Seated at a sunny table at the Century City Shopping Center’s food court, Kevin Fenenbock was about to dig in to his taco salad.

But first, he grabbed the wide end of his crimson, Pierre Cardin tie, and casually tossed it over his right shoulder. Satisfied that the garment was safely out of harm’s way, he began his lunch.

“I’ve spilled on my ties so many times, I’ve learned to flip it,” explained Fenenbock, a 28-year-old broker with CB Commercial Real Estate Group Inc.

Fenenbock is a “flipper” and he’s not alone.

Visit almost any L.A. restaurant during lunch-hour and it becomes clear that more and more men particularly young executives like Fenenbock have adopted the over-the-shoulder toss as their favorite method of tie-preservation.

It’s a trend which raises the hackles of necktie traditionalists.

“When you’re wearing a tie, there is a proper way of dealing with it and tie-flipping ain’t one of them,” said Richard Rosenzweig, the dapper executive vice president of Playboy Enterprises Inc. “It seems really downscale to me.”

Added Robert Giaimo, creative director of Grey Advertising: “If you’re a gentleman, you don’t flip your tie.”

Tie-flippers counter that their critics doth protest too much.

“I wear expensive ties, and I don’t want to get food on them,” said J.D. Cook, a broker with Cushman Realty Corp., whose $60 geometric-print Hickey Freeman necktie rested on his right collar-bone, as he finished up a plate of chicken teriyaki and rice.

Fenenbock, for his part, sees no need to justify his tie-flipping habit. “I’d say they need to relax a bit,” he said of his critics. “The issue here is practicality. Why ruin a good tie if you don’t have to?”

It is difficult to pinpoint exactly when the over-the-shoulder flip became so prevalent. Certainly it has something to do with the price of designer neckties which can cost as much as $80 to $120 apiece.

Fashion experts also attribute the phenomenon to the looser attitude men have developed toward their wardrobes in recent years.

“It goes with the more relaxed atmosphere we’re seeing,” said Jennifer Maxwell Parkinson, president of LOOK Consulting International, a New York outfit which helps corporate executives refine their images. “There is a lot more out there for men. We’re not just seeing the gray suit or the navy blue suit anymore.”

Maxwell Parkinson applauds that trend but said she would have to advise her clients against the tie-flip.

“It is not elegant,” she said. “One should be able to preserve one’s tie and still maintain some elegance at lunch.”

Added Susan Stolfi, president of Palm Custom Shirts & Suits, who outfits some of L.A.’s top executives: “It seems to me that the kind of guy who’s going to flip his tie is someone who doesn’t know any better. It’s sort of tacky.”

Don’t tell that to Mr. Blackwell, the self-anointed fashion expert who each year shames the rich and famous with his list of the world’s worst-dressed people.

Mr. Blackwell, it turns out, is an unabashed tie-flipper.

“I find it very dashing,” he said, tossing a bright blue Yves St. Laurent cravat over his shoulder as he picked at a Greek salad during an early dinner at a Beverly Hills cafe. “It has an attitude. It makes everyone look at you and wonder what you’re all about.”

Blackwell characterized critics of the flip as “morticians, boring people who are stuck in their boring ways.”

Besides, he added, “You can’t get your ties cleaned. Once you get a spot on it, you can practically kiss it good-bye.”

That’s not necessarily the case, according to Sal Morea, an employee at Movieland Tie Service in West Hollywood, which has been steaming stains out of neckties since 1955.

“Most food stains come right out,” Morea said, adding that his shop is equipped to deal with tougher ink and blood stains when necessary.

In any case, the flap over tie-flipping appears to be a uniquely American phenomenon, according to Alan Richman, food and wine critic for GQ magazine.

In the finest restaurants of France and Italy, he said, most men don’t bother flipping. Instead, they protect their ties by simply tucking a napkin into their shirt collars a move many American men would consider unseemly, to say the least.

Richman (who, incidentally, does not flip) had his own theory to explain the phenomenon.

“The higher the stock market goes, the more insouciently they flip their ties,” he said. “This phenomenon will definitely cease as soon as the stock market crashes.”

Michael Cautillo, head of the tie department at Barney’s New York in Beverly Hills, had an alternative explanation.

“I think they’re just showing off their labels,” he said. “This is L.A. So I have to believe that it plays a role.”