HEAD AND SHOULDERS : The ratings are out--on TV newscasters. Some experts suggest softer, updated looks.

We invited local fashion and beauty experts to cruise the channels as our armchair critics. Here’s what they think of some of L.A.’s anchors.

“Colleen Williams (of KNBC) could be a class act if she got rid of a few things,� says Ty Moore, co-designer of the bold, sexy Van Buren line of women’s wear. Such as her jackets: “They have embroidery and passementerie. And with the funky, natural white streak in her hair, it’s too much to look at. I think her hair is perfect, but I would like to see her in Armani or Valentino suits.�

Moore also suggests that KABC’s Christine Lund wear “more sophisticated clothing� and that her station colleague Laura Diaz lose her “disco-bunny hairdo.� Tritia Toyota of KCBS, however, “just does everything right,� Moore says. “She’s what a newscaster should be. She’s never overdone, but she’s never boring to look at.�

Makeup artist Michael Maron, author of two books, including “Makeover Miracles� (Crown, 1994), sees Toyota a little differently. “I’ve always wanted to get my hands on (her), to reshape her eyebrows,� he says. “She has one of the sweetest, prettiest faces and she can do so much more with it.�

Maron likes the “gamin look� adopted by KABC anchor Susan Campos as well as Diaz’s recent “wonderful transformation,� including her hair. (“Her sideburns are a little bit much,� he concedes.)

Ann Martin (KCBS) and Pat Harvey (KCAL) could soften their hair and makeup, he suggests. And Tawny Little (KCAL) “should narrow the bridge of her nose with a bit of contour shadow.�

Barbara Beck (KTLA) does “a fabulous job on her eyes,� he says, but her lipstick is a little too dark sometimes, “which gives her a vampy look.� Maron likes her bob, but suggests that layers would add width to her “slightly oblong face.�

Hairstylist Bruno Meglio, co-owner of Bruno & Soonie in Beverly Hills, says that with a few exceptions--notably Beck, Little, and Williams--his desire is: “To get on the set and mess the hair up. It never moves.�

Jonathan Meizler and German Valdivia, the young designers/owners of JonValdi on Melrose Avenue, fault KNBC anchor Paul Moyer for dated ties and jackets that are two sizes too small.

Hal Fishman (KTLA), however, is a success in one sense: “There was nothing striking about him,� Valdivia says. “It was fine for what he wanted to do.�

Michael Tuck “has some off nights,� Meizler says, adding that the KCBS anchor looked very good one recent night in a tasteful tie, pocket square and double-breasted suit--a style the designer usually dislikes “because it’s the power suit of the ‘80s.� KCAL’s David Jackson got high marks for his impeccable single-breasted suits, French-cuff shirts and neatly patterned ties.

Phillip Bloch, a New York transplant and wardrobe stylist with Cloutier--an L.A. agency that dresses and grooms celebrities for magazine and television appearances--applauds several local anchors, including Jackson, Diaz, Jann Carl (KTLA), Harold Greene (KABC) and Wendy Walsh (KCOP). They get points for understanding the importance of color and beautiful lapels.

“When they’re sitting--and you see them basically from the waist up--what happens, has to happen in the lapel,� Bloch says.

KTTV’s John Beard got the suit lapels right recently, but he destroyed the image with an ill-fitting button-down-collar shirt, Bloch says. Male anchors could take some sartorial lessons from New York Knicks’ coach Pat Riley and O.J. Simpson’s criminal defense lawyer, Robert Shapiro, he suggests.

Ann Martin’s lapels “tend to be old-fashioned,� he adds. And he would like to see her in softer colors: “One day she wore a bright yellow thing with white stripes. It was great if she were going to a cocktail party at the horse races. But this is a news studio, where she’s telling me three babies have been kidnaped.�

But even softer colors and updated jackets might not be enough for Bloch.

“Why does everybody have to be in a suit and be so conservative?� he asks. “I don’t feel anyone young can relate to these people. There’s no one who dresses a little cool, no one who looks as if they looked at a (fashion) magazine. I mean, who do Winona Ryder and Johnny Depp and all the people like them relate to on the news?�