Emanuel Ungaro: The Air of Time
By Timothy Hagy
(Photos by Gruber-FWD)
PARIS, Jan 23, 2003/ FW/ --- Any visitor to the Museum of Fashion and Textiles in Paris
can see a retrospective work of couture from the 1960s.
There, illumed in subdued spotlighting, amid the signed creations of Balenciaga, Yves Saint
Laurent and Coco Chanel, is Opus No. 1 by Emauel Ungaro, a print day dress (1965).
While other labels have fallen into different hands, Ungaro is the sole couturier from
this celebrated era still designing each collection of Haute Couture personally.
And like a very fine bottle of Pomerol, his vintage elegance has only improved with time.
The Spring/Summer 2003 collection got off to a festive start backstage with champagne
flowing in copious quantity.
The tense feeling that often permeates the staging area of a fashion show was replaced
with a party atmosphere.
Even Kal Ruttenstein dropped in to join in the fun.
When it was show time, lighting bathed the stage deep blue, with tall, black Corinthian
columns placed in the foreground.
The impressive program booklet was entitled Postérité du Soleil (Descendent of the Sun)
inspired by the work of René Char, and featured a 2nd Century Roman sculpture on the cover.
Ungaro, himself a child of the sun, hails from Provence in the south of France, the son
of a modest family of tailors of Italian origin.
His single most defining characteristic, and one that separates him from so many of his
colleagues on Avenue Montaigne, is his genuine kindness.
That same trait is reflected throughout his House.
This year's show was staged in the Palais de Chaillot where limited seating capacity
caused all manner of disruption with press invitations.
Even Agence France Presse, the national syndication in this country, was assigned the
standing area.
Our own invitation here at FW took a circuitous route after original faxes went astray.
Last week on the phone with the Press Office, and reaching the point of desperation,
a calm and reassuring voice on the other end responded "Don't worry, we still have time."
Indeed, we all do still have time.
A timelessness permeated the entire collection, from the first breezy entrance of a
quintet of silk full-length gowns painted rose, lime, peach, lavender and marigold
accompanied by festive print silk jackets.
Hats were an integral part of the collection, appearing netted, veiled, embroidered with
flowers and sprinkled with sequins, but always worn tipped on the head.
The models strolled, often in pairs, down the ebony lacquered runway, conjuring up a
vision, not so much of a summer Sunday on the Champs Elysées, as perhaps the Promenade
des Anglais in Nice circa 1910, the belle époque.
The historical illusions were plentiful, but the reworking of Ungaro's signature prints
and colors brought the collection exquisitely into the 21st Century.
For evening, there were a series of black gowns, some with sequined sleeves, others ruffled
with taffeta, and still another wrapped with flowing chiffon, the outline of two hands
sequined on the waist.
One evening dress replete with bunched taffeta exploded onto the runway in tulip red.
The color scheme worked the full spectrum, with some especially seductive suits in mint
green frosted with plum, and the palest of champagne green paired with raspberry.
An enthusiastic audience found Naomi Campbell mingling with a bevy of "ladies who lunch"
front and center on the front row.
A first rate soundtrack only added to the finesse.
At one point, the lyrics took a metaphorical turn as a singer crooned "I've been around
for so many years."
Sailing through time and space, the years unfurled through the elegance of yesteryear to
the savvy of here and now.
As the music built, a wedding dress, laced of crystal and superimposed with a fine net veil,
came floating down the runway.
The air of time blows softly from the South, and with each passing season, it brings
with it the timelessness of beauty at the House of Ungaro.
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