(FORTUNE Magazine) – If some top designers have their way, hemlines will plunge this fall, stirring up the old brouhaha over long, short, and freedom of choice. As heralded by fashion journals like Women's Wear Daily, the 1992 long look is tight and sexy. Some skirts by couturiers like Karl Lagerfeld are so narrow they look like elongated girdles. Others by the likes of Donna Karan are slit all the way up to bordering on the obscene. Will working women toss out their beloved short skirts and wiggle around the office in the slim new silhouette? Says Frankie Cadwell, president of ad agency Cadwell Davis Partners: ''Women have gone beyond hemline dictates. We've had it with taking hemlines up and letting them down.'' Cadwell will continue to wear lots of skirts that fall just above the knee. But pants remain her favorite. One fan of the new look is Susan Blond, who runs her own public relations firm in New York City. Her clients include Eddie Murphy and other stars. Blond collects pricey outfits from the house of Chanel, which is now into long skirts. She likes the new look so much that she may well put her assortment of some 100 short skirts into storage. They cost her too much to throw away, Blond says.