Saving Ungaro.

Today saw brands such as Stella McCartney, Maiyet, Giambattista Valli, Paco Rabanne, just to name a few debut their FW13 collections, but the collection that most piqued my interest was that of Emanuel Ungaro.

 

Ungaro was a fashion powerhouse in the 80's & 90's with its trademark florals and Emanuel's mastery of the art of sexual temptation and persuasion. He made polka dots and animal prints into a captive spell of men, for woman to drape themselves in his garments and become sirens. The fall of Ungaro had a trickle effected, starting in the late 90's when Ungaro sold the house to Ferragamo which hindered the financial stability of Ungaro. The event that turned the creaking dam into a rushing torrent of downfall was the retirement of Ungaro is 2005 and selling the label to Asim Abdullah—who had ho previous knowledge or experience in fashion...

This shortly led to to a swinging door of designers coming through the label, greatly tarnishing the credibility and name of the label. It was the decision to have celebrity Lindsay Lohan added on a creative director, that stunned  and puzzled the fashion world and took the label down to almost a level of pure comedy. Well, in the present, Up-and-coming designer Fausto Puglisi's turn at the Ungaro's helm to, hopefully, steer the label back to clear waters and restore faith in the house's name. 

one of Puglisi's looks from his FW13 collection.

Puglisi's collection for Ungaro was a more model step away from the usual Ungaro look but incorporated some of the trademark elements that brought the house fame. The usage of leopard prints and polka-dots were an homage to classic Ungaro, with some pieces having a more graphic and lack of sexual driven drapery being more related to Puglisi's own work, especially with the golden decor. The over all look of the collection was a strong return for the label, with its bold one-armed blouses and sleek graphic dresses being the stand out pieces of the collection. Although, Puglisi has interjected more of himself into the collection than he inticipated—or even cared, I see this as the gateway for Ungaro to finally comeback with force and return to former glory.