashion

By DAVID ELLIS

You've graduated from neon orthodontic elastics on your teeth to rows of safety pins pegging your pants . . . and now these. A Grape glimpse at spring and summer looks:

TAG LINES. Big City boulevardiers have been flashing their price tags for some time. Now the updated Minnie Pearl look has hit suburbia -- just ask these kids from Florida.

GROW IT, SHOW IT. Once it was pure street fashion, but the Two-Deck Buzz Cut is walking into corporate boardrooms now. So are the Guido, the Tossed Salad, the James Dean, the Mushroom . . .

A JACKET TO DIE FOR. Descended from the "greaser" coats of the 1950s, these $800 leather items are only for the rich -- and the brave. Several luckless owners have lost their lives along with their coats in robberies.

WEAR THE RIGHT THING. Spike Lee's next opus, a film-bio of Black Muslim leader Malcolm X, hasn't even been filmed yet, but these emblematic caps are getting hot reviews already.

FANCY FOOTWORK. Vote with your feet, as often as you want to, for two teams, two leagues or two sports. Anyone can play who's willing to spend the money on a lot of high-tops. Just mix up the colors and be sure to leave the laces untied.

With reporting by Sidney Urquhart