The Critics Are Tired Of Ungaro. But Are Shoppers?

I spent some time this morning looking at comments bloggers and journalists have made about the appointment of Esteban Cortazar at Ungaro. Mostly they seem interested by his age -- at 23 he'll be the youngest designer at a major fashion house -- and annoyed by all the turnover at the house. Cathy Horyn said: "I mean, how many designers has Ungaro had? Esteban Cortazar is a nice kid; he's outgoing and he's got some talent. But a number of the fashion-house appointments don't seem all that well considered, and at some point the mistakes become irritating." Well, irritating for whom? Her vocal fans seem more interested in his talent or lack thereof and offer up other suggestions for the post.

Business of Fashion tried to get to the heart of why Ungaro made the choice they did and came up with the conclusion that Cortazar was all they could get. "Designer after designer was offered the role, but no one took the bait. According to WWD, Hedi Slimane, Sophia Kokosalaki, Christopher Kane and Marios Schwab were all approached. Sources close to the discussions say that the list was even longer than that. Designers, it is said, were suspicious of the what the revolving door of Ungaro designers (Giambattista Valli, Peter Dundas and Vincent Darre) said about the Ungaro CEO, Mounir Moufarrige and his management style."

Moufarrige does have a very mixed reputation in the industry, but I think it is worth pointing out that he hired Stella McCartney at Chloe and, as far as I know, still has a good relationship with both her and Phoebe Philo. But far more importantly, he is a new C.E.O. Cortazar is the first designer he has hired. Yes, he did fire the last one, Peter Dundas, but although he had friends in the industry, not many people were raving about his collections. Dundas was hired by Asim Abdullah shortly after he bought the brand and Asim has admitted it was a mistake as an outsider in the industry (he comes from the world of Silicon Valley) to hire a designer before an experienced C.E.O.

It is natural that those who have been subjected to year after year of watching confused and ugly Ungaro collections go down the runway (namely journalists and buyers) would be cynical about yet another new appointment. That cynicism did taint the search for a new designer as every designer who was approached was warned away from the brand by journalists and industry veterans who were annoyed with the constant flux. But it does seem a bit unfair to knock a new designer and a new owner before giving them a real chance to show what they can do. I don't think that consumers are nearly as weary of the ever-changing Ungaro rejuvenation as the critics are.