Emanuel Ungaro S/S 11 Paris

[SGaspar]

looks precious and couture

haha, poor thing

 

[Zazie]

Notice I didn't say anything about those who have said that they don't like the clothes, or find them tacky, or ugly or whatever, because clearly taste is subjective. I did however criticize people the people who are going on about this not being "Ungaro" because frankly that's not entirely true. You may not like those elements like the feathers, beads and flower prints but they most certainly are in keeping with what Emanuel Ungaro himself designed for years.

And my last statement was simply my opinion. Am I not free to express my disbelief that anyone could think this collection worse than one which featured heart shaped pasties in place of tops and clothes that looked cheaply made?

Your quote:

"I'm looking at this and wondering if half the people commenting even know what Ungaro was when Emanuel was still there, because to me this is pretty damn Ungaro-esque, though done in a more restrained way. "

Can you tell the difference between me saying "This collection is horrible and nothing about Ungaro." and "I can't believe there are people on TFS who like this collection, as obviously they don't know anything about Ungaro."? This is a matter of etiquette.

And yeah, I do think Ungaro isn't all about flowers, beads and feathers, he was also a very good tailor and as I mention, that giant black flower print isn't even associated "Ungaro", but more recognizably Mary Quant.
​

 

[Mutterlein]

Seriously. I'm looking at this and wondering if half the people commenting even know what Ungaro was when Emanuel was still there, because to me this is pretty damn Ungaro-esque, though done in a more restrained way. All of the Ungaro hallmarks are present; draping, lace, print, color, an overall girlish attitude. It's really not a bad start.

How anyone could accuse this of being worse than the positively insulting Ungaro collection shown one year ago is beyond my comprehension.

Well, Ungaro's body of work is wide and vast, there are many traits that could have been picked up on. For me, at this moment in fashion, Ungaro's vibrant latin flair, his transmutation of space age couture into stark romanticism, and his distinct punchy humor would have been so right. Prada did a better Ungaro IMHO. That Deacon couldn't pick up on any of these aspects in Ungaro's ethos worries me for the next collection. But, when considering his own collections, perhaps he's not in tune enough with the zeitgeist to supply enough relevant ideas for two collections in one season. I have doubts if Deacon is a strong enough designer for the job. I imagine a lot of what worked in this collection came from Katie Grand's input.

This was by no means a bad start (we've seen enough of those from Estrella Archs and Esteban Cortazar), it will get shot by all the Vogues, it may even get some orders from the department stores, but it was not the boost the brand sorely needed. The next one has got to be stronger than this, not for the editors or buyers' sake, but for the hearts and minds of all the women who have forgotten this house and its legacy.

 

[Zazie]

To me, Ungaro is about this type of drape/ruched tailoring and these types of colours and prints, seen here in a well-published perfume ad and an older Ungaro collection, further below Archs' versions, which I don't think are great but aren't "un-Ungaro" (what a tongue twister) either. Images from Grazia, UK and Style.com.

This Spring is right up Ungaro alley, so to speak, with the vibrant pinks, fuschias, colourful prints, florals, softer drapes, etc., on many, many runways. I just don't get the pompoms, marabou, beads and lingerie.

 

[mikeijames]

well, let's not revise the history of the house of ungaro: emanuel ungaro never stood as one of those parisian houses that entertained illusions of refinement or sophistication the way some posters would imply. he falls more in line with christian lacroix than christian dior as far as couturiers go. and the man did not shy away from the type of girliness and frilliness that some dislike about giles first collection. however, it must be said: peter dundas remains the perfect designer for this house. while he's moved past his ungaro obsessions during his tenure at emilio pucci, this collection lacked so much of the attitude that he brought.

with that said, i think it's a great debut. he clearly fits at the house better than giambattista valli, vincent darre, or estaban cortozar. he gets the playfulness and the capriciousness that so defined ungaro. now, let's just see if he can focus the vision and design at a level that both preserves that spirit and re-ignites the desire within women to shop at that house again. i'd rather see this type of start than what we've seen at valentino.

 

[mikeijames]

To me, Ungaro is about this type of drape/ruched tailoring and these types of colours and prints, seen here in a well-published perfume ad and an older Ungaro collection, further below Archs' versions, which I don't think are great but aren't "un-Ungaro" (what a tongue twister) either. Images from Grazia, UK and Style.com.

This Spring is right up Ungaro alley, so to speak, with the vibrant pinks, fuschias, colourful prints, florals, softer drapes, etc., on many, many runways. I just don't get the pompoms, marabou, beads and lingerie.

oh, ungaro believed in all that. let's not forget.

style.com

 

[Zazie]

A few pieces can be cherrypicked here and there, but let's not forget a few swallows don't make a summer. Any of the above looks could belong on any other runway, they don't signal "Ungaro", could be any designer that does beads and feathers, but what are Ungaro's signature looks? The method he uses for wrapping dresses tightly around bodices is almost always notably similar to the one in the Ungaro perfume ad, cross-body ruche and wrap. His clothes are always colourful, rich in prints, mix of dots, florals, animals. Elsewhere, Pilatti is often berated for not doing enough YSL, McGibbons for not doing enough Chloe, it is a fair question here. Still, if this is a good collection, I don't mind if it's Ungaro enough, as long as it is *good*. That's my issue with it, a pretty badly conceived and executed collection, and missing many of the signature looks that could have chimed in well with this season.

From NYTimes:
From Paris, Ungaro's Way With Luxury

By BERNADINE MORRIS, Special to the New York Times

Published: March 23, 1988

PARIS, March 22— Women addicted to the tightly swathed, brilliantly colored, sexy dresses that have become Emanuel Ungaro's signature need not worry. Even though, like most other designers, he's changing his style, some things remain constant.
In the fall and winter ready-to-wear collection he showed this morning, his luminous flower prints, often mixed with equally glowing plaids, are present along with the familiar wrapped dresses and short hemlines. Like Marc Bohan for
Christian Dior and Valentino, who introduced their collections for the luxury end of the ready-to-wear market late Monday afternoon, the Ungaro fashion plan focuses on short skirts. ''I like flowery, colorful, very short clothes,'' he said before his show. ''I'm going to continue doing them.''

 

[Squizree]

I just can't see the argument against this collection. Perhaps it's the questionable casting and the questionable setting that's got people doubting the collection. But, in all seriousness, this collection is closer to the Ungaro spirit than Lohan's collection by a longshot. The clothes here have energy and a hint of that contagious flirtiness that was ever so present in Ungaro's collections.

Like mikeijames said, he has a sense of playfulness. The same playfulness that Ungaro had, but probably in a more restricted way. Not quite as loud.

 

[Flashbang]

PARIS, October 4, 2010

By Tim Blanks

In the chaos and confusion of Giles Deacon's debut presentation for Emanuel Ungaro today, the harried fashion flock might have missed the point of the centerpiece, which was a marvelous manifesto for the label's new regime. It featured a pileup of VWs buried under Ungaro's signature daisies, and twisted minds construed it as a sly comment on Lindsay "Herbie Fully Loaded" Lohan's tenure at the house, which has most commonly been written off as a car crash. Out with the new-old, in with the old-new: That was the signal being sent.

One of Deacon's most winning characteristics is his ardent fandom. As a fashion babe in arms, he was drawn to Emanuel's aesthetic, so there was instinct at work in his repurposing of Ungaro codes like the lace, the color, and, most of all, the drape. "Vivaciousness, flirtatiousness, Frenchness," he said, reeling off his aims, while models moved around him. Models? Claudia Mason, Georgina Grenville, Shirley Mallmann, and, most of all, Kirsten Owen in a huge feathered headdress were a few of the fabulous faces he'd rounded up from his fanboy memory, and they, in turn, could all remember walking in shows when Emanuel himself was still at work. "Too classic," one said when asked for her recollections of the clothes back then, but now Deacon's version felt just about right for her.

Maybe all it took was the passage of time. Ungaro's clothes were heavily favored by socialites in the original Age of Excess, and Deacon accurately snared the glitter in a jacket-and-hot-pants set woven by Lesage, or a lace jacket and skirt encrusted with appliquéd flowers. When it came to a more modern girl, he offered Lurex-striped knits, or a dress made up of a flapper fringe of daisy cutouts. Mason sported a tiny black lace sheath dotted with navy blue daisies; Owen's dress was also a sheath, op arty. You could picture the professional party girls in them already, and on that level, the collection was a TKO. But where other women fit into the new Ungaro equation will be the challenge Deacon has to deal with in the months to come.

style.com

 

[Flashbang]

Full Collection (all from nytimes.com)

 

[Flashbang]

..... Part II

 

[Zazie]

I also don't think anyone who dislike this collection is revising Ungaro history, why does the accusation of "not knowing what Ungaro" is about crop up when someone disagree with Giles Deacon's vision?

Ungaro is good at what he delivers, and to some of us, he is a master of this particular method of cross-body wrapping, draping and ruche, he is good at delivering this punch of colourful cocktail, prints of flowers, dots, leopard, etc. all mixed together. To some others, Ungaro is about what Giles deacons delivered - marabou feathers, beads, see-through black peignoirs, big black Mary Quant flowers.

Let's all agree to disagree.

Both Giles Deacon and Katie Grants are huge fashion insiders - I won't be surprised if they get only accolades from critics, but it doesn't mean that those of us who dislike or disagree cannot voice our disagreement.

 

[Flashbang]

..... Part III

 

[Flashbang]

.... Last batch (all from nytimes.com)

 

[mikeijames]

we can agree to disagree, but let's not dissemble about the actual history of the house. as the very article posted pointed out, ungaro had to assure his clientel -- even back then -- that the "flowery, colorful, VERY short" clothes would remain. and i think we all remember what VERY short meant in the eighties (women used to wear miniskirts to work after all).

this selection from his 2000 couture collection presented in 1999 furthers the point:

Ungaro Couture Spring 2000 Ready-to-Wear

PARIS, October 6, 1999
By Armand Limnander

"Love to love you, baby" was the soundtrack for most of Ungaro's wildly extravagant ode to the late '70s and early '80s, and it couldn't have been more appropriate. The runway felt like a flashback to Studio 54—glamour girls dancing and slithering onstage in ruffled one-shoulder crepe dresses, airy georgette polka-dot tops and animal-print jerseys in acid colors. Not to mention the parade of nearly fluorescent fuchsia, orange and green disco slips, jungle motifs and extravagantly beaded ensembles. It was a rich, indulgent presentation that felt curiously appropriate in a season that has been continuously hinting at the pleasures of excess. One couldn't help but scan the audience for a sighting of Ivana Trump, and what a thrill to find her seated in the front row! There's no doubt about it—at Ungaro, flash is back, flash is good and flash is cool.

[emphasis mine]

(style.com).

even in the pictures posted from his final couture collection in 2004, it's hard to find any pieces that don't feature an explosion of feathers, pattern, and beading....

style.com

 

[Zazie]

mikeijames, I disagree that what you showed was "an explosion of feathers" - it was just one corsage on one outfit. Frankly, if you want to compare one or two isolated looks, then the "sequin bra" you posted isn't far from the "heart pasties" of Lindsay Lohan. Can I then say "heart pasties" is "Ungaro"?

I'm a bit tired of going over and over again with you as you must always "win" an argument. I have posted what I feel are signature looks of Ungaro, including one dress that is featured on his signature perfume. You posted what you feel are signature looks of Ungaro. I'll let others judge what are "signature" or not. Let's just agree to disagree, and I'd prefer to end any discussion right here.

 

[ONYX]

Giles collection is a badly conceived and executed collection it just looks outdated,the collection appears to be cancelled of looks of when Mr Ungaro was there, a designer is supposed to get inspired and create something new with the codes and history of a house not just do a bad copy, a good designer should make the house develop and advance into something as cool as it might have been back in the day but adapt it for 2011.I don't see any coherence in the collection, even if mr Ungaro was into feathers and colors I just feel alot more elegance in Mr Ungaro's clothes also its too easy to just go for the colors and feathers if you really look back into archives of ungaro there is so much more to offer.
The make up looks cheap, the hair is outdated and they made most girls look like trannys. To sum it up it looks like a vintage fashion show with horrible flowers in the background.

I hope Katie Grand does read my post and see that she has done a dreadful job maybe her and giles should stick to their trashy London ideas and not come and have fun with french houses.

 

[Label Basher]

^ Please calm down with the Brit bashing thanks.

 

[ONYX]

Im not talking about the british but about a certain kind of london person. thanks

 

[Label Basher]

^ Ok you just seem really intense about it.