01:00 AM EDT on Thursday, September 16, 2004

BY ANDY SMITH
Journal Television Writer

If you believe the Web site for Bravo's Queer Eye for the Straight Guy, Ari Vais was desperately in need of a visit from the makeover show's Fab Five.

The Russian-born rock singer, now living in Brooklyn, was a walking disaster area. Let Queer Eye count the ways:

He thought "bed head" qualified as a hairstyle. His apartment was a cluttered mess. He bought his clothing in bulk for $1 a pound. His place was furnished mostly with stuff he found. He ate a meat-and-potatoes diet with little home-cooked creativity. He avoided eye contact with the audience.

So Queer Eye came. Queer Eye did its best to transform Vais into a rockin' metrosexual.

The show aired on Bravo Tuesday night, with reruns tonight at 8 and Saturday at 7.

You can check out the newly spiffed-up Vais at the Fall River Arts Festival this weekend. (Vais is an old friend of festival chairman Ric Oliveira, who booked him after hearing about the Queer Eye connection.) Vais is doing an unplugged set Friday night during the opening gala at the Narrows Center for the Arts; he'll play on North Main Street's Eagle Stage Sunday afternoon at 4:30.

Those happen to be his first gigs since his Queer Eye episode aired.

Vais, who has a day job with an events management company, said a colleague suggested he try to get onto Queer Eye. He decided to give it a try to get some publicity for his band, the Pelicans, which he described as indie-rockers in the tradition of Pavement and Guided by Voices.

In a phone interview, Vais said he hadn't actually seen Queer Eye for the Straight Guy.

"I didn't realize they make fun of you," he said. "When I saw it for the first time, I was a little freaked out and scared."

But he went ahead anyway.

"I always rejected caring about how I looked," said Vais, whose family moved to the United States from Moscow when he was 9. "The bands I loved never cared about how they looked."

Despite his trepidation, Vais said he had a great time on Queer Eye.

The show unveiled the new Ari Vais at a New York City gig with the band. For the occasion, he got a new hairdo, new clothes, a new guitar, some fancy skin creams. He even made paella for the band.

"I had a lot of fun," he said. "It's like a magical mystery tour where people are giving you things. Carson [Kressley] bought me some cool clothes, which is something I never, ever spent any money on. Just to get that much attention from five really funny guys was a great experience."

Now that his Queer Eye experience is over -- the show's episodes are taped in advance -- Vais said he's trying to avoid going back to his slovenly ways.

"I'm not a super metrosexual guy, but I haven't let it fall totally apart," Vais said. "I like the skin cream."