The House of Ungaro’s Lowdown on Lindsay Lohan
Godfrey Deeny
October 01st, 2009 @ 00:19 AM - Paris It turns out that the surprise fashion appointment of this summer – the nomination of movie star Lindsay Lohan and designer Estella Archs to be the creative team in charge of the Paris fashion house Emanuel Ungaro - had a somewhat surprising imprimatur. The most important recommendation for Lohan was "Project Runway" star Tim Gunn.
“I was very influenced in my choice by Tim Gunn, who had invited Lindsay to be a judge," said Ungaro CEO Mounir Moufarrige in an exclusive interview. "His comments that she had a great sense of fashion and knew what works and doesn’t work, were pretty significant to me.”
Ungaro announced the appointment of Lohan and Archs in early September, though Moufarrige said that the pair had actually started working on their debut collection back in June both in Paris and Los Angeles.
Archs and Lohan succeeded Esteban Cortazar, whose relationship with Ungaro had been fraught, following mixed reviews for all three collections he produced for the house.
Celebrity fashion is nothing new, from Puff Daddy and Gwen Stefani in the U.S. to Victoria Beckham in the U.K. However, no celebrity has ever been given the reins at a major Paris couture house where the weight of expectation, technical demands and critical jury are considerably more demanding.
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“Lindsay Lohan is not a designer, we are not pretending that she is. But she is a great merchandiser who can bring lots of ideas. You will soon see that,” said Moufarrige.
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THE RESULT
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Paris Fashion Week: Ungaro spring/summer 2010
Lindsay Lohan and Estrella Arch's skimpy dresses and risqué bra-tops fall short of the Ungaro legacy, says Hilary Alexander.
By Hilary Alexander, Fashion Director at Paris Fashion Week
Published: 2:49PM BST 04 Oct 2009
My heart goes out to Lindsay Lohan. Right now, she is getting a taste of just how brutal the fashion jungle can be when the claws are unsheathed. . .and it is not a pleasant experience. Judging from some of the comments I heard as I left the Ungaro show this afternoon, she can expect a savaging.
The collection she collaborated on with the Spanish designer, Estrella Archs, was hardly an unqualified success. How could it be when the pair, chiefly Archs, had only three weeks to pull it together? Ungaro himself, who founded his house in 1965, must be horrified at the arrogance of even thinking it could be done. He would have spent that time on a single piece. The best that can be said is that they tried.
There were some truly hideous fashion faux pas. Silver sequinned "pasties", for example, belong in a lap dancing club unless you subscribe to a Jordan-esque dress code. The dresses were too short. There was not enough jewellery and the cuffed, eastern-style trousers, bra-tops and boleros in jewel-tones hardly paid lip-service to Ungaro's lush exoticism.
But nor was it all bad. The tailored sequinned blazers had a hint of Studio 54 and the use of hot pink and draping at least hinted at the house's DNA and the shoes and bags were good. Over the next few months Archs and Lohan have a lot of hard work to do.
Lohan was visibly distressed as she took her bow and Archs was also close to tears. But this is now wasted. This is the emotion, passion and intensity they need to direct into the next collection.
"That was the hardest thing I've ever done," Lohan said after the show, as she and Archs almost disappeared beneath a tidal wave of papparazzi. As they say in the movies: "She ain't seen nothing yet." That was merely act one, scene one. And fashion, like life, is not a rehearsal. I hope Lohan and Archs are both strong enough to put the bad reviews behind them and put their heads and hearts into thew next performance. I wish them luck.
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Emanuel Ungaro RTW Spring 2010
Emanuel Ungaro RTW Spring 2010
by WWD Staff, Posted Sunday October 04, 2009, From WWD.COM
Lindsay, it ‘s time to get serious about reviving the acting career. After just one season, one show, Mounir Moufarrige’s Lindsay-plus-one experiment is off to a troubled start.
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Err... No. Out of every celebrity that could have been chosen for Ungaro, not Lindsay Lohan, she's not the best influence on the fashion world, she's more of an influence on the tabloids. Out of every celebrity that could have designed a collection for Paris fashion week, NOT Lindsay Lohan. The FWD article made it sound so promising, but we still has it in the back of our minds, this is Lindsay Lohan, the one who was naked on Twitter. Fair enough to wear Ungaro, don't design for them. She should have stuck to Fornarnia.
Is celebrity designing really a good idea on the fashion world? We all get fed up when a model like Caprice tried to sing, but what about Kylie Minogue? They're all able to step out of their comfort zone, but there's still the matter of the cut-throat public and media. Sienna Miller and her sister Savannah have created a collection that has become superior; it's even available on ASOS.com. So has Lindsay got it wrong just because she's not that great at creating fashion, just wearing it? I hope the next brand to hire a celebrity will choose more wisely... and maybe just leave them to be on the adverts. Oh dear, I just thought... Lindsay's most probably going to do the advertising campaign for Ungaro... In the words of Hilary Alexander, "I wish them luck."
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