Giles Deacon's enthusiasm for the days when haute couture truly dressed a woman from morning till night was fully exercised in his pre-fall collection for Emanuel Ungaro. In fact, there was a strong emphasis on the kind of daywear that Ungaro himself specialized in: the draped, ruched dresses, the fitted tailleur, all with a hint of the forties in the silhouette and the exuberant sexiness of the eighties in the attitude. Deacon insisted the collection was stricter than his Spring debut for the house. Yes, it felt more linear, and he'd toned down the color palette, so that the emblematic florals had a darker, more autumnal feel, but there was still a subtle extravagance in a suit tailored from sugary Lesage tweed, or an orange coat trimmed in equally electric fox, or a dress in an abstract animal print that turned to reveal a deep scoop of lace at the back. In Deacon's dreams, there was a time when such clothes defined the essential Parisienne. He's doing his darnedest to bring her back to life.
