By Marcellous L. Jones

December 1, 2007


Paris , France - In a lightening quick press communiqué released late Friday evening, the French fashion house Emanuel Ungaro announced the appointment of Esteban Cortazar as its new Chief Designer for the women’s collections.

Born in Bogota , Colombia , the designer moved to the United States when he was but a young boy of 11 years old. Moving into fashion, he presented his first collection under his own name in New York in 2003.

Today Cortazar, age 23, will abandon the expansion of his signature collection, which he had planned to restructure a year following his last presentation, and will focus his energies soley upon the revitalization of the Emanuel Ungaro women’s brand.

"I spent the better part of the last seven to eight months meeting people around the world, the same as I did when I appointed Stella [McCartney] to Chloé 10 years ago," said Mounir Moufarrige, CEO at Emanuel Ungaro in an interview with Fashion Week Daily. "The brand needs some youth and he's got it; he knows what makes a chick tick."

Cortazar is the fourth designer in a relatively long line of designers to hold this position in less than as many years. He directly succeeds Peter Dundas with whom the house parted ways several months ago.