Monsieur Emanuel Ungaro could have played the main character in Truffaut’s ’70s movie L’Homme Qui Aimait les Femmes: His love of beautiful women was well known, and all his work was an unabashed homage to glamour, drama, and sensuality. It was a distinctive style defined by the excesses and flamboyance of the ’80s—exorbitant leg-of-mutton sleeves, clashing mixed prints of polka dots, florals and animal patterns, loud colors, draping galore, a love of lace and lingerie. It was haute couture at its boldest and sexiest. Yet there was also a classy side to Ungaro that delved into more subdued territory—after all, he did work for Cristóbal Balenciaga and Courrèges before opening his maison in Paris. It was the ambiguous, slightly masculine side of femininity that enthralled him; he explored it blending a dose of androgyny into his hypercharged, alpha-female style.
Fausto Puglisi, Ungaro’s creative director, tapped into Monsieur Emanuel’s more modern vision to revive the house and try to make it contemporary and marketable. He has worked on the heritage codes, reducing the bombastic Grace Jones–y proportions, slimming down with no mercy the customary balloon-ish shapes. Yet he has kept most of the signature elements intact—the hourglass silhouette, the strong shoulders, the asymmetries. Mostly, Puglisi has underlined the brand’s masculine flair, which is relevant for today. He doesn’t shy away from flamboyance, and he’s not afraid to use a dash of good bad taste: His fervor for the ’80s redundant excesses borders on the religious, but he didn’t fall into the trap of replicating them in an obvious way—“It’s just the question of making the right mistakes,” he said philosophically.
Hence a Pre-Fall lineup where the house codes, albeit archive-friendly, were given a lighter, younger spin. Jackets were nipped at the waist and worn with pleated printed miniskirts with asymmetrical hems or with fluid high-waisted palazzo pants; masculine tweed coats were paired with long feminine dresses in see-through black lace for a sexy vibe. Tuxedo-inspired dusters looked impeccable; they complemented slim, long printed numbers in dark colors, linear and elongated. Overall the collection had a dressy feel, but it wasn’t overdone.
