Ungaro Unbound

Emanuel Ungaro reveals his love for colour, contrasting prints and the sari as he travels back in time to give us a glimpse of the swinging ’70s and ’80s. He chats up passionately about dressing Jackie O, creating a stir with his unstructured approach to fashion and how the etymology of style has magically rotated on its axis.

He was known for instilling a sensual spirit into anything he created. And it won’t be wrong at all to call him a living legend. But when the celebrated French couturier Emanuel Ungaro stopped by at the Wills Lifestyle India Fashion Week Autumn/Winter 2014, he was wowed by the effervescence of colour, design, textures and nifty interpretation of weaves on the catwalk. “FDCI President Sunil Sethi, who is also my good friend, has managed to put together a sprightly show,” says Ungaro. “It is superbly managed with everything under one roof—business, entertainment and the show area.”

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The Indian Connect

Sethi and Ungaro have known each other for four years. They first met at a luxury conference and struck a long-lasting friendship. “Sunil had gifted me a cashmere shawl he had designed (under the Sunil Sethi Design Alliance), which I loved. I came back here to get some more from Ezma, but Sunil graciously gave me another one. It is ‘the India shawl’ (a cashmere shawl with an India tricolour border),” he adds.

Appreciating India for its energy and vivacity, Ungaro, who is also known as the undisputed ‘Prince of Prints’, was eager to meet young Indian designers and share their vision for the future. “I was touched by his humility,” says Sethi. “Despite the fact that he exited the brand several years ago, the label is one of the most coveted. He shared his experiences with greenhorns, who were impressed by his wisdom and nuanced approach to design.”

Travelling to Delhi with his partner Laura, Ungaro was happy that he is growing old with someone who understands the business of fashion and is clued in. She enjoyed and appreciated the Indian aesthetic, and picked up a Rina Dhaka jacket, made of natural tussar and emboldened with aari work. “I think Laura liked the patchwork of dupion silver leaf motif, which is quite big internationally, along with the soft tailoring,” says Rina. “It is a basic wrap with pockets on the sides.”

However, what Ungaro admires the most about our country drenched in colour is ‘the liquidity of a sari’. “It has movement, linearity and geometry, mixed with femininity,” says an impressed Ungaro. “It is a showstopper.”

Making of a legend

Known to have added femininity and infinite grace to his creations by playing with luscious drapes and peekaboos, Ungaro learnt the biggest and the first lessons in style from his father, who settled in France after fleeing Italy. “What can I say about my father…” says Ungaro. “He was a maverick. He shaped my design thought process by gifting me a sewing machine, when I was just a boy.” But that was just the beginning. At the impressionable age of 23, in 1958, Ungaro began his training under the unsurpassable Cristobal Balenciaga. “I have a Mediterranean spirit and that’s my secret to design,” reveals Ungaro, who was born in Aix-en-Provence, in the South of France. “Balenciaga is also from the South of France and so is Monsieur Dior, and Yves Saint Laurent, too. We all shared that love for elegance. People from the South are a fountain of inspiration, they know how to dexterously mix things together in a way that it changes the dynamics of a garment.”

Balenciaga taught an eager and willing Ungaro that discipline and aesthetics is what makes or breaks a garment. This stayed with Ungaro who followed the master’s advice closely and devotedly. He says, “I don’t see that fire in young designers today. What Givenchy, YSL and Dior did eons ago, is very difficult for greenhorns to reproduce; they sometimes fail to carry forward the illustrious legacy of these great masters.”

A successful life

While dressing style icon Jackie Onassis, after launching his label in 1965, a young Ungaro quickly understood what women want. That led to his signature creation: draped cocktail gowns with enchanting ruffles and clashing prints. This won him followers like Roman Polanski’s muse and screen icon Catherine Deneuve, “I was born with a sense of colour, so I loved mixing contrasting prints—I never went to any fashion school to learn any of this, it was in-built,” he laughs.

Just like Coco Chanel’s eternal fragrance, No. 5, Ungaro’s potent Diva became a classic, inspired by leading French actress of the time, Anouk Aimée, also one of his closest buddies. He elaborates, “I saw her in the award-winning film A Man and a Woman in 1966 with Jean Louis Trintignant, written by Claude Lelouch and was transfixed by her sensuality. That’s why you see some spicy notes in the perfume that went on to become a bestseller. I met her in the US and she was quite popular in Los Angeles, too. For me, she epitomised the essence of that flavour and irresistibility that the fragrance offered.”

Ungaro worked extensively with Italian-born French designer Giambattista Valli from 1998 to 2004 and finally retired in 2005, selling his company to Asim Abdullah for many millions. There have been several additions and deletions since then, from Lindsay Lohan coming on board and quickly departing, to Vincent Darré, Norwegian Peter Dundas and Bogota-born Esteban Cortazar attempting to take on Ungaro’s ideology. Now there is Fausto Puglisi, who is holding on the reins of a speeding stallion. “I have nothing to say about my successors,” says Ungaro. “It is a mistake to hire young designers who can’t comprehend the doctrine of a label. In fact, when a designer leaves, he takes the soul of his label with him, and that’s what happened with Ungaro, too. Forty years in high fashion was a journey of joy, pain, suffering, highs and lows, so now I love my retired life.”

From the May 2014 issue of L’Officiel India.