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PARIS - Norwegian Peter Dundas turned his catwalk into a glitzy night club on Thursday, presenting crystal dresses in his third collection for the Emanuel Ungaro label.
Models in sparkling short dresses and tight, high-waisted trousers paraded to thumping disco sounds, with some partially covering their shimmering outfits with wide-hooded fur coats.
"The collection was a little bit like a celebration of night clubbing," Dundas told reporters after his show at the Paris Ready-to-Wear Fashion Week.
"I love clubbing. I love seeing all the girls getting dressed up and going out in little slinky T-Shirt dresses, with great dramatic coats on top of it," he said after the show, which also featured skin-tight leather trousers.
"I always liked the idea that (a girl) gets out of the limousine with her motorbike pants," he said.
Dundas is among several new designers who have recently joined a renowned fashion label and are seeking to leave their mark on the house while remaining faithful to its history.
Belgian Olivier Theyskens, who used to design for Rochas, is to present his first line for Nina Ricci on Sunday.
Croatian Ivana Omazic, who was appointed at Celine in 2005, won applause on Thursday for her new line of tiger-printed dresses and tight leather jackets, which Omazic said had been inspired by a "seductive (woman) with a lot of humour".
Models at Celine, a label owned by LVMH, paraded out in tweed trousers and slim jackets. Some girls wore large-collared trenchcoats held together by big leather belts.
The new faces have no easy task at big labels, experts say.
"These designers ... come into a world that is occupied by the brand," Didier Grumbach, the head of the French fashion federation told Reuters. "There are some messages that belong to the brand. So they cannot express themselves as freely as they can under their own name."
Ungaro was sold in November 2005 by Italian fashion house Salvatore Ferragamo to an investment company backed by US internet entrepreneur Asim Abdullah.
With the change in ownership came a change in creative directors, the third in as many years, and Dundas took over from Frenchman Vincent Darre.
Abdullah said Dundas was starting to apply his own touch to the brand.
"Clearly, Emanuel Ungaro has a ... very rich DNA and history to its brand. But at the same time, we need to modernise the company," Abdullah told Reuters at the show.
"We're looking at Peter to take it to the next step," he said, adding he wanted to move the house forward by strengthening its core women's clothes segment.
"We're going to expand into other areas, but the high-end women's wear is where the brand has traditionally been, and that's an area where we have to be very, very secure. And we want to get back into a leadership position," he said.
- REUTERS
