Spanish designer Estrella Archs (L) appears with Actress Lindsay Lohan at the end of her Spring/Summer 2010 collection for Emanuel Ungaro house during Paris Fashion Week October 4, 2009.
Ungaro named Marie Fournier its new general manager to oversee all operations. An 18-year veteran of the company, Fournier was previously Ungaro's vice-president in charge of business development and licensing. Before that, she had an eight-year career at Christian Dior.
Ungaro said Moufarrige, who has served as president since 2006, would continue to advise the company, but that he was "withdrawing" from an operational role to devote more time to other businesses, which include U-Boat and Welder, two fast-growing Italian watch companies.
"It's my decision. It's not a total departure, except for operational duties," Moufarrige said.
He waved off suggestions of discord with Ungaro's majority owner, Asim Abdullah, and noted his decision "has nothing to do with Lindsay Lohan at all. The strategy is set for Ungaro and that's it."
Moufarrige tapped Lohan as artistic adviser in September in a risky bid to jump-start rejuvenation at a house wracked by a revolving door of designers and lackluster collections. He teamed her with Spanish-born designer Estrella Archs.
"Odds are it could work," Moufarrige said in September. "I think the noise level around Lindsay will be very, very big."
He was right about the noise. His exit comes only a few months after Lohan and Archs showed a spring collection during Paris Fashion Week that set off a cacophony of reactions from critics and retail buyers that ranged from "very Los Angeles" to "cheesy" to "truly, deeply horrible."
There had been numerous reports, apparently unfounded, that Abdullah was thinking of dumping Lohan as a result of the negative reaction.
At Ungaro, Lohan and Archs succeeded Bogota, Colombia-born Esteban Cortazar, whose three collections failed to ignite interest.
Peter Dundas, who is now the designer at Emilio Pucci; Vincent Darre, now devoted to a signature furniture line, and Giambattista Valli, pursuing a signature label with Italy's Mariella Burani Fashion Group, preceded Cortazar as Ungaro designers following the retirement of its founding couturier in 2004.
