And the now-infamous John Galliano, once of Christian Dior, is only one of many British designers snapped up by foreign houses.

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In creating his collection, Oscar de la Renta invited disgraced Parisian couturier John Galliano to participate in a three-week "residency, " where he shared ideas in Mr. de la Renta's workshop.

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John Galliano, who is on a three-week guest stint at de la Renta's studio, did not make a front-of-the-house appearance at the designer's show Tuesday, Day 6 of fall previews that wrap up Feb. 14.

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Ms Bruni worked for several years as a super-model, earning accolades from British clothes designer John Galliano who described her in the film as being "like a silent movie actress with her body language - the dress is her script".

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And, more recently, John Galliano has created shirts and dresses in football-jersey mesh.

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Nowhere to be seen, however, was John Galliano, who is in the middle of a three-week stint working in de la Renta's studio.

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The bias-cut, gold-beaded dress, designed by John Galliano, had a distinct 1920s feel, as did the lace French veil she wore on her head.

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Top designers certainly tapped into them, too, with Gareth Pugh's dress that uses bits of garbage bags for a featherlike effect, John Galliano's Christian Dior newsprint dress and the bubble-wrap looks from Alexander McQueen's 2006 Rubbish Collection.

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Its Dior maison had just announced that it had suspended John Galliano, its creative director, following his arrest over an alleged anti-Semitic tirade in a Paris cafe.

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