Like the quintessential bored French shopgirl, the fashion world has fallen into a daze—lulled by expensive handbags, too many peasant blouses and endless low-rise jeans. Even Miuccia Prada's bookish cardigan-and-pleated-skirt look, which caused a splash a mere 18 months ago, feels old. Everyone has done it now. So when the thousands of journalists, magazine editors and department- and specialty-store buyers from around the world trekked to Paris last week for the spring 2006 collections, they were looking for more than the safe, crisp poplin trench coats and soft sleeveless dresses many designers were offering. They wanted to be worked into a lather about something. And eventually they were—by the skinny pants and fancy frills that Nicolas Ghesquiere, 34, showed at Balenciaga, the Camille Claudel-like attenuated hourglass silhouettes of Olivier Theyskens at Rochas and John Galliano's surprisingly minimalist nude-chiffon-and-black-lace dresses for Dior. In Paris, at least, the frill is not gone. "We've all been waiting for a definitive moment," said Neiman Marcus fashion director Joan Kaner. "We've seen a lot of salable, wearable clothes but nothing that says this is the new direction. Ghesquiere and Theyskens did that."
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