At Ungaro, It's The Tiger That Gets Mauled

PARIS, January 30, 2006 - It was the year of the tiger at Emanuel Ungaro. Models strode out on a sparkling catwalk (which program notes referred to as "diamond asphalt") while a cat growled over the soundtrack - and it didn't take long for the season's theme to lunge out from the undergrowth. Ungaro menswear designer José Levy should have stopped with the scrumptious shirts open to the navel, ornamented with orchid brooches and crystal tiger eyes, the feline stripes woven effectively into knit sweaters, or the lusciously shimmering dusky mauve evening suit. Instead he went into overkill: silver sparkling stripes sewn to the back of a tuxedo, an orchid print of glistening jet beads that had the undesired effect of turning the outfit garish. These peccadilloes were lapses in what could have been a subtle, not to mention, convincing collection.

The new Ungaro silhouette of high shoulders, thin waists and low-riding pants was a wonderful and refreshing evolution to a label that had become as stuffy as the wardrobe of a gentleman who spends far too much time in the 'bored' room.

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