FOP TILL YOU DROP

It's a little bit Transylvania. It's a little bit rock & roll. Thanks both to the gothic charms of Francis Ford Coppola's 1992 movie, Bram Stoker's Dracula, and to the current fixation with all things glam, the high-class elegance of ruffled shirts with floppy cuffs, high-buttoned frock coats, Oscar Wilde swallowtail jackets, velvet trousers, brocade vests, and even top hats is edging out the proletarian grunge of spring. In fact, the fall collections of almost every major U.S. and European designer contain a touch of the poet. In the late '60s, Jimi Hendrix and Rolling Stone Brian Jones were model fop rockers. In the '90s their mix of tailored Edwardian jackets with looser, more decadent Byron-esque blouses and plush velvets-not to mention the attendant androgynous pose-is getting major replay by rocker fashion hounds, including Terence Trent D'Arby and Lenny Kravitz. Designer-of-the-moment Richard Tyler says his rock & roll customers have always favored gender-bending theatricality and romanticism. But, he adds, for the average Joe or Josephine, his fall line ''isn't over-the-top dandy. It's a more understated Edwardian feel, but a little sloppier and more nonchalant.'' And, says Tyler, the big advantage over grunge is that, while you still pay three- and four-figure prices, ''at least it's recognizably well made.'' The season's other big trend, of course, is spare, somber, all-black clothing-call it fantastic monastic. And with half the models looking like vampires and the other half looking like priests, is it any wonder that the cross is the coolest accessory this season?