Emanuel Ungaro

Emanuel (Maffeolit) Ungaro (born 1933 in Aix-en-Provence) is a French fashion designer.

Life

Born to Italian parents who had fled to France from Francavilla Fontana,Brindisi because of the fascist Italian government. As a young boy, Emanuel Ungaro took to sewing like his father, Cosimo.

At the age of 22, he moved to Paris and three years later, he began designing for the House of Cristobal Balenciaga for three years before quitting to work for Courrèges. Four years later, in 1965 with the assistance of Swiss artist Sonja Knapp and Elena Bruna Fassio, Emanuel Ungaro opened his own fashion house in Paris.

In 1988, at the age of 55, he married Laura Bernabei.

The House of Emanuel Ungaro

In 1968, he created his first Prêt-à-Porter collection, "Parallèle" and opened a boutique at 2, avenue Montaigne in Paris. During the next 30 years, the Emanuel Ungaro House expanded to include boutiques and licensing agreements worldwide.

Ungaro launched his first menswear collection, Ungaro Uomo, in 1973, and his first perfume, "Diva", 10 years later in 1983. Later followed the perfumes "Senso" (1987), "Ungaro" (1991) and "Emanuel Ungaro For Men" (1991).

In 1996, he formed a partnership with Salvatore Ferragamo. In 1997, Emanuel Ungaro, Salvatore Ferragamo and Bulgari created a new company: Emanuel Ungaro Parfums. The new perfumes to follow was "Fleur de Diva" (1997), "Desnuda" (2001) and "Apparition" (2004).

In 2005 the brand Emanuel Ungaro was sold to Pakistan-born internet tycoon, Asim Abdullah head of Global Asset Capital Investment Bank. At the time, the total wholesale revenue of products sold under the Ungaro label through licensing deals was approximately € 70 million.

In December of 2007, Esteban Cortazar was appointed as head designer.

External links

* [http://www.emanuelungaro.com/ Ungaro Corporate Site]
* [http://vintagepatterns.wikia.com/wiki/Category:Emanuel_Ungaro Sewing patterns by Emanuel Ungaro]
* cite web |publisher= Victoria and Albert Museum
url= http://www.vam.ac.uk/vastatic/microsites/1486_couture/explore.php
title= Interactive timeline of couture houses and couturier biographies