Martin Margiela's shredded jeans.

So where have all the regular trousers gone? Gone to fashion, every one. The sleek, sensible pants that are - or were - symbolic of women's lives running parallel to men's have been swamped by designer versions.

Wearing identical trouser suits and tuxedos brought the different genders into the same frame in the androgynous era. But the pants now on offer - to women only - emphasize a male/female divide.

Fashion has never really embraced men's trousers - even if styles have vacillated between pleat-front pants and slimmer flat fronts. The biggest fashion statement has often seemed to be whether to choose cuffs or not. Rapper pants, with their low hip-line and giant silhouette, briefly brought to menswear the fashion follies that are now a woman's preserve below the waist. But ever since men renounced flamboyant fashion, the Henry VIII doublet and hose or pageboy breeches have gone only one way: to women's closets.

The current situation is this: leaving aside jeans, where parameters are over-size or drainpipe, with most silhouettes in between the extremes, it is tough to find any "normal" trousers designed specifically for women. Of course they hang on racks in the "better" corners in department stores and in shops where selling clothes, not fashion, is the purpose. But stylish pants are all about a special treatment.

Designer collections have made propositions for pants partly because trousers need a fashion renaissance to lure women away from the ubiquitous dresses. Significantly, women under 25 often wear pants only under dresses.

Giorgio Armani, once master of serene sobriety, showed no pants at all on his spring runways, unless you count draped bloomers. At Jil Sander and at Balenciaga, famed for the slick cut of the trousers, skinny stretch hose replaced tailoring.

The best way to take these fashion forays is to accept them as fun summer dressing. Harem pants in lightweight fabrics look good as après-beachwear with a simple tank top. Rompers and baggy all-in-one jump suits, which have come back with the 1980s vibe, are variations on vacation dressing.

Pajama pants are an easier version. Worn with a tunic top and often patterned, as at Dries Van Noten or Prada, they make a statement with the print, but not with the shape.

Jodhpurs are probably the most sophisticated pants. They seem tricky because most women are not longing to enhance the spread of their thighs. Yet they can be both urban and cool in luxury versions, as in Ralph Lauren's tautly tailored jacket with a wide curve of jodhpur; or pale crocodile horsey pants from Hermès, worn with a billowing blouse.

For evening, a rock 'n' roll fashion vibe ran through the collections with Balmain and Gucci both making skinny pants seem hip for after dark.

Yet it is tricky to get the proportions right with all the new pants. Trousers cropped off between knee and calf are adaptable and can pair with either a long cardigan or with a small top. They also partner with ballerina flats, kitten heels and wedge shoes.

Most of the fancy pants are shown with towering platform shoes - and look best with hulking footwear. This applies especially to the ultra-long, draped pants that otherwise puddle to the floor.

Isn't there a more reasonable alternative? Small jackets with not-too-wide pants were on runways from Calvin Klein to Akris, which had some of the best offerings in wearable pants. Paul Smith, with a focus on the man/woman thing, also showed easy-to-wear trousers.

And what about denim - the mainstay for women who want pants that don't demand too much? Jeans have had the fashion treatment, too. Drainpipe denims are still around, but the height of fashion seems to be to tear them apart, as in the haute patchwork effect from D & G and the jeans from Martin Margiela that look like they have been through the shredder. Let's just call it the case of the vanishing pants.