(INSIDE STUFF: If you have trouble flagging a cab at 8 P.M., it's because the driver doesn't want to take calls into the theatre district, where the fare comes to but a few cents. He gets stuck without a return load.) So, if you're not going to a Times Square show, shout that fact to a cabbie. Maybe he'll stop if he hears you. Better still, stand on a one-way street bound _away_ from Broadway, and indicate with your thumb that you're bound opposite from the White Way. * * * * * Contrary to general belief, New York is not an overly "dressy" town. In many midwest metropolises people "dress" more at night than they do here, but certainly without as much success. Even in the very best places, patronized by the bluest of the bloods, you will always see more men and women informal than in soup and fish. New Yorkers generally dress only when the occasion demands it, such as the opera, an important theatrical opening, or a formal affair. (INSIDE STUFF: The "tuxedo" or dinner jacket is semi-formal, not formal. When good dressers wear it, they wear turndown, never wing, collars.) But if New Yorkers do not dress formally every time they go out, they surely dress with taste. New York women seldom wear hats. They NEVER wear white or pastels in the summer, nor white shoes or stockings. Black is proper all year, even during the dog days. Best-dressed men always wear hats, never wear sport clothes in the city. * * * * * MIDNIGHT MANNERS: Wise dolls never wear two different kinds of flowers with one ensemble. If the chump sends you orchids, chuck the fake roses out of your hair. It may be warm, but babe, if your construction calls for a girdle, wear it, at least while dancing. During the rainy spring season and the slushy winter, do not dance with your galoshes on. Not that we care how funny you look, but it ruins the polish on the floor. Women who wear evening gowns with cut-out backs should hide their straps and bras. (Women who need bras should not wear evening gowns with cut-out backs.) The best dressed dolls never wear corsages in our town, but clucks insist on sending them. If you must, white orchids go with anything, but they cost $15 a throw. You may ask the lady what she is wearing and be guided accordingly. All orchids are in good taste; camellias and gardenias are cheaper but according to Hoyle, and violets are okay for afternoons. But well-dressed dolls never wear roses, lilies of the valley or such garden truck. Dames with turret tummies should not wear evening gowns with bare midriffs. This is one we thought we'd never have to mention: Dames who cover evening gowns with street coats look ludicrous. (INSIDE STUFF; When you spot a New York gal in the subway so attired, ten to one she's a taxi-dancer en route to work at the hall, dressed for the evening's labor. Odds are 100 to 1 if she's also carrying a make-up case.)