Spring Collection(1996)

Judith Krantz

Everyone in the world of fashion has been waiting for months, impatient to learn the names of the three American unknowns who will be picked to go to Paris to star in the debut spring collection of brilliant, bad-boy designer Marco Lombardi.  No one is more anxious than Frankie Severino, twenty-seven years old and second-in-command at the modeling agency owned by her best friend, former model Justine Loring.  The lucky models will be given an unprecedented chance at fame and fortune--one of them will win a $12 million contract to represent Lombardi's couture house.  The agency that represents them will immediately become the hottest in town.

When the three names are announced, Frankie is stunned--all are under contract to Justine Loring.  This outrageous and inexplicable stroke of good luck forces Justine to admit to Frankie that it's no accident.  Jacques Necker--the Swiss billionaire launching Lombardi--is her father, the man who deserted her mother before she was born.  Justine has consistently refused to meet him, and the Lombardi contest has been his attempt to lure her to Paris.  But Justine won't play his game.  She sends Frankie in her place as chaperone for the three young women.

Ambitious April Nyquist, with her deceptive ice-princess facade, is a classic blonde from Minnesota.  Sophisticated, much-traveled Jordan Dancer is a magnificent African-American, the daughter of a regular army colonel.  Tinker Osborn is a vulnerable, timid Cinderella from Tennessee.

Frankie and her charges spend two intrigue-filled weeks in Paris as the adventure-bound girls get ready to face the challenge of a runway show where they will be surrounded by the top models in the world.  Under the magical spell of Paris in winter, all of them, including Frankie, become restless, rebellious and wildly romantic.  In New York, meanwhile, Justine undergoes a surprising, passionate personal transformation that finally leads her to confront her father.