Party girl designs talk of Paris
Let's take a moment to reflect on Lindsay Lohan's personal style: leggings, oversized plaid flannel shirts, and way-too-long hair extensions. Last month, when Parisian fashion house Emanuel Ungaro announced that they would be hiring Lohan as their “artistic advisor” (read: involvement in the design process), fashion critics, and reporters alike, were aghast.
The Spring 2010 collection debuted at La Louvre Museum last week during Paris' Fashion Week, only to receive a collective head shake from the rest of the fashion community. Not even willing to give the actress a shot, the label's previous head designer, Esteban Cortazar, quit upon hearing the news, leaving Lohan to handle the principal design duties all on her own. On the flip side, Ungaro's President, Mounir Moufarrige, seemed downright delighted with the collection, along with all the publicity that came as a result.
The claimed motive behind Moufarrige's designer selection was to attract a younger clientele… but one wonders if, in fact, it was mostly to create buzz. Though Lohan is known for drawing attention (and a crowd), and proved to be successful in terms of getting the label publicity, unfortunately, few sources had anything nice to say. While, Women's Wear Daily called the collection “an embarrassment to fashion” and advised Lohan to try and revive her acting career, another certain flamboyant New York fashion connoisseur was so horrified that he simply cried out, “CALL THE FASHION POLICE!” during the show. Clearly having nothing positive to say, a further critic politely excused herself, when asked to comment on the designs.
Chief designer Estrella Arch, and the actress, had a mere three weeks together to dream up the collection. Favouring more of Lohan's personal touches, than the traditional characteristics and essence of Ungaro, leggings, very mini dresses and skirts, along with loose, draped harem pants paired with bandeau tops, comprised the show's wardrobe. With everything coloured either hot pink, peach, white or sequined black, Lohan's entrée into the fashion world was dubbed, “dated and cheesy.” But what really got critics appalled were the sparkly heart-shaped nipple pasties, worn in place of undershirts, peeking out from the blazers ultra-low necklines.
Although hiring Lohan may not have seemed like the cleverest move for the label, Moufarrige is known for making hasty and often impetuous decisions. For example, in 1997, he replaced fashion king Karl Lagerfeld with Stella McCartney as Chloe's chief designer, to shocked and mixed reviews.
Perhaps the president of the company is simply satisfied with the attention the label is getting now as a result? Lohan was, after all, gifted with $150,000 worth of clothing, in the hopes that she'll be photographed wearing some of the new Ungaro pieces.
It has been rumoured that Ungaro has been struggling to keep up with a younger client-base. Accordingly, a fresh outlook was much needed. However, many insiders are still incredulously wondering why Moufarrige chose Lohan, instead of someone from within the fashion world, as they feel this decision was disrespectful to the industry, as a whole.
Moufarrige had his reasons though. Pop culture proves daily how obsessed society is with celebrities. Gossips sites, such as perezhilton.com, get four million hits a day, while countless celebrity “rags” survive solely off of pictures of Hollywood's stars and starlets performing mundane tasks, like grabbing coffees. It is entirely possible that Moufarrige's decision wasn't so rash after all - he evidently understands “the celebrity phenomenon,” and who is better to create a paparazzi frenzy, than Lindsay Lohan?
It's no wonder then, that after the show, despite the less than kind reviews, Moufarrige acted smug. After all, backstage was a tumultuous whirlwind of paparazzos and reporters, clamouring to photograph, and interview anyone and anything involved in the controversial collection.
The Spring 2010 collection debuted at La Louvre Museum last week during Paris' Fashion Week, only to receive a collective head shake from the rest of the fashion community. Not even willing to give the actress a shot, the label's previous head designer, Esteban Cortazar, quit upon hearing the news, leaving Lohan to handle the principal design duties all on her own. On the flip side, Ungaro's President, Mounir Moufarrige, seemed downright delighted with the collection, along with all the publicity that came as a result.
The claimed motive behind Moufarrige's designer selection was to attract a younger clientele… but one wonders if, in fact, it was mostly to create buzz. Though Lohan is known for drawing attention (and a crowd), and proved to be successful in terms of getting the label publicity, unfortunately, few sources had anything nice to say. While, Women's Wear Daily called the collection “an embarrassment to fashion” and advised Lohan to try and revive her acting career, another certain flamboyant New York fashion connoisseur was so horrified that he simply cried out, “CALL THE FASHION POLICE!” during the show. Clearly having nothing positive to say, a further critic politely excused herself, when asked to comment on the designs.
Chief designer Estrella Arch, and the actress, had a mere three weeks together to dream up the collection. Favouring more of Lohan's personal touches, than the traditional characteristics and essence of Ungaro, leggings, very mini dresses and skirts, along with loose, draped harem pants paired with bandeau tops, comprised the show's wardrobe. With everything coloured either hot pink, peach, white or sequined black, Lohan's entrée into the fashion world was dubbed, “dated and cheesy.” But what really got critics appalled were the sparkly heart-shaped nipple pasties, worn in place of undershirts, peeking out from the blazers ultra-low necklines.
Although hiring Lohan may not have seemed like the cleverest move for the label, Moufarrige is known for making hasty and often impetuous decisions. For example, in 1997, he replaced fashion king Karl Lagerfeld with Stella McCartney as Chloe's chief designer, to shocked and mixed reviews.
Perhaps the president of the company is simply satisfied with the attention the label is getting now as a result? Lohan was, after all, gifted with $150,000 worth of clothing, in the hopes that she'll be photographed wearing some of the new Ungaro pieces.
It has been rumoured that Ungaro has been struggling to keep up with a younger client-base. Accordingly, a fresh outlook was much needed. However, many insiders are still incredulously wondering why Moufarrige chose Lohan, instead of someone from within the fashion world, as they feel this decision was disrespectful to the industry, as a whole.
Moufarrige had his reasons though. Pop culture proves daily how obsessed society is with celebrities. Gossips sites, such as perezhilton.com, get four million hits a day, while countless celebrity “rags” survive solely off of pictures of Hollywood's stars and starlets performing mundane tasks, like grabbing coffees. It is entirely possible that Moufarrige's decision wasn't so rash after all - he evidently understands “the celebrity phenomenon,” and who is better to create a paparazzi frenzy, than Lindsay Lohan?
It's no wonder then, that after the show, despite the less than kind reviews, Moufarrige acted smug. After all, backstage was a tumultuous whirlwind of paparazzos and reporters, clamouring to photograph, and interview anyone and anything involved in the controversial collection.
